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Obama Hopeful for 2014; Supreme Court Halts Obamacare Rule; Zappos Tries Holocracy; MSNBC Host is Sorry for Mocking Romneys; Residential Building Fire near Minneapolis; Ringing in 2014 on an Ice- Locked Ship

Aired January 01, 2014 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Basketball, trips to the beach and crowd-pleasing dinners out, a Christmas vacation spent winding down after a government shutdown, surveillance scandals and a rocky healthcare.gov rollout made 2013 a year the president might like to forget.

There is some good news on the health care front to end the year, 2.1 million people have enrolled in the federal and state-run insurance exchanges. But it's unclear how many have paid their premiums.

This as Obama rings in a new year with high hopes of tackling a string of other important issues on his agenda.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I firmly believe that 2014 can be a break-through year for America.

JONES: From growing the economy and creating jobs, to raising the minimum wage.

OBAMA: We've got work to do to create more good jobs, to help more Americans earn the skills and education they needed to do those jobs and to make sure that those jobs offer the wages and benefits that let families build a little bit of financial security.

JONES: And pushing an immigration overhaul through a divided Congress.

OBAMA: We still have the task of finishing the fix on our broken immigration system.

JONES: At home, a raging debate about privacy and a stalled effort on gun control.

On the international front, issues like the war in Syria and negotiations over Iran's nuclear program will consume the president's time. But just how much can get done in 2014 will depend a great deal on Congress.

OBAMA: It's probably too early to declare an outbreak of bipartisanship, but it's also fair to say that we're not condemned to endless gridlock. There are areas where we can work together.

(END VIDEOTAPE) JONES: The first item the president wants Congress to tackle this year, extending unemployment benefits to the more than 1 million people who've lost them. He'll lay out the rest of his 2014 agenda on January 28th in his State of the Union Address.

Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you so much, Athena Jones, there in Honolulu.

So today is the first day new health insurance plans go into effect for Americans who signed up for Obamacare, but the healthcare law is facing some new challenges. The U.S. Supreme Court has temporarily said two Catholic Church affiliated charities do not have to provide contraceptive coverage to its employees. This comes as the administration touts new numbers saying what Athena underscored, more than 2 million people have signed up for new health coverage, but that's way below the White House's goal of 3.3 million enrollees by the end of December. So joining us to talk about it, CNN political commentator and conservative radio talk show host Ben Ferguson.

Good to see you.

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

WHITFIELD: And Maria Cardona, a CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist.

Good to see you as well.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR & DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Happy New Year, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Maria -- happy New Year to both of you.

Maria, let me begin with you.

FERGUSON: Happy New Year.

WHITFIELD: Is the Supreme Court ruling a prelude to more legal challenges to this health care law in 2014?

CARDONA: Well, we'll see. Let's see how the administration responds here shortly before Friday. But I think what we will see, Fred, is that there will ultimately be a good balance between what the Affordable Health Care Act wants to do, which is make sure that women have coverage for contraception if they want it and if they need it, as well as not making religious organizations, religiously affiliated groups feel like they're doing something that is against their religious beliefs. Maybe they get the religious exemptions that the administration gave the churches. We'll see what happens on Friday.

I think that you will clearly continue to see challenges because, as we know, the Republican Party's goal is to continue to repeal Obamacare. But I think as we get better news every single day, up to 6 million people have now enrolled in Obamacare if you count those that are eligible for Medicaid, it's going to become politically untenable, and I think we're already there, for Republicans to continue to talk about something that millions and millions of Americans are getting access to historically starting today.

WHITFIELD: So, Ben, do you see then that the religious organizations, the legal challenges really just stops here with those religious organizations not having to provide insurance that would include contraceptives, or do you see that there will be other legal challenges in the new year?

FERGUSON: There's going to be other legal challenges.

WHITFIELD: To a degree.

