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Lou Dobbs Tonight
Israel and Hamas Conflict; Ground Attack? Iraq Takes Control; The Name of the Game; Renegotiating NAFTA? Border Betrayal
Aired January 01, 2009 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Suzanne.
Tonight Israel escalates its bombardment of Gaza. Will there be an Israeli ground assault? We'll have complete coverage.
Also tonight President-elect Obama talks tough on the issue of free trade, but will his tough talk be matched by tough action?
And you won't believe some of the movies that are being added to the National Film Registry. We'll tell you about those movies and why a film by an actor, turned politician, is on the list for preservation. We have all that, all the day's news and much more from an independent perspective straight ahead here tonight.
ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT: news, debate and opinion for Thursday, January 1st. Live from New York, sitting in for Lou Dobbs, Kitty Pilgrim.
PILGRIM: Good evening everybody. Israeli's relentless bombardment of Gaza intensified today. An air attack killed a top Hamas military commander and he is one of more than 400 Palestinians killed in the past six days. Four Israelis have also been killed.
The Israeli military today said preparations for a possible ground assault into Gaza are complete. Israeli troops, tanks and artillery are massed along the border. Ben Wedeman reports from near the Israeli/Gaza border.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Strike after Israeli strike in northern Gaza. More missiles roared towards earth. Israel's onslaught is relentless. Thursday's targets included the Palestinian Parliament, the Ministries of Education and Transportation, also struck, the home of Hamas military leader Nizar Rayyan. He died along with at least nine others, including children. The building reduced to rubble. Israeli often, but not always, gives advanced notice of strikes in crowded areas.
ISAAC HERZOG, ISRAELI WELFARE MINISTER: We give ample warning. We intervene in broadcast of the Arab television, Palestinian television and radio to warn in advance. I don't know exactly about this family, but I assume they were warned.
WEDEMAN: Israeli's ultra modern largely American-supplied arsenal has left entire neighborhoods battered beyond recognition. The inhabitant terrified by the sound of more planes on the way. To some Gazans, the choice of targets and a level of fire power are perplexing. Israeli officials say they're trying to minimize civilian casualties.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WEDEMAN: This man says he thinks the target in the building next to his damaged home was a member of Hamas' military wing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WEDEMAN: He lived in just one apartment, he says. But the destruction here is incredible. To get one person, they had to destroy an entire building? The hospitals are barely able to keep up. Palestinian medical sources say the wounded now number more than 2,000, over 200 in critical condition.
The medical system say relief officials close to collapse. Most people are staying inside. Shops are shut. Those who do venture out line up outside a bakery.
(on camera): Throughout Thursday afternoon, Israel intensified its air bombardment of Gaza softening up, perhaps, the target before the ground offensive.
(voice-over): Israeli's military might has yet to stop the militants from firing their rockets. More than 40 fell on southern Israel Thursday. The climax of this deadly drama may be near.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, near the Gaza/Israel border.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Israeli's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is on a visit to Paris and said Israel is on the front lines of the quote, "free world", as she put it. She said Israeli's goal is to weaken Hamas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TZIPI LIVNI, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER: The situation in the region became unbearable. Hamas abused the fact that they controlled Gaza Strip in order to attack Israeli civilians. We decided to change the equation in which they believe that they can target and kill Israelis civilians without any kind of retaliation or answer from Israel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PILGRIM: Now Livni also said Israel will try to help Palestinian civilians in Gaza as fast as it can.
Thousands of Israeli troops are deployed along the border with Gaza. There are indications that Israel may be preparing to launch a ground offensive into Gaza. Paula Hancocks reports from Jerusalem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Air strikes on Gaza. Israeli's stage one. A cease-fire now has been sharply ruled out. So what is stage two? Is this the next logical move, boots on the ground in Gaza?
Defense Minister Ehud Barak has threatened it and judging by the scene along the border over the past few days the military is ready for it. Israel's cabinet has already approved the call-up of 9,000 reservists. Israel claims several times a day it is destroying more rocket warehouses and more rocket launches.
This video released by the military seems to show secondary explosions consistent with weapons being hit. But then Hamas replies with longer range missiles reaching Israeli cities and civilians who thought they were safe. The ground option is not an easy one for Israel even if the military deems it necessary to rout out the rockets not seen or accessible by air.
The action Israel has taken so far has strong domestic support. According to one poll says that would fall to just 19 percent with a ground operation.
