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Campbell Brown
President Obama Focuses on Jobs; Ending Military Ban on Gays?
Aired January 28, 2010 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, there, everybody.
President Obama took his State of the Union message on the road today, trying to turn newfound populism into a real bounce.
And that's where we're going to start tonight, with the "Mash- Up." We're watching it all, so you don't have to.
And behold day two of the big White House reset. President Obama and Joe Biden in campaign mode together today in Tampa. They were there repeating their jobs above all else mantra. The president says he has never not been a fighter for the middle class and it hasn't been easy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As I mentioned last night, I make no apology for trying to fix stuff that's hard, because I will be honest with you, I will be honest with you, Joe and I are both pretty smart politicians. We have been at this a while. The easiest way to keep your poll numbers high is to say nothing and to do nothing that offends anybody.
(LAUGHTER)
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Meantime, today, Republicans were stepping over themselves to take apart the president's speech and here now is the view from the right.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR: We want to see the president focus actually on jobs, rather than go all over the board, which is what we saw last night.
RUDOLPH GIULIANI (R), FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: Biggest part of the speech I was disappointed with was national security, which he mentioned for it almost seemed to me like a footnote, like an afterthought.
JEB BUSH (R), FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: Well, I don't think it's humble to say that you didn't communicate a message and that's the reason why people oppose the health care plan in front of Congress.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: When we talk about cutting $15 billion in savings next year and then but this year adding $80 billion or $100 billion more to an already overwhelming deficit, there's a little credibility gap there.
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: We're going to look for common ground, but we're not going to roll over on our principles. We're not going to vote for things that we believe will hurt our country.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we remarkably heard the president embrace the same old-same old.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Ah, the warm glow of bipartisanship.
The president does continue to beat the drums, the job drum, tomorrow in Maryland with a new package of tax cuts for small businesses that he's going to be talking about.
Meantime, Obama scored a real victory on Capitol Hill today. The Senate gave Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke a second term by a vote of 70- 30. Obama has called Bernanke an architect of the economic rescue. His critics, however, say he turned a blind eye as the banks ran wild.
But while Bernanke is now in the clear, another Obama ally still feeling the heat. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner sat down with CNN's Christine Romans today and defended his handling of bailouts, bonuses and AIG.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What could you have done differently and done early that maybe could have defused this AIG backlash, or is there nothing that could have defused it?
TIMOTHY GEITHNER, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: There's nothing that would have helped in the AIG thing, because it was just a terrible choice, though what I think the lesson of this is, and I think the classic mistake that this country made wasn't not just to not act early enough to save people from the abuses in the financial sector to contain risks, but to not act soon enough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: And Geithner tells CNN, he will -- quote -- "carry the burden of AIG forever."
Turning now to Haiti and a story that is too remarkable to be missed. This happened yesterday. A teenage girl, she was pulled from the rubble 15 days after the earthquake struck. This is a new record for earthquake survival. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It appears to be an amazing story of survival.
A French rescue team is brought to the site by neighborhood residents, who said they heard a voice in the rubble. She was too weak to say her name. But neighbors say her name is Darlene Etienne. The rescuers told us, based on her condition, they believe she'd been trapped in this house near a university campus since the January 12 quake.
(on camera): The head doctor for the French rescue team says his crew took about 45 minutes to pull her out of this opening. But they say she was in this small crevice behind my feet, about 30 feet behind her. That's where the bathroom of the house was. That's where there was plenty of water.
(voice-over): The rescue team says she was not crushed, but she was entombed and could barely move.
DR. CLAUDE FUTILLA, FRENCH CIVIL SECURITY RESCUE TEAM (through translator): It's an indescribable feeling. It's a reward for all the Haitians who believed that anything was possible.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: The 17-year-old girl emerged severely dehydrated with a broken leg. But she is alive. We are going to have the latest developments from Haiti a little bit later tonight.
And from Haiti to Hollywood, Jay Leno opening up on the late- night coup that forced Conan O'Brien off of television. Leno told all to Oprah, sounding a little tough. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OPRAH WINFREY, HOST, "THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW": Did you ever at any time think, well, if I go back, I'm taking away Conan's dream?
JAY LENO, HOST, "THE JAY LENO SHOW": No, because, again, this is an affiliate decision. Affiliates felt the ratings were low. If the numbers had been there, they wouldn't have asked me. And they only asked me after Conan turned down moving it back half-an-hour.
WINFREY: Yes, Conan said that he thought it would be destructive to the franchise and that if he...
(CROSSTALK)
LENO: Well, if you look at where the ratings were...