FERGUSON: And this is where, you know, you go back to the - this White House saying, you know, pick your battles wisely. Why go to war with religious institutions and organizations and non-profits over something that they hold so dear to their heart when they're already saying, we're OK with offering health care coverage. We're not OK with the contraceptive side to this. And you should respect our religious freedom in that context.

I don't understand why the White House went to battle in such a public way with the Catholic Church early on. I think it was a terrible move by them. They should have had respect for people of faith and said, you know what, we totally understand where you're coming from. We -- if you're going to give your people good health care coverage and play with this on that issue, we'll respect the religious connotation.

But I think it shows just the pure arrogance of this White House where they basically say, no, we're going to do what we want to do, how we want to do it, deal with it. It's the same way when the president walked out and said, if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. He knew it was a lie. His whole administration knew it was a lite. But the arrogance was, we'll deal with it, yes it's a lie, but don't worry about it because we'll get what we want in the end. And I think this is the tip of the iceberg for legal challenges coming this next year.

WHITFIELD: And so again -

CARDONA: They didn't - they didn't say that, Ben. The administration actually came up with a negotiation with the churches and they gave them that exemption. And so we'll see, maybe that is what will happen again. But there will be a balance at the end of the day.

WHITFIELD: And so the Supreme Court, or at least Sotomayor, has really extended a couple of days reprieve for the White House.

CARDONA: Right.

WHITFIELD: It has to come up with a response Friday, 10:00 a.m. And we'll see what that response is and what might happen next.

So, you know, besides health care law, the president does have a lot of issues on his plate. FERGUSON: Yes.

WHITFIELD: He had a lot of issues on his plate last year. Much of it was stalled. So the president still wants to get through immigration, try to improve the economy. But, you know, one has to wonder, what does this White House have to perhaps do differently, Ben, to try to get better cooperation from Congress, to try to get back on track as it pertains to his agenda?

FERGUSON: Yes. Well, I think part of it is, the president's very dynamic and I don't know why he doesn't use his people skills to his advantage on Capitol Hill, even with his own party. He has really not had a great relationship with Democrats. I mean there's quite a few that are on the record saying he has spent more time with those on The Hill. He needs to be respectful of the House and the Senate and not just have his demands of Congress all the time.

So I would tell him, first, start with your own party and then, if you get along with Congress better and you work with them -- Bill Clinton I think is a prime example. He had to deal with a really tough negotiator in Newt Gingrich. But they worked together. They had an open dialogue. They had conversations. They had dinners and lunches and meetings and coffee and tea.

The president has not done that in his entire five years. So if he wants to get anything done on Capitol Hill, I think he's going to have to humble himself a little bit and start playing ball with even those in his own party. And if he does that, he may be able to be successful this year because last year his strategy was a disaster and it didn't work

WHITFIELD: Maria, do you agree he has to work within his own party first?

CARDONA: Well, you ready for this, Fred, I actually agree with most of what Ben said in terms of hoping that the president does reach out more to the folks on Capitol Hill because he does need to work with them, especially Republicans. And I think that they will do that. There - they have started that, Ben. You know, sometimes it hasn't been successful because, you know, it's a two-way street. Sometimes the president has reached out and the door has been slammed in his face. And so I think this goes both ways.

And what we've seen from the American people is that they are sick of it from both parties. That is why you see, I think, some glimmers of hope of bipartisanship from the budget deal that we got at the end of last year with Chairman Ryan and Chairman Murray working together. We hope that this will continue.

John Boehner we saw finally stood up to the extremist Tea Partiers in his own party because he knows that they have actually the ones that have been keeping progress from happening in Washington. There's a lot of issues that we can work on if Republicans actually try to govern as opposed to just (INAUDIBLE).

FERGUSON: Maria, I love you - I love you, Maria, but I'm impressed you're giving the Tea Party this much power and credit. I don't even think the Tea Party had as much power as you're explaining right now. I don't think the president's x factor here is the two parties getting along. They're not a huge group of people.