GERALD STEINBERG, UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR: We know the ground forces going in are going to mean casualties. Some of those tanks are going to be blown up. They're going to be Israelis that are going to be killed in the ground operations, so there is a preference not to do it but there is also realization there is probably no other choice.
HANCOCKS: And Hamas has already laid down its own welcome mat for any ground troops. One day before being killed by an Israeli air strike on Thursday, senior Hamas leader Nizar Rayyan said we are the ones who know Gaza's every corner and know how, with the permission of god, we will kill and imprison their men and rub their noses in the sand.
(on camera): It's not just a question of troops going in, but how do they get back out again? Very few Israelis want to reoccupy Gaza and any Israeli tank withdrawal after an operation is likely to be billed by Hamas as a victory for them.
Paula Hancocks, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Turning now to the war in Iraq. Two more of our troops have been killed. Fourteen of our troops were killed in Iraq last month. That's one of the lowest monthly totals of the entire war; 4,221 of our troops have been killed since this war began; 30,920 of our troops have been wounded; 13,624 of them seriously.
Well another sign today of improved security in Iraq. The United States today handed over the heavily fortified green zone in Baghdad to Iraq. An Iraqi military band led the ceremony. Iraqi and American military commanders were among the guests. In the past year, violence in Iraq has plummeted from an average of 180 attacks a day to 10 attacks a day.
Today is also the first day of a new U.S./Iraqi security pact. Under that agreement, all of our troops will leave Iraq in three years. Joining me now is CNN military analyst General David Grange. General Grange, thanks for being with us.
BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Thank you.
PILGRIM: Talk to me a little bit about the green zone turnover. How do you think that will go? Do you think this is a good moment for this?
GRANGE: Well, it had to happen. It's time to start turning over some of these different areas in Iraq which is -- has been ongoing. But the key is you know how do you protect the U.S. and other coalition forces there to include civilian entities, not profit organizations and for-profit organizations that are in these areas as well.
And I'm sure there's a lot of coordination going on about information of who does what in what areas to make sure the intelligence is there in case there's some threats that develop. But it was inevitable and it's a good thing that it happened.
PILGRIM: Yes. You know, on this information vacuum that may develop, as the U.S. forces are scaled back, isn't there the potential that they'll lose touch with who is on what side and what factions are developing and all of this sort of very -- very granular things that you need to know when you're in the field like that?
GRANGE: I think some of that will happen, no doubt about it. With the different pieces within each faction, understanding who the players are in this -- in the conflict or even in the peaceful areas, because people have agendas. They all do.
And some would have -- they are looking for revenge. Some are looking for power. Some are looking for money. And so, yes, it's hard to keep a hand on the pulse of what the intelligence is that you need to operate and that will be more difficult, I believe.
PILGRIM: President-elect Obama says that he still thinks 16 months is the right time frame for withdrawing, removing U.S. combat troops from Iraq. What do you think about that?
GRANGE: Well, I think it's possible and conditions remain like they are right now, but, you know what normally happens in operating environments is things change constantly and you have to be able to adapt to those changes. And so the new president will have to be prepared to change his course, change his timelines, if needed, to continue the momentum of success that we're enjoying today.
When you lock into a time line and stick to it, even though conditions change, you have problems for yourself. So I think that he'll have to adapt to what we find on the ground.
PILGRIM: Right. Let's switch to Afghanistan. We have a report today out, General Grange that shows that foreign troops suffered the highest death toll in Afghanistan in 2008. President Obama will have to deal with Afghanistan. What is the strategy he should take and can we win this war?
GRANGE: I do believe we can win this war. I think the strategy should change. I think the focus right now is more threat-based than on the people and the people are really the key. They are what we call the center of gravity for this operation.
And we can kill all the Taliban/al Qaeda that we are capable of killing day after day, month after month, year after year, but, eventually, you have to change the conditions that allow the Taliban to be successful and control people in certain areas in Afghanistan. So you have to make the sanctuaries in Pakistan irrelevant.
You have to work with the people and gain that trust. You will have to do something with the central government so the people trust their own central government. These things take elements of power other than just the military and so the surge of a whole nation type approach used in economics information, and that will have to be applied in a surge type capability in order to win.
PILGRIM: General Grange, I really would like to get your thoughts on Israeli's assault on Gaza. Do you believe that a ground invasion is eminent from what you're seeing?