WINFREY: Yes.
LENO: ... it was already destructive to the franchise. There is always someone waiting in the wings in this business to take your job. If you're not doing the numbers, they move on. It's pretty simple.
WINFREY: Did you ever ask yourself, well, am I being selfish?
LENO: Sure, yes. You ask yourself that every day.
WINFREY: And your answer was? Is?
LENO: I don't think so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: No business like show business.
On to the latest installment in the John Edwards soap opera, another shameless hanger-on looking to cash in here. The man in question is Andrew Young, once the candidate's right-hand man. Well, Young was so loyal to Edwards, you will recall he even covered up his boss' love child by claiming her as his own.
Well, different story today. Edwards has admitted paternity, of course, of Rielle Hunter's daughter. And Young is telling all in a new book, including dish about, what else, a sex tape. Check him out. This is on "Good Morning America."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW YOUNG, FORMER EDWARDS AIDE: There was one tape that was marked special, and we're just aghast. It's a sex tape of Rielle and John Edwards made just a couple of months before the Iowa caucuses. I mean, it's amazing that the tape exists. It's -- that's unbelievable. But to leave it in a house that's for sale where realtors are going to be coming through it and leave it there for eight months is unbelievable.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you absolutely sure that this is John Edwards and Rielle Hunter?
YOUNG: It's definitely him. You never see her face. It's a visibly pregnant woman.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Stay classy, Andrew Young.
And that brings us to the "Punchline" tonight. This is courtesy of Jimmy Kimmel. Behold his take on the spectacle that is State of the Union.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE": I have to admit I did like the new State of the Union opening theme song.
UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS (singing): It's State, State, State, State of the Union. Barack Obama is going to tell us how our union is doing.
(LAUGHTER) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the 220th annual State of the Union address with Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, John McCain, Lady Gaga, Snoop Dogg, Joe the plumber, the Na'vi of Pandora, Khloe Kardashian, Vince from ShamWow, and many more.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: And that's Jimmy Kimmel, everybody. That is the "Mash- Up" for tonight.
Coming up, President Obama hitting the reset button and hitting the road to push a new agenda. Now it's all about jobs. But is everybody buying it? We're going to talk when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: President Obama wasting no time today following up his State of the Union jobs push at a town hall meeting. This was in Tampa, Florida. The State of the Union's focus may have been jobs, but today we did get word that the administration also moving very quickly on the president's pledge to end the ban on gays in the military.
CNN has learned that during Senate hearings next week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates will announce how the Pentagon plans to implement a repeal of don't ask/don't tell.
So the question tonight on many fronts here, is President Obama making all the right moves?
We have our panel of experts with us, CNN senior political correspondent Candy Crowley, senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin with us, and John Avlon, senior political columnist for TheDailyBeast.com and the author of "Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America."
Candy, lot of debate on how much priority -- let me start with don't ask/don't tell. A lot of debate over how much priority it would really be given, given that it was just one sentence in his speech. But it looks like this is pretty concrete in terms of them actually taking some action, right?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It does seem like that.
I want to see sort see what it is that Secretary Gates says. We know that he has been -- or it has been assumed that Secretary Gates was in favor of repeal of don't ask/don't tell. But it's my understanding, and perhaps this is a question for Jeff, that to repeal don't ask/don't tell, Congress has to do it.
Now, the administration can block all dismissals because of violations of don't ask/don't tell. But it is also known, and the president has made it known as a candidate and as the president that there needs to be a plan. You just can't one day come up and go, OK, that's it, end of don't ask/don't tell. So, it may be that the secretary does have that plan or is working on that plan to say, here's how we will gradually phase this in. There's questions about housing and privacy and that kind of thing that have to be -- that have to be worked out and certainly have to be gone through some of the higher-ups in the military.
So, that, perhaps, is the plan that's being talked about. But I think actual repeal of don't ask/don't tell, it's a law. It has got to be repealed by Congress.
BROWN: Jeff, yes? How does it work?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Absolutely.
It was made into law in 1993, when Congress was rebuking President Clinton right after he came into office. But the silver bullet here for the Obama administration is that the plan, as I understand it, is to make the repeal of don't ask/don't tell part of the military budget, which is voted on separately. And the theory is, that is always a politically inviolate piece of legislation that no one ever wants...
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: It passes. Nobody goes around playing games with the defense budget, so...
TOOBIN: That nobody can -- you know, is going to vote not to fund the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
BROWN: Right.
TOOBIN: This will be an amendment to that bill. It will go through with 60-plus votes. That's the theory.
BROWN: In theory.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: But do you expect a fight? Or...