CARDONA: They've been - they've been the - they've been the puppet masters. They've been the puppet masters for Speaker Boehner for a very long time. Let's hope it stops.

WHITFIELD: Oh, wow.

FERGUSON: All right.

WHITFIELD: Well this really is a new year because we're seeing that, wow, some agreement between Ben Ferguson and Maria Cardona. Many there will be an amicable relationship developing in the new year after all between Congress and the White House.

CARDONA: It can be a new day, Fred.

WHITFIELD: It just might be a new day, a new year.

CARDONA: That's right.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much to both of you. Happy New Year. Appreciate it.

FERGUSON: Happy New Year. Happy New Year.

CARDONA: Thank you, Fred. Thanks.

WHITFIELD: All right, Zappos, you know, the folks who sell shoes, they're trying out new management, a new tactic. Will it be the next big thing or just another fad that will kind of step in and step out? CNN's Alison Kosik has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It's a system called holocracy (ph). It's from the Greek word meaning a whole that's part of a greater whole. Holocracy does away with formal job titles and managers, the traditional hierarchy you'd have in a workplace, and instead it makes employees responsible for several different roles that may overlap with their co-workers. Zappos is confirming they're full steam ahead on this system and it should be fully implemented by the end of 2014. The goal here is to increase accountability. So instead of it being you and all your colleagues answering to your boss, you're all answering to one another. There's actually a blogging service medium that's done this pretty successfully.

But it's going to be interesting to see if this makes Zappos customer service even better or maybe worse. The company is consistently ranked as one of the best when it comes to satisfying its shoppers. Though to make holocracy work, it will really be up to Zappos workers to satisfy one another.

Back to you. (END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Alison.

All right, still to come, some people demanding MSNBC fire one host after she mocked Mitt Romney's black grandson. Now hear what she has to say about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, this morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a surprise visit to a city hit by two terrorist attacks earlier this week. The city of Volgograd had canceled New Year's Eve celebrations in the wake of the two suicide bombings that killed more than 30 people. Today, Putin visited victims in the hospital. No groups have claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Putin vowed to, quote, "annihilate terrorists." The city is about 430 miles away from Sochi, where the Winter Olympics will be held in February.

An MSNBC host says she's sorry after she and a panel on her show mocked Mitt Romney's adopted grandson who is black. Melissa Harris- Perry is the third MSNBC host in a matter of months to come under scrutiny, intense scrutiny, after making controversial comments. Alec Baldwin lost his new talk show after making anti-gay comments. And Martin Bashir resigned after making crude comments about Sarah Palin. Now some are calling for Melissa Harris-Perry to be fired. Here's CNN's Lisa Desjardins with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA DESJARDINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Merry Christmas, happy holiday season. That's a pretty normal greeting inside this Romney family card. But not so normal, the national spotlight that's been placed on one of the smallest faces.

MELISSA HARRIS-PERRY, MSNBC HOST: Everybody loves a baby picture.

DESJARDINS: But this was no baby talk. Listen as MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry and actress Pea Glenn walk on to racial lines.

HARRIS-PERRY: And, of course, they're on Governor Romney's knee is his adopted grandson, who is an African-American -- adopted African- American child, Kieran Romney. Any captions for this one?

PEA GLENN: One of these things is not like others. One of these things just isn't the same.

That little baby, front and center, would be the one.

HARRIS-PERRY: And isn't he the most gorgeous -- my goal is that in 2040 the biggest thing of the year will be the wedding between Kieran Romney and North West. Can you imagine Mitt Romney and Kanye West as in-laws?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That would be -

DESJARDINS: The entire segment lasted just a minute, but that's plenty to spark a Twitter explosion. Just one example, "leave babies alone, very wrong," wrote a user named Skybits (ph) who wants Harris-Perry fired. Republicans, accused of a lack of diversity, were particularly outraged. Former Senator Scott Brown called it wildly inappropriate. This follows other MSNBC pitfalls.