GRANGE: Well, it's going to have to be. Air power works when you start the fight and you have very good intelligence, but as the battle goes on, it's very difficult than to track targets on a continuous basis and, of course, you have collateral damage with the heavy air strikes.
I think troops will have to go in. It's a tough mess. You're fighting in urban terrain. You're fighting in a neighborhood that the adversary controls. The pity of the whole thing is that the militant segment of Hamas started it, breaking a treaty, lobbing rockets into Israel.
I mean, if you put yourself in their position as Americans, if we had an enclave within our country that rockets were being launched from, what would we do? And so this is a tough situation and a lot of civilians are dying, most of them -- really I mean it's because of Israeli strikes but, really, the people that set that up are the militant elements that allow it to happen to their own people, which is really a shame.
PILGRIM: Yeah, the whole thing is horrible to watch it unfold and we're on day seven. General David Grange, thank you very much.
GRANGE: My pleasure.
PILGRIM: Much more on Israeli's assault on Gaza ahead. The attacks, again, enter a seventh day. We'll ask a former U.S. peace envoy whether a lasting cease-fire is possible.
Also will President-elect Obama stand up for middle class Americans and stop unfair trade with other countries?
Also, financial institutions that are receiving billions of dollars of government money are still spending millions on sports teams. We'll tell you all about that. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: Thousands of people packed the streets of Pasadena, California today to watch the annual Rose Parade. And this is the 120th running of the Rose Parade. It featured 46 of the trademark floats, along with dozens of marching bands, equestrian teams.
Now parade watchers were greeted with another Rose Parade tradition. It's a beautiful sunny day in Pasadena and Pasadena police estimated more than one million people would attend the Tournament of Roses events, including the parade and the Rose Bowl game.
Well, that Rose Bowl game or as it's now called, the Rose Bowl Game presented by Citi is just one of the many examples of a corporation paying a hefty sum to have its name tied to the sports world. Bill Tucker has the report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Since Citi won the naming right to the home of the New York Mets back in 2006 and agreed to pay $400 million times have changed. Citi stock has tumbled nearly 87 percent and the company has received $45 billion from taxpayers to bail out the bank and keep it from bankruptcy. The stadium naming deal appears to be backfiring.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean with all those people losing their jobs you know, such as Citibank and then they're giving all of this money to stadiums and stuff when people are unemployed and can't you know find work, then it's not the best thing to put out there in the public.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's a bit of a waste. They should keep the money and put it back into their own business.
TUCKER: Citi is hardly the first to pay big bucks for tie-in to sports. It's also not Citi's only sports sponsorship deal.
ANNOUNCER: The Rose Bowl game presented by Citi on ABC.
TUCKER: Nor is Citi the only company bailed out by taxpayers to be dropping hundreds of millions of dollars on a sports team. AIG paid $125 million to the English Premier League Soccer Club Manchester United to have its name plastered across players' chests.
MARK HUGHES, BUZZMARKETING: You and me and every American own AIG so shouldn't we have a shot at having our face on the Manchester United shirt.
TUCKER: Mark Hughes is the marketing man who cooked up the deal that renamed the town Halfway Oregon Half.com after its own Web site. That was a successful deal. A rare deal, Hughes says.
HUGHES: It's a complete ego stroke. I mean, you either see the revenue or you don't. It's plain and simple and I've done those deals and I've looked at the numbers and they don't produce revenue.
TUCKER: Some call it an edifice complex.
STEVE ELLIS, TAXPAYERS FOR COMMON SENSE: These are politically tone deaf maneuvers that really offend the public and offend the taxpayers who are putting billions of dollars into their companies.
TUCKER: And not every corporate sponsorship has a happy ending like the third year $100 million deal Enron signed with the Houston Astros.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCKER: And not all executives are completely tone deaf. Chrysler is no longer a sponsor, for example, of the Motor City Bowl played in Ford Stadium and this fall Buick ended its relationship with Tiger Woods as the company cut back on its spending -- Kitty.
PILGRIM: You know Bill, how much does this actually buy them to get their name...
TUCKER: Well all of these companies are well known anyway. They're very successful or otherwise they couldn't afford the price tag that goes with these kinds of deals. And Mark Hughes, when I was talking to him, said he had done some research goggling Shea Stadium 2008, Citi Field 2008, he got four times more hits for Shea Stadium. He said no one is ever going to call it Citi Field, they're going to call it Shea Stadium so you got to wonder what $400 million buys you, you know.