TOOBIN: It's very hard to tell. I think if the military lines up behind it, particularly the uniformed services, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the commandant of the Marine Corps, who has been skeptical, if they all line up and salute, as it were, I think it will be relatively uncontroversial.
And also, you know, this country is very different from where it was in 1993, particularly about gay rights. So, I think it is likely to be a much less contentious matter. But we will see when it...
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Yes, pretty black and white on the right and the left in terms of how they view this issue. Independents, where are they on don't ask/don't tell by and large? All over the map maybe? (CROSSTALK)
JOHN AVLON, AUTHOR, "WINGNUTS: HOW THE LUNATIC FRINGE IS HIJACKING AMERICA": No, no, actually very supportive -- 57 percent of independents said they supported gays in the military in a poll last year. And there's a longer history here.
Remember, independents are fiscally conservative, but socially liberal to libertarian. Ross Perot in 1992 supported allowing gays in the military, not don't ask/tell, but gays in the military. And, of course, Barry Goldwater famously said you don't have to be straight to shoot straight.
So, libertarians on this have been comfortable with the idea, but very controversial among social conservatives. Independents really tracking with the American people on this one.
BROWN: All right, Candy, let me go to what was happening in Tampa today, the president hitting his new jobs mantra. Tomorrow he's going to be in Baltimore pushing tax cuts for small businesses.
Explain a little bit the president's new strategy, what we're going to see in the weeks and months ahead.
CROWLEY: If you asked the White House yesterday before the State of the Union and you asked them today after the State of the Union, they will tell you that they do not believe the president's policies are unpopular.
They believe that they haven't gotten the message out. So, they have sent out their best messenger. And that's the president of the United States, who has promised that he will focus on the economy and on jobs, which all the polls say that's what most Americans want him to do.
So, you will see more and more of these trips into interesting places, certainly Florida, which has a Senate race coming up that will be really kind of fun to watch. He's going to New Hampshire next week, another Senate race that will be great to watch.
So these are pretty strategic places. But it is also a way day after day after day to echo what the president wanted to get across last night to those independents and, in fact, to disenchanted Democrats. Here's where I stand. I understand that we have got to bring the deficit down. I understand we have got to get jobs.
So you're just going to hear that in one permutation or another for weeks to come.
BROWN: Jeff, also a big part of the message, bipartisanship, again, John, to reach out to independents.
But I want to play for you the response we got today from the House Republican leader, John Boehner. Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: I know who I am. I know what my principles are. I know what the principles of my members are. And I'm not going to sacrifice my principles just by sitting down and negotiating. But I'm willing to -- I'm willing to sit down and work with him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Now, that was him saying that -- his response to the specific invitation by the president to come and meet with him, what, every month now with Republicans.
Is this a brave new world of true bipartisanship, or not?
TOOBIN: This is the most polarized Congress certainly in my lifetime. You remember -- Mac Mathias, a senator from Maryland, died this week who had retired in the '80s.
There you used to be Republicans who worked with Democrats all the time, Bob Dole, John Heinz, Hugh Scott, all these. And that's disappeared. That tradition is completely gone of the moderate Republican. And I think bipartisanship is a waste of time.
BROWN: And enormously...
AVLON: Bipartisan is not a waste of time. I understand why political professional and beltway folks sort of roll their eyes. They say, look, this is the Kabuki theater of campaigning; everybody says it, nobody means it.
But the American people and independents in particularly really do mean it. They really do want it. And they expect it. They are tired of these ideological games.
(CROSSTALK)
TOOBIN: Max Baucus, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, wasted the entire summer begging Republicans to come along on the health care plan, and they told him to go to hell. That's what bipartisanship is.
CROWLEY: Well, but the problem here, Jeffrey, is that the definition of bipartisanship in Washington as long as I have covered it has always been that the other guy agree with you.
So, you know, you either take that approach, and you're never going to have it, or you take the approach as the president, I think, tried to do last night, what do we agree on? Then you can get some bipartisanship.
But you cannot expect that the Republicans are going to go along with something they don't agree with. They were against it even when the president was popular and it looked like he could get it through, and they're against it now.
BROWN: Right. OK. Hold on, everybody. We're going to pick back up in just a second.
But I do want to talk about the moment that everybody has been talking about relating to State of the Union, a little mouthing off from a Supreme Court justice during the speech, more going on here than you may realize.
Jeff Toobin is going to tell us about the bad blood when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: And we're back right now.
And we have got Jeff Toobin.