MARTIN BASHIR, MSNBC HOST: America's resident dunce Sarah Palin --

DESJARDINS: In the fall former anchor, Martin Bashir, suggested that Palin do something so foul that we will not replay it. He was fired.

So back to the latest verbal crash and host Melissa Harris-Perry. MSNBC has not commented. The host herself wrote "Without reservation or qualification I apologize to the Romney family."

MEGAN LINDSEY, NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR ADOPTION: I think it was important to apologize. I think it went in a direction it didn't need to go in.

DESJARDINS: Megan Lindsay does not work in politics -- try the National Council for Adoption.

LINDSEY: They intended to make jokes about politics and instead they made jokes that would offend adoptive families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And thanks again to Lisa Desjardins for that report.

All right the year means more money and some workers' pay checks as 13 states hike their minimum wage today. But those struggling to make ends meet say it's still not enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you need to make to be able to get by on your own?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would have to make at least $14, $15 to be able to live comfortably.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: New in the next hour of the NEWSROOM a look at the tough reality of living on less than $20,000 a year.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

WHITFIELD: All right. We're keeping a close watch on a fire at a residential building in Minneapolis. We understand it's the in Hennepin County, here are the live images right here of the smoke billowing from this building. We do understand that this is an occupied residential building. It is not a vacant one. Unclear how many people are being impacted, there are lots of conflicting reports about people trying to escape and how this fire may have started.

Of course, when we get any more detail on that, we'll be able to bring you the details. We have -- we can say that there is at least -- at least one report of an explosion taking place before the fire erupted, before the smoke began billowing from this building. When we get any more details on that, we'll bring that to you as best we can. This in Hennepin County, there in Minneapolis.

All right. Now, let's talk about what's taking place in another side of the world -- folks who are stranded in ice at the bottom of the world. But that didn't stop some of the 74 passengers and crew aboard a Russian research ship from actually ringing in 2014 in style.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(Crew stranded in Russian research ship celebrating New Year.)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Boy, those are the happiest people who are stuck that I've ever seen. For now, blizzard conditions in fact have put helicopter rescue efforts on hold. But according to one passenger who spoke with my colleague Jake Tapper, as you can see, they are taking it all in stride.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

ALOK JHA, STUCK IN ANTARCTICA ICE: We're all very high. I mean it's one of these things where we are very -- we're not in control of what's happening outside our ship. We've had some amazing assistance from the Australian and Chinese crews. They've been trying very, very hard to get frozen. We're all very grateful.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Very happy stranded researchers and tourist. Anna Coren is following the developments from Hong Kong. So Anna I guess it is very uplifting. They were taking it all in stride, they're looking at a half glass full. But seriously, what are the prospects of their rescue?

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good news, Fred. I'm happy to report that they could be rescued or at least the operation could begin within the next 12 to 24 hours. That's what we're hearing from the captain of the Australian icebreaker that's making its way to the stranded vessel.

There are two icebreakers involved in this rescue operation -- an Australian vessel and a Chinese vessel. From what we understand the Chinese vessel which is about 12 nautical miles from that vessel is stuck in ice as well. You know you have to -- you think, this is Antarctica, this is -- we're talking about you two to three meter deep ice that these icebreakers are having to sort of plow through before they can -- they reached those stranded passengers.

But it's hoped that the Australian icebreaker will reach the Chinese they will then be able to ram through, if you like, to open waters. That is when that airlift will begin. They're going to send a helicopter from the Chinese icebreaker to the stranded passengers, bring them back. And then they're going to put them on a barge to the Australian icebreaker where they'll be eventually taken back to Australia.

So certainly good news. Weather has fined up. That's what the captain reports. You mentioned bad weather the last couple of days has been a big obstacle for this mission. But yes, reports are that clear skies ahead -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: And so, Anna, you know, the research has become secondary to their actual rescue, their demise there. But do we know whether they actually got any research done during all this?