PILGRIM: I guess that is the answer. Thanks very much.
TUCKER: Yeah.
PILGRIM: Bill Tucker.
Well that brings us to tonight's poll. Now do you think it's irresponsible for companies bailed out by taxpayers to spend millions of dollars naming sports stadiums? Yes or no. Cast your vote at loudobbs.com. We'll bring you the results a little bit later in the broadcast.
The top two executives from Citigroup, one of the nation's leading sponsors of sports, will forego their annual bonuses for 2008. The company CEO and chairman decided to give up their bonuses because of what they call the harsh realities of 2008. Citigroup stock has plunged in the past year and as Bill Tucker reported, the bank has received $45 billion from federal government's bailout program.
Well, the bailout program is also helping General Motors and Chrysler with up to $17 billion in emergency loans. Another $6 billion is going to the GMAC Financial Services Company. And, tonight, there is speculation that government bailout money could help even more companies and those companies could include the country's biggest auto parts makers. Now, they are also suffering from the slump in car sales.
New questions tonight about whether President-elect Obama will stand up for middle class Americans on another issue, so-called free trade. There are rising doubts about the president-elect's promise to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement. Lisa Sylvester reports from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): During a primary debate in Ohio, Senator Barack Obama said he would take a different approach to trade than President Bush. Obama said the United States should bow out of the North American Free Trade Agreement unless the deal is reworked to benefit U.S. workers and consumers.
BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think we should use the hammer of a potential opt-out as leverage to ensure that we actually get labor and environmental standards that are enforced.
SYLVESTER: But now that Obama is headed to the White House was that tough talk simply campaign rhetoric or a serious pledge that the president-elect plans to follow through on? The U.S. Business and Industry Council is eager to see a revamped approach to trade.
But Kevin Kearns with the Council is not optimistic. He says just look to the people who Obama so far has appointed to his economic team.
KEVIN KEARNS, BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY COUNCIL: The team that the president-elect has appointed is really a continuation of -- of the Clinton/Bush trade agreements. They're the architects of the situation which we find ourselves today.
SYLVESTER: Obama economic adviser and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel both veterans of the Bill Clinton administration, actively lobbied for NAFTA while commerce secretary pick Bill Richardson was one of its leading congressional cheerleaders. But Obama faces an economic and political reality.
The country is hemorrhaging jobs; 533,000 jobs lost last month alone. The nation has lost nearly two million jobs in the last year. That adds to the pressure on Obama to create new jobs. Senator Sherrod Brown says that includes looking at the trade agreements.
SEN. SHERROD BROWN (D), OHIO: And he knows nothing in the most important thing in his administration is jobs and if we don't create the kind of manufacturing jobs, retain and create the kind of manufacturing jobs that we've historically had in this country, we lose the middle class.
SYLVESTER: Obama's most likely approach isn't to ban all trade agreements, but to insist that new deals include basic labor and environmental standards. Pending agreements that the Bush administration negotiated with Panama, Colombia and South Korea will likely be reworked according to Public Citizens Global Watch.
LORI WALLACH, PUBLIC CITIZEN: So if in fact President-elect Obama is able to build new consensus about a different set of rules that actually let us take the benefit to trade, but that don't inherently send our jobs offshore, don't push down our wages, et cetera, then he might rebuild support and that is really the task ahead for him.
SYLVESTER: Congress is likely to play a bigger role on trade policy under fast track authority lawmakers left much of the negotiating on trade to the executive branch with little input. But that's likely to not be the case during the Obama years. Any new members of Congress were elected promising not just free trade, but fair trade.
Lisa Sylvester, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Up next, Israel threatens to launch a ground assault into Gaza. We'll talk with a former Middle East peace negotiator.
And also, President Bush has pardoned drug dealers, an illegal alien smuggler, but will he pardon former border patrol agents Ramos and Compean? We'll have that and much more when we return. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: President Bush has less than three weeks to pardon former border patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. Now some lawmakers are urging the president to pardon the two men that have been jailed for protecting our border. Casey Wian has the report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eighty-two members of Congress have signed a letter asking President Bush to either pardon or commute the prison sentences of former border patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. They have served nearly two years of 11 and 12-year sentences for shooting and wounding an illegal alien drug smuggler in 2005.