I want to get your reaction -- well, everyone's reaction -- to the Obama-Alito moment from last night. President Obama unexpectedly used part of his speech to blast the court's recent decision striking down some campaign finance laws. The nine justices were sitting right up front, as they always do. Justice Alito got caught giving the president some lip. He appears to say, "It's not true." Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: With all due deference to separation of powers, last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests, including foreign corporations, to spend without limit in our elections.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: All righty, and our panel back with us now.
Jeffrey Toobin, you say this is more than just his reaction to exactly what Obama said going on here.
TOOBIN: Absolutely.
You know, Senator Obama voted against the confirmation of Judge Alito to the Supreme Court. January 14, when Obama and Biden played a courtesy call at the Supreme Court, eight justices attended. Alito didn't show, without explanation.
The first law...
BROWN: Without explanation?
TOOBIN: Without explanation. The court didn't disclose why he wasn't there.
The first law that President Obama signed into law was the Lilly Ledbetter Act, which overruled a decision in the Supreme Court written by Justice Alito. So they are -- really have a lot of history between them.
BROWN: So, let it go, huh?
(CROSSTALK)
TOOBIN: I thought what Alito did was fine. If Obama is going to attack you in front of everybody, why shouldn't he be able to respond?
BROWN: Is there not a certain protocol between...
TOOBIN: You know, there is. But I thought it was a good lifting of the veil to show that the Supreme Court is a political institution just the way the rest -- I mean, it's different, but it has -- these people have strong opinions. And I thought what Alito did, I thought it was just fine.
BROWN: Candy, though -- I will let you comment, John.
But was there any White House reaction to what he did today? What are they telling you?
CROWLEY: Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton on the plane down to Florida where the president was today told reporters, look, isn't this great democracy, where powerful men can disagree in private and in public?
I talked to somebody over at the White House today and I said, so what about this? And what did the president think about, you know, what Alito did? Did someone tell him about it afterwards?
And this source said, so, the percentage in my engaging in this conversation with you is what?
(LAUGHTER)
CROWLEY: So, they don't want to talk about it.
They're very happy, I think, probably for other people to talk about it, but they're going to let it stand that it's wonderful for democracy the these two men can disagree.
(LAUGHTER)
TOOBIN: And I'm in the wonderful for democracy...
(CROSSTALK)
CROWLEY: John, are you as well?
AVLON: I just think it's such an improvement over Joe Wilson, I think, by comparison.
(LAUGHTER)
TOOBIN: That's true.
BROWN: All right. I guess we're going to become accustomed to a little outburst of some sort at these things going forward.
Many thanks, Candy Crowley, Jeff Toobin, and John Avlon. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.
Coming up, your tax dollars at work going to build a second runway in a tiny Alaskan village. Is that really the best use of our stimulus money? We're going to talk about that when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: All this week, CNN is bringing you the Stimulus Project. We are using all our resources to track down where the $862 billion in taxpayer money is going.
And, as part of that, tonight, we're doing some fact-checking on two of the projects that President Obama talked about during the State of the Union.
Tom Foreman is joining us from the CNN stimulus desk.
Tom, tell us what you're finding.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Campbell, what we're talking about tonight is very big-ticket items that also require a very big leap of faith if you think we're going to get anything other than jobs out of them.
How about this, $8 billion the president announced to connect all these communities with high-speed trains? Boy, that sounds like a great deal, if you can get $8 billion to get all of that. It would involve train corridors and development in 31 different states. There are more than 30 rail manufacturers who have signed on to be involved with this.
It would be a huge part of the stimulus package, on top of which the feds will throw in an additional $5 billion to help get all of this going. The problem for critics I, will you get anything besides jobs out of this?
We have looked at a lot of things, as you know, Campbell, where the issue is, we get something, but we don't get jobs. Here you may get a lot of jobs over time. But zoom in right over here to the East Coast. If you take a look at this. This is the Acela train route over here.
And I want to have a point of reference here, $8 billion to build this whole big system to get started on it. They admit that it's just a start. To upgrade this part of the existing Acela train route, which had all sorts of problems when it started in the '90s, less than a year ago, Vice President Biden announced more than $1 billion just to upgrade this.
So, if you look at the Acela that way and say you're going to spend that much to get an existing system with rails and trains and people and stations upgraded, widen the map out again, you get a sense of how much it would cost to make all of this be put into place. It's a huge, huge, huge amount of money. Out here in California, this section alone is anticipated to cost $34 billion. So, when we look at this, Campbell, in terms of the money that your tax dollars are going for to help with the stimulus, yes, you may get a lot of jobs out of this, but the indications are this is very much a drop in the bucket, a very tiny start on a project that will cost many, many, many, many, many billions more, before you will ever see trains running on any of these routes and certainly before you will see all of them running -- Campbell.