COREN: Well, they have been doing it since the end of November. So they have been out there conducting research for the past month before they became stranded in ice, Christmas Eve -- Christmas day. That's when the distress signal went out.

As you saw from the pictures, these people are in remarkable spirits. They are in good health. They've got food, water, they've got supplies. So they are extremely fortunate. Let's just hope, fingers crossed that this rescue operation goes as planned over the next 24 hours or so.

WHITFIELD: Indeed. Fingers are crossed. In the end, they still had a remarkable story, an adventure, to share with the world.

Anna Coren, thanks so much in Hongkong.

All right. And we want to update you on the breaking news situation taking place in Minneapolis. A fire of a residential building, you can see the billowing smoke there, we understand it's a three-story apartment building so perhaps not that high rise you are seeing in the distance, but what is just in front of it.

We don't know exactly how this fire started. But we do have eyewitness accounts that there was an explosion before the fire took place and the plumes of smoke there started. We do understand from the fire department that multiple people have been transported from the scene. Of course, when we get more information, we'll update you as we can.

We'll have much more from the NEWSROOM right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: New year -- Oh yes, It's 2014. And you know what that means. On New Year's day, a whole lot of college football. Andy Scholes with us now with the "Bleacher Report".

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS: Yes, you know what -- great games on tap today and we saw a great one last night. Texas A&M and Duke squared off in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl. And if this is Johnny Football's last college game, you know, he definitely went out with a bang.

The Aggies, they were down 21 at the half but Johnny Football led an epic comeback. This play he made in the third quarter that we're about to show pretty much broke Twitter. He jumps over a lineman then he's going to eventually run out of trouble and find Travis (inaudible) down the sideline for the touchdown. An incredible play.

Now you fast forward to the fourth --

WHITFIELD: He made it look easy.

SCHOLES: Yes, right? He always does. Fast forward to the fourth quarter -- Aggies they're still down three. Tony Ford Jr, picks off this pass, he's going to take it 55 yards the other way for the touchdown. That would be your game winner A&M completes an amazing comeback. They win the game 62 - 48. And hopefully we'll get to see more games like that today.

The BCS Bowls are going to kickoff this evening. Stanford is going to take on Michigan State, that's at 5:00 Eastern at the Rose Bowl. And that's followed by Central Florida and Baylor squaring off in the Fiesta Bowl.

All right. The Green Bay Packers on Sunday are going to host the 49ers in the NFL playoff. You think that would be a hot ticket, right -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Yes, yes, yes.

SCHOLES: Well, wrong. As of last night, there were still 11,000 tickets unsold for the game at Lambeau Field. Now this is pretty weird, the Packers have sold out 319 straight games and nearly 100,000 people on the season ticket waiting list. Now, this is your kicker, the low temperature for Sunday in Green Bay, it's negative 15 degrees.

WHITFIELD: Yes, that explains it. I'm not sitting in the cold stands.

SCHOLES: They're used to the cold weather there at Lambeau Field but negative 15, that's extreme.

WHITFIELD: Yes, for this. I understand.

SCHOLES: I'm not doing it.

WHITFIELD: But you know, they're going to have to make a decision -- right. I mean they do want an audience. Maybe it means lifting that threatened blackout even though you don't have --

SCHOLES: They can't do it. If they don't sell it out within 72 hours, that game is not going to be on TV in the Green Bay area. Can't wait to see what happens?

WHITFIELD: We'll all be reading about it then. SCHOLES: Yes.

WHITFIELD: And waiting for the highlights that you'll be able to bring us later.

SCHOLES: Will do, yes.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much Andy -- appreciate that.

SCHOLES: right.

WHITFIELD: All right. The next hour of the "CNN NEWSROOM" begins right now.

Hello again, everyone and Happy New Year. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in for Carol Costello.

We begin with this just in to the CNN NEWSROOM. We've got life pictures to show you right now of that fire that's raging after a reported explosion at an apartment building in Minneapolis. You're seeing the plumes of smoke -- these are live images right now.