REP. DANA ROHRABACHER (R), CALIFORNIA: This letter is pleading the case of Ramos and Compean, the two border patrol agents who we believe were unjustly prosecuted in the first place but now, at the very least, at the tail end of the Bush administration, we should see this president granting a commutation of the sentences of these two border patrol agents.
WIAN: An appeals court reversed some of the agents' convictions for not properly reporting the shooting, but it let stand the charge of using a gun to commit a crime which carries a 10-year mandatory prison term.
Lawmakers have informally requested a pardon for the agents before. But now they are making it official through the Justice Department's pardon attorney. Congressmen including a former judge and prosecutor say the agents' sentences were too.
REP. TED POE (R), TEXAS: My opinion, both of these border patrol agents got a bad deal. It appears now that they are political prisoners, incarcerated in the federal penitentiary for just doing their job on the Texas/Mexico border.
REP. BILL DELAHUNT (D), MASSACHUSETTS: This sentence is so disproportionate that it erodes the confidence and the respect for the rule of law in this country.
WIAN: Supporters of the agents are angry that President Bush has recently pardoned drug dealers, an illegal alien smuggler and Isaac Toussie, who was convicted in a mortgage fraud scheme. His pardon was quickly revoked after it was reported his father donated tens of thousands of dollars to the Republican Party. The wives and children of Ramos and Compean sent a Christmas card to the White House this year hoping that a picture of two families without their fathers might help their case.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIAN: So far, it has not. The White House says the Ramos/Compean clemency requests are pending. Mr. Bush has granted fewer pardons than any president since the turn of the century, with the exception of President Bush's father -- Kitty.
PILGRIM: Casey, how usual or unusual is it to ask for an official pardon with a pardon attorney?
WIAN: It's -- the office of the pardon attorney considers hundreds of these requests every year and so far during the Bush administration has only granted fewer than 200 of them. It's not an unusual request. What is unusual, according to these lawmakers, is that two border patrol agents have been in jail for two years for simply trying to do their jobs -- Kitty.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much. Casey Wian.
Well Washington State tonight wants to begin deporting illegal aliens who are serving time in the state's jails. Now, those illegal aliens would be handed over to federal authorities who would carry out the deportations. Now, this move would save Washington State some $9 million over two years. This plan is modeled after a similar program in Arizona which has saved that state more than $18 million since 2005.
Coming up, President-elect Obama moves quickly to sell a new stimulus package that could cost taxpayers up to $1 trillion. Will he succeed in selling that package?
Also the show-down over who should replace the president-elect in the U.S. Senate, three top political analysts with give us their assessment.
And will Israel invade Gaza after nearly a week of air strikes? A former U.S. envoy to the Middle East will join us next. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT: News, debate and opinion -- independent view. Here again: Kitty Pilgrim.
PILGRIM: Israeli's air assault on Gaza today entered its seventh straight day. There are indications Israeli may launch a ground offensive well.
Joining me now is former Middle East peace negotiator, Robert Malley, and he's Middle East and North Africa director of the International Crisis Group.
Thanks very much for joining us.
ROBERT MALLEY, INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: Thank you.
PILGRIM: You know, your group has on the ground people all over the area. You have been talking with -- your team has been in direct contact with the Israeli side, with Hamas. What are you hearing?
MALLEY: Well, what I'm hearing right now is that neither side seems to be particularly eager for a cease-fire. Both sides think that they're going to have to continue this for some time. Hamas views every day that goes by resisting the Israeli onslaught as boosting its stature, both domestically and regionally, showing that it is the only Arab party that is standing up to the Israeli, and certainly, the only Palestinian party.
And on the Israeli side, there's a sense that they haven't yet degraded Hamas' capabilities enough. They want to continue the assault by air and, I suspect, by land as time goes by. So, unfortunately, both sides see reasons to continue and we know who the victims are, the people in the middle, the civilians.
PILGRIM: That's exactly right. The ground assault, how eminent are you guessing it could come?
MALLEY: Well, I don't know. I suspect there will be an element of surprise. I'm not even sure that at the top levels of the Israeli defense forces this was their first choice. But because Hamas is not surrendering, and that was predictable, and because it doesn't seem to be a cease-fire eminent, I think a land assault, at least some form of land incursion, and it may be a surprise, it maybe some special operations mission that goes in, but I think some boots on the ground is appearing more and more likely.