BROWN: And, Tom, there was another transportation project that the president mentioned that would help small business triple its work force, right?
FOREMAN: Yes, you may have seen these ads on TV for the Leaf car by Nissan. This is another one that is being talked about here.
Here's the idea. About $100 million is going for these electric cars. The lead contractor is called eTec. They're a company that will do this. And they will create jobs as they develop this and an infrastructure system to report them.
They're talking about 15 jobs were created in 2009, 27 more in 2010. And they expect 50 jobs have been preserved. So, that's not too bad. But, remember, we're talking about $100 million for this project.
And, as we walk over here and look at our people here still looking into the Stimulus Project, they have been doing it all week long. They're going to keep going through all these papers, figuring out what's involved there.
The thing you have to bear in mind, the e-tech -- the e-project that we're talking about, the e-tech project to build these cars in time is expected to make 750 new jobs by 2021 and could fuel more than 5,000 jobs by 2017, but that's a long time. So far look at the money we've checked out, more than $8 billion worth, Campbell, that's your tax dollars. Keep an eye on that. We'll keep an eye on how it's being spent. You can decide if you like it.
BROWN: OK, Tom Foreman for us, tonight. Tom, thanks very much.
Today, as part of the stimulus project chief financial correspondent Ali Velshi spoke with Jared Bernstein, the chief economist and policy advisor to Vice President Biden about whether the money created so far is helping to create enough jobs. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALI VELSHI, CHIEF FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: What's your sense of whether the money that has been spent in the stimulus has been deployed effectively to create jobs? Because, that's largely been yours and the vice president's and the president's message in the last year.
JARED BERNSTEIN, V.P. BIDEN'S ECONOMIC ADVISOR: Not only has it been spent effectively, it's been spent efficiently. That is it's gone out the door quickly at a pace that is just about, maybe a little even faster than we had expected. And it has offset some, not all, and we've all, including the president last night, been quick to point that out, the deluge in the labor market of job loss from the deepest recession since the Great Depression would have overwhelmed any conceivable government program. But, the ability of this program to get out the door as quickly as it had and offset that pain to help stabilize the job market, I think has been really effective.
VELSHI: You must have heard this, not just from us at CNN, but must have heard this question wherever you go that the minute we talk about saved or created or job losses that were prevented, it almost becomes immeasurable, it becomes unverifiable, because we don't really know who else would have laid someone off. So, this is where, I guess, some of the tension comes in because we don't know how to prove those numbers to be true or false.
BERNSTEIN: Well, there's a long-standing set of methods that we use, the Congressional Budget Office, which I think is widely granted to be an independent source of analysis, came up with a number that was just about identical to ours. In fact, they're talking about up to 2.4 million jobs saved or created through the fourth quarter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Tonight, at 10:00 Eastern on AC-360, the NAPA Wine train got more than $50 million stimulus dollars. Two powerful senators furious about that, but locals don't understand why. Who is right? We'll tell you about that. And then tomorrow, right here at 8:00 Eastern, for desperate job seekers, the recession has meant changing careers. We're going to show you one unemployed man who could afford to do that thanks to stimulus money, on "The Stimulus Project" all this week on CNN and CNN.com/stimulus.
And each night we have been focusing part of this show on the struggle in Haiti to try to protect hundreds of thousands of children after the earthquake. But, just weeks from now a whole new generation of children will be born. And our Sanjay Gupta is in Haiti looking at what can be done to help these new mothers with new babies when so many people there are already in need. That part of the story when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: As recovery continues down in Haiti we wanted to, again, focus our attention on the children. There are 300,000 children under the age of two who still need food right now. Ninety percent of schools in Port-au-Prince have been destroyed and there are an estimated one million unaccompanied or orphaned children, right now.
UNICEF and Save the Children have set up about 13 camps for them. The difficult task of caring for Haiti's children about to get more complicated. It's estimated that about 7,000 expectant mothers in Port-au-Prince will give birth in just about a month and our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is joining us from Haiti. Anderson Cooper with us, as well. Sanjay is going to start us off, though, about telling us a little bit about where you were today, Sanjay, and what exactly you found.
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, for the first couple days we were visiting this general hospital, which is sort of the big hospital in downtown, there really was no facility to take care of babies, no facility to take care of pregnant women, either. So, we were at a facility today that was new. Sort of almost like a makeshift maternal ward and even had a sort of neonatal ICU component to it, as well. So, huge progress there.