PILGRIM: You know, we're hearing that Israel sounding out the idea of an international monitoring force. How do you assess that? And is that different than a peacekeeping source? Sort that out for us. MALLEY: Well, you know, the point -- what is tragic about this whole conflict is that at the end of the day, if I come back here in one week, two weeks or three weeks, whenever the cease-fire is finally agreed to, I think we know today what it's going to look like, because we know what needs to happen: A completely cessation of firing by both sides and the opening of Gaza's crossing which is Hamas' demand but doing it with international forces there, observers there to make sure that Israel knows what's coming in, what's getting out, and make sure that Hamas is complying with the other terms of the cease-fire. We know that today. We know -- we'll know it tomorrow.
Unfortunately, it's going to take a while before we get to the point where that kind of cease-fire can be imposed. And as I say, that's the real tragedy because there's no mystery to what needs to happen to resolve this.
PILGRIM: You know, Israel rejected France's proposal for a two- day cease-fire, saying that, you know, that the air strikes would continue while Hamas rocket attacks continue. Hamas shows no indication of stopping and, as you indicate, it takes every day that this goes on as almost a victory.
MALLEY: Neither side right now wants that 48 cease-fire. The only way it's going to happen is either if international actors who have influence on Israel on the one side and Hamas on the other, to exercise real pressure on both. Or if both sides bloody each other enough and they feel they've achieved enough, respectively, achieved enough to come to the point where they are interested in a cease-fire. But unless one of those two things happened, we're not going to see an end to the violence.
I would hope that the first would happen quickly that we've learned the lesson from the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah to know that continuing the conflict doesn't help anyone. It certainly doesn't help the cause of peace. It erodes the credibility of moderates around the world, and it erodes the credibility of the U.S. which s viewed in the region as incapable of stopping the violence.
PILGRIM: You know, some have suggested that a Syrian/Israeli peace agreement might be the best thing that maybe the Obama administration could hope for. You just got back from Damascus. Give us your thoughts on that.
MALLEY: Well, you know, before this conflict, it looked like it was a real possibility, at least over the next two years, the Syrians seemed to be interested in it and Israelis, certainly, are eager for one. The problem is sorting out the details and that nobody should believe that it's going to be an easy process, but it seemed achievable. The more the region is polarized, the more it's inflamed, the more it's radicalized, the less likely is it that the Syrians are going to be in a position to reach a peace agreement with Israel.
And, as we know, the Syrians have already halted the indirect talks with Israel as a result of the conflagration in Gaza. So, yes, I think it still should be on the agenda of an Obama administration but what was hard become much harder because of what's happening in Gaza.
PILGRIM: Robert Malley, thank you very much for your analysis this evening. Thank you.
MALLEY: Thank you.
PILGRIM: We will have more on the Gaza conflict next. How will it affect the Obama administration's agenda?
Also, race and politics. It's an increasingly nasty fight over who should replace the president-elect in the U.S. Senate. We'll have a special report on that.
Also, we'll tell you why one of the country's most prominent politicians is being recognized by the National Film Registry. We'll have all of that and more -- straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: President-elect Obama tonight continues to be dogged by the scandal surrounding his former Senate seat. Now, the president- elect wants to focus on the number one issue on his agenda which is the economy. But, instead, he's answering questions about Illinois Governor Blagojevich and his appointment to replace Obama, Roland Burris.
Brianna Keilar reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An economic crisis in full swing, a year when almost $7 trillion were lost in the stock market is finally over. As President-elect Obama returns from vacation in Hawaii, he wants to focus on the economy. Instead -
STU ROTHENBERG, ROTHENBERG POLITICAL REPORT: The Burris controversy or the Blagojevich controversy is a significant distraction, and it's not what the Obama administration wants to be talking about. It's not what Democrats want to be talking about.
KEILAR: Roland Burris, embattled Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's choice to fill Obama seat in the Senate is a fixture in the news cycle. A source familiar with the governor's thinking says Blagojevich was not against creating chaos with his pick and he has certainly stirred the pot. As Senate Democrats threaten to block Burris' appointment, race has become an issue.
ROLAND BURRIS, IL. GOVERNOR'S SENATE PICK: Is it a fact there are no African-Americans in the United States Senate? That's a fact. Is it racism that's taking place? That's the question that someone else may raise.
KEILAR: Even on vacation, the president-elect was forced to take a stand, issuing a statement saying, "Senate Democrats cannot accept and appointment made by a governor who is accused of selling this very Senate seat." Political analysts say this type of distraction is part of being president.