It wasn't a tent. So, it wasn't a gleaming new building by any means, but it was something that didn't exist a few days ago. Seven thousand was the number you gave as far as number of births expected this month. There are 63,000 pregnant women who were affected by this earthquake around Haiti. So, there's going to be a lot of new babies coming up. And these women who themselves are vulnerable as a result of what's happened to them.
BROWN: And, I guess even under the best of circumstances, you know, it feels like the odds are kind of stacked against them. I mean, talk us through kind of what their unique challenges are compared to what everybody else is going through.
GUPTA: Yeah, absolutely. And some of this was what it was like even before the earthquake. I mean, some of this is just sort of the baseline of Haiti. But, there's really two issues that seem to be clear to me. One is the overall medical care that's available, you know, to babies born prematurely, for example. They have certain needs. You know, in the United States, where you are, Campbell, they'd probably be in a true neonatal ICU, they'd have an incubator, they'd have antibiotics, they'd have specific kind of feedings specific to a newborn or even a premature baby.
The other issue there that is a component that women, themselves, are vulnerable and potentially more exposed to exploitation, to trafficking, to all sorts of different issues that make it difficult for mom, obviously, to live let alone take care of her child. So, you have these two things that just make it really difficult. I mean, a lot of women will be giving birth literally on the streets, unattended.
The U.N.'s going around giving these kits, literally these kits that teach a woman how to clamp off her own umbilical cord and cut the umbilical cord and try to deliver a baby, because that's how it is for tens of thousands of women out here.
BROWN: Sanjay, you got to say looking at those pictures it's unbelievable. And just very quickly, before we go to Anderson, the babies you saw in the hospital that we were watching on the video, their mothers are able to be there with them? I know these are sort of chaotic conditions, but where are the mothers?
GUPTA: Yeah, you know, for the most part the mothers are able to be there with them. And you know, they've really done a pretty good job, again, Campbell, not only setting up those tents, but really being sensitive to some of those issues allowing mothers to visit with the babies. Culture issues, being very culture specific.
But again, you know, I don't want to paint too rosy a picture, here. The problem is where do they go after they leave the hospital? A Premature baby, what kind of care are they going to get outside a tent in the streets? These are real issues that are starting to be dealt with, but there's a lot of work to be done and obviously, again, a lot of pregnant women out there.
BROWN: All right, Sanjay Gupta for us. And as I mentioned, Anderson Cooper is also standing by with their with Sanjay, and I know, Anderson, you've been following a very disturbing story. And I just want to warn people, especially if you have any kids in the room with you right now, the video that Anderson has is pretty tough to watch.
And I know, Anderson, you visited an area that simply became a mass grave after the earthquake. Tell us what you found, today.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've been on the trail of missing Americans, 4,500 to 5,000, according to the U.S. government here, no exact number. We wanted to find out what is happening to the people who have simply disappeared, whose bodies were dumped into trucks and taken off. We had gone to a mass grave about two weeks ago right after the earthquake and obviously was a horrific sight.
We thought two weeks later that it would at least be covered over, some sort of order would be there. What we were stunned to discover is that many of the bodies, many of the dead have simply been left dumped on the ground. And we're talking about two weeks later. Today we tried to track down government officials to find out who's responsible for this and why they can't have simple decency to bury these people. I mean, there's pits that are open, but literally they have left -- in the location we were at more than a dozen or two dozen bodies just in horrendous piles out on the ground.
I can't even really describe to you the scenes that we saw and we're trying to be judicious in the pictures that we are showing you. There's absolutely no reason for this.
They took the trouble to use a bulldozer to block the access road to prevent people from going to the sites. So clearly they don't want anybody to know about it. The government spokesperson I talked to today said, first of all, didn't seem to believe me when I was telling her that we had seen this with our own eyes and then said she would try to find out why this was the case and that's certainly not government policy to do that.
But, it's incredibly disturbing for not only the American families of the missing but for Haitians who, you know, they don't know where they loved ones are, but they certainly don't want their loved ones to end up just dumped on the side of a road.
BROWN: No kidding. I mean, you can't imagine how frustrating this has to be for the families. Anderson Cooper, who, we should say, will have much more on this and other aspects of the story tonight on "360" and Sanjay Gupta who joins us there, as well. Appreciate it.