ROTHENBERG: This is a good reminder to the Obama administration, its political advisers and staffers, that almost anything can come out of the blue and create a controversy that a president and senior advisers have to deal with, even if they would prefer to ignore things completely. You can't.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: At the same time, analysts say the Burris appointment will be a short-term distraction, that as the new economic stimulus package takes shape, and Obama's inauguration grows nearer, that will steal much of the limelight -- Kitty?
PILGRIM: Brianna Keilar reporting from Chicago -- thanks, Brianna.
Joining me now to discuss that and much more are three of the nation's best political minds: Democratic strategist, CNN contributor, Robert Zimmerman; "New York Daily News" columnist and host of the morning show on WWRL, also a CNN contributor, Errol Louis; and from OpinionJournal.com, we're joined by James Freeman.
And, gentlemen, thanks very much. You know, we really should start with Israel. It's day seven. We keep seeing the pictures coming out of this area that are very, very disturbing.
Robert, some thoughts on what's happening?
ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Obviously, the real tragedy here is this conflict can come to an end when Hamas is prepared to stop perpetrating this violence on its own people in Gaza. If you look to the West bank, the Palestinian authority is able to find a means to coexist with the state of Israel. It's difficult, of course. But they are able to have a relationship and a dialogue.
The problem here is that when Hamas refused to renew the cease- fire and began to pursue missile attacks on Israel, one after the other and into residential areas after innocent civilians, it became clear Israel had to respond. And as the foreign minister for Israel said, Foreign Minister Livni said, she made the point clear that they are on the front lines. That this is not just about fighting for Israel security, this is about the war on terrorism that all of us have an invested interest in winning.
PILGRIM: This is something that President-elect Obama will have to face in three weeks, Errol. Your thoughts on how he needs to approach this.
ERROL LOUIS, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: Sure. It is crystal clear that the parties to this conflict are not going to resolve this on their own. There has to be some kind of outside intervention or negotiation. The United Nations has been unable to do it and France just struck out. It's going to be the United States turn at bat. It will be up to Barack Obama to try and reinstitute some kind of active dialogue, and it's going to need to be regional. I mean, it's not going to -- it's not as if Hamas is going to sit down with, you know, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or anybody else.
They're going have to involve the Egyptians, the Syrians, the Jordanians. They're going to have to make some kind of conversation began; it's going to take a long time. There's going to be a lot of bloodshed. There's going to be a lot of loss of life in the meantime, but the conversation has got to start, and it will have to be near the top of President Obama's agenda.
PILGRIM: Yes. You know, some have suggested that he needs to talk to Hamas. Is that a legitimate suggestion? James, what do you think?
JAMES FREEMAN, OPINIONJOURNAL.COM: Well, I guess the problem is that the U.S. has been recognizing them as the government there after they won an election. But I think -- including Barack Obama, people acknowledge if someone is firing missiles into your neighborhood, you should respond. I think it's disappointing this week that air strikes haven't got rid of the missile attacks and if that report, you just had on the polling that only 19 percent of Israelis want a ground invasion, that suggests a lot of pressure on the regime to find those rockets very quickly and take them out.
PILGRIM: Yes.
ZIMMERMAN: It's also important to remember that Hamas, while they won a legislative election, did not win control of the government. They basically overthrew the standing government there. So, in the option of negotiating with terrorists like Hamas is just not an acceptable policy. They have to be held accountable by their own people in order to bring this violence to an end.
FREEMAN: Yes, I think what Mr. Obama needs to look at is who funds them and that gets back to Iran, that gets back to Syria as well. So, I think looking at how you exert leverage on Iran to cut off that funding has got to be a key part of this.
PILGRIM: Well, no doubt, it is one of the worst problems to walk into in your first week as president.
Let's look at, we have some interesting polls on Obama, and other presidents. And 76 percent of Americans say that Obama is the strong and decisive leader. And that's interesting. That percentage is higher than the percentage that Obama got on election night. So people are gaining, you know, confidence in him. What does that suggest to you, Robert?
ZIMMERMAN: It's such an important poll. I know people tend to look at this as just the goodwill for an incoming president. It's so much greater than that because the number is an extraordinary mandate. You know, in the election, we saw a bipartisan mandate for change. This is a -- this is a bipartisan national mandate for solutions. And the American people, while it's going to be a long process, are expecting their Congress to work in a bipartisan fashion for solutions. They're expecting their business leadership to step up for solutions. Solution-based approaches are going to be the key words to look for.