Still ahead tonight, Toyota's nightmare recall just getting bigger and bigger. Now, over five million cars involved and the problem that sparked the recall still isn't fixed. We're going to tell you about that when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: As we've told you all this week CNN's "Stimulus Project" is tracking your tax dollars; stimulus money, pouring in to communities across the country including a tiny hamlet in Alaska that is now getting a secondary airstrip. Our Ted Rowlands inspected that runway and you be the judge, if that money is well worth being spent. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TED ROWLANDS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A break in the weather allows pilot Wes Awzowski (ph) to fly us over Spruce Island, Alaska, in the village of Ouzinkie so we can see firsthand how the federal government is spending almost $15 million on a project many people are calling a waste of money.
(on camera): The money is being used for a new airstrip despite the fact that less than 200 people live in Ouzinkie and they already have a runway. Which we're about to land on.
(voice-over): The state of Alaska claims this 2,000-foot airstrip we're landing on is too short and, therefore, unsafe, even though it's been in use for more than 30 years without a major accident. Fourteen point seven million dollars of stimulus money is paying for a new gravel airstrip about two miles away that will be about 1,000 feet longer.
The nearly 200 residents of Ouzinkie, Alaska, are mostly Inuit natives, descendants of Russian fur traders. There's one general store here, a post office and a church and now, thanks to taxpayers, they'll have two airstrips.
PAUL DELGADO, OUZINKIE RESIDENT: If I was in the village that didn't have an airstrip and here's this, they have two of them, I would be very mad.
ROWLANDS: Well, the U.S. Department of Transportation's inspector general decided to audit the project, calling Ouzinkie's second airstrip, "questionable for taxpayers." Watch dog groups argue spending $14.7 million on something that benefits fewer than 200 people, more than $70,000 per person is ridiculous.
(on camera): But, the people behind the project, both here in Alaska and in Washington, D.C., are defending it. In fact, they say that the Ouzinkie runway is a perfect way to use stimulus tax dollars.
CATHLEEN LANG, FEDERAL AVIATION ADIM: The goal was get the money out fast to projects that were project ready that could be mobilized that could put America, all Americas, in all 50 states, to work. This project achieved that goal with an investment of enduring value to both aviation and to the community.
ROWLANDS: The FAA controls the purse strings for airport improvement projects. They say Ouzinkie's runway is part of a long- ranked plan to shore up rural airstrips in the state of Alaska, making aviation safer for villages that rely on flying for survival.
This map shows every highway in the entire state of Alaska. Not too many. Now, look at the number of airstrips. Frank Richards, an official with the Alaska Department of Transportation, says airports like Ouzinkie's provide far-flung communities with the crucial link to services they need.
FRANK RICHARDS, ALASKA DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION: This project would have likely been funded within a one or two-year timeframe.
ROWLANDS: So, federal taxpayers are going to pay for this anyway within the next couple years. This was going to happen.
RICHARDS: This was going to happen, that's correct.
ROWLANDS: And you don't think it's a waste of money?
RICHARDS: It's not a waste of money. No. Again, the citizens of Ouzinkie, like any other American should be provided transportation, health care issues and access to the rest of America that folks in Iowa or folks in Kansas or folks in Maine afford, right now.
ROWLANDS: Are you ripping off the American taxpayer with this project?
DANA PRUHS, PRUHS CONSTRUCTION: No, I'm not. I'm taking a big risk...
ROWLANDS (voice-over): Dana Pruhs' construction company was the low bidder for the project at $9.7 million. He says it's expensive to build in remote and rural Alaska.
(on camera): In fact, it's going to cost about a million dollars to transport all of this equipment on and off the island for this project.
(voice-over): Labor is also expensive. Workers get tons of overtime to make up for the fact that construction has to halt during the brutal winter months. On top of that employees have to be fed and housed, here.
(on camera): Does it make you angry when you hear that this project is supposedly a rip-off?
PRUHS: Well, sure it does. You know, we have hardworking American citizens doing a good job, spending the public money wisely, I believe, good value in relationship to what it takes to do business and to build things in Alaska.
ROWNANDS (voice-over): Forty-six jobs were generated from the project, 10 to Ouzinkie residents. None of the jobs are permanent, but the money is trickling down, more than 120 companies are profiting directly from this project. But, the big winner is Ouzinkien the Alaskan village with no stop lights that will soon have two airstrips.
Ted Rowlands, CNN, Ouzinkie, Alaska.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: The bottom line, in Ouzinkie, for that 3,300 foot gravel runway and 1.7 mile gravel road, $14.7 million in stimulus money created 46 jobs.
LARRY KING LIVE starting in just a few moments. And Larry, what do you have for us, tonight?
LARRY KING, LARRY KING LIVE: Oh, lots on the table, Campbell. We're discussing what Jay Leno said about his late night battle with Conan O'Brien. We'll also talk about what finally caused John and Elizabeth Edwards to announce their separation after 32 years of marriage.
And then Ted and Gayle Haggard are here. His gay sex and drug scandal cost him his ministry but not his marriage. And I'm going to ask her why she forgives him. And then, at the end of the show musical stars Mary J. Blige and Angela Bocelli with a big announcement all next on LARRY KING LIVE -- Campbell.
BROWN: All right, Larry, we'll see you in a few minutes.
When we come back that massive Toyota recall spreading and they can't really say when they're going to be able to fix the problem. We have some new details to tell you about when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Coming up, a cabinet secretary caught catching Zs during State of the Union?
Plus, all the bloopers from last night that you will only see right here, but first, we do have some other must-see news happening right now. Mike Galanos here with tonight's download.
Hey, Mike.
MIKE GALANOS, HLN PRIME NEWS: Hey, Campbell. First let's start with Toyota, Enterprise Holdings which includes Enterprise, Alamo, National Brands says this affects about four percent of its fleet. And this comes as Toyota raised the number of vehicles recalled in at least, now we're talking about over thee millions are now affected. Recalls were also expanded to China and Europe.
Well, an attorney for one of the four men accused of tampering with Senator Mary Landrieu's office phones says the whole thing was just a stunt. The lawyer for conservative activist James O'Keefe claims the group just wanted to embarrass the senator's staff with the problems office was having fielding calls during the health care debate. Senator Landrieu today called the excuse to feeble attempt to divert attention away from a serious crime.
And he wrote more than 30 short stories, handful of novellas, but. J.D. Salinger's fame rests mostly on one book, "The Catcher in the Rye." The book touch a nerve among generations for its nonconformist attitudes. But some schools banned it for its language and descriptions of some adventures. . J.D. Salinger died Wednesday at the age of 91 in New Hampshire. The famously reclusive author requested there should be no service. Last published work, 1965. Last interview, 1980. Campbell, back to you.
BROWN: The "New Yorker" has his stories up on their Web site, right now. Yeah, it's fascinating. Mike Galanos for us tonight. Mike, as always, thank you very much.
As we mentioned, LARRY KING LIVE, starting in a few minutes. Up next, though, tonight's "Guilty Pleasure," the State of the Union like you have never seen it before including the moments they'd rather we didn't see like this one. When do you announce the president is actually here?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Jeanne Moos brings us tonight's "Guilty Pleasure," some of the best moments from last night's State of the Union. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If you're salivating for screw-up's the State of the Union got off to a promising start, that deer in the headlights moment with the official introducers at a loss to know when to start.
(BEGIN GRAPHIC)
They're supposed to give us a tap.
(END GRAPHIC)
A tap of the gavel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Madam speaker, the president of the United States.
MOOS: We're off. Ah, to be a fly on the wall at the State of the Union or eagle on the ceiling.
(on camera): Of course, everyone's favorite State of the Union game is watching who claps when. All rise. Please be seated.
(voice-over): Some suffered from P.A., premature applause. BARACK OBAMA (D), UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: ...American people get a government that matches their decency, that embodies their strength.
MOOS: Enthusiastic clappers contrasted with stony faced Republicans after a presidential dig after the oppositions, someone yelled, "oh snap!"
OBAMA: The problem is, that's what we did for eight years.
MOOS: And at one point one of the most avid clappers, California Democrat, Barbara Lee, physically nudged a colleague seemingly to get her not to clap.
OBAMA: Democrats and Republicans, you've trimmed some of the spending...
MOOS: Then there was the joint chiefs don't ask/don't tell/don't applaud moment.
OBAMA: To finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are.
MOOS: There was so much clapping for Michelle Obama, she gestured for everyone to sit.
OBAMA: She gets embarrassed.
MOOS: So did a Fox News correspondent, Major Garrett who tried to Tweet a link to State of the Union excerpts and accidentally gave out a soft porn site. Sorry.
Jimmy Kimmel imagined how the president should have described the State of the Union.
OBAMA: We are (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
MOOS: Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito got the most attention for apparently mouthing "not true" when the president dissed a Supreme Court decision
OBAMA: ...including foreign corporations to spend without limit in our elections.
MOOS: Not quite as exciting as the last time the president's veracity was challenged.
REP JOE WILSON (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: You lie! You lie! You lie!
MOOS: Maybe Senator Harry Reid needed to lie down. But, not Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano. Here she is putting the nap in Napolitano, mocked one right-wing Web site. But, the AFP photographer who took the picture said she wasn't asleep, not unless she was sleep clapping.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York. (END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: That's it for us. Larry King starts right now.