PILGRIM: You know, we have another poll which I find fascinating that Obama has an approval rating that actually exceeds President Bush's approval rating after 9/11, and that's -- Obama now is 76 percent, and Bush after 9/11 was 75 percent. That's a strong approval rating, Errol.
LOUIS: Yes, it points to a no-excuses, I think, approach. They're going to have the wind at their back. They have as much of a mandate as they could have asked for. More, in fact, than they probably really won on Election Day.
So, they are going to have to use their political capital wisely. The problem, of course, is that there are all these new things that are popping up on the agenda. I mean, he thought all he had to do was fix the worst economic catastrophe in the last 50 years. Well now, it turns there's an international crisis brewing, and there's also going to be a number of different ways he's going to have to split up that political capital.
FREEMAN: I think ...
PILGRIM: Yes.
FREEMAN: And I think a big part of that popularity rising since his election is he seems to be open-minded. You're talking about bipartisan solutions. He understands we got a rough economy now. He's saying we're not going to raise taxes immediately. We think that would be a disaster. Hopefully, he pushes that further and further into the future and ultimately never.
But as you reported, he also may not impose new trade restrictions. He may leave NAFTA alone. These are all very good signs and its signs that he recognizes, in a tough economy, you don't want to put up trade restrictions and you don't want to raise taxes.
ZIMMERMAN: I think that's up ...
PILGRIM: The worry, though -- sorry, Robert -- but the worry is his approval rating is so high that there will be a little bit of natural falloff on approval as these very, very difficult problems start to ensue (ph).
ZIMMERMAN: Yes, I think -- look, managing expectations is going to be very critical. The good news is, on the international front you see the nations around the world wanting to build diplomatic relations with the United States and use the U.S. as a diplomatic vehicle. So I think that's a good sign.
Domestically, we have to be very realistic. But I think one of the most important things we can do that's really quite critical is to make sure that we do, in fact, reform NAFTA and do stand up to CAFTA, and I'm very impressed by the number of people in the Obama administration, like the secretary of labor, for example, and the secretary of state-designee who have made it clear that we have to find reforms both environmental and labor reforms in these so-called free trade agreements.
FREEMAN: Yes. I mean, this is, I think there's a recognition that we don't want to replay the 1930s. And, I think, again, that is why he has got a very high approval rating now, as people see that he's not locked into positions. He ran as the man who was going to cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans. I think people responded to that and they are responding to this idea that he's not turning left on the economic policy in a tough environment.
LOUIS: Well, you know, the wild card in all of this -- the wild card is that he's got his database of 2 million contributors. He stirred up all of this -- not just approval but people who expect to be put to work, who expect to be able to be involved, and not just watch the government to be a part of it. And how he gets people involved and keeps that level of goodwill, I think is going to be the real determinant of where his popularity standings go.
PILGRIM: Gentlemen, we'll take a quick break. We'll come right back to it.
We'll be back with our panel in a moment.
And, coming up: 25 new movies are the latest editions to the Library of Congress. We're going to tell you which movies are now a permanent art of American history. So, stay with us for that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: We're back now with our panel: Robert Zimmerman, Errol Louis, and James Freeman.
Let's go to the Blagojevich, never-ending saga, and it's really -- I mean, this week, we've had many, many developments. What I'd first like to do is play for you a comment that Roland Burris made. He's fiercely fighting for his Senate appointment.
Let's listen to that for a moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BURRIS: We are certainly going to make contacts with the leadership of the Senate to let them know that the governor of Illinois has made a legal appointment, and that I am currently the junior senator for the state of Illinois. And we're hoping and praying that, you know, they will see the reason in his appointing me as a very qualified, capable, able, and ready to serve individual.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PILGRIM: Senate Democrats not of that mind, are they? ZIMMERMAN: In fact, the secretary of state of Illinois is not of that mind as well. I think Mr. Burris is going to find out over time that his distinguished public service reputation, his distinguished career in public service, is far more important than obtaining a Senate seat, because if you look at the politics of what we're facing here, this is really an issue of running the clock.
Obviously, the secretary of state wants to delay certifying his appointment until the impeachment of the -- the process is complete in Illinois. The United States Senate has made it clear because this process is tainted, clearly scandalized, by the Tony Soprano of governors, the governor of Illinois. As a result of that, they're going to also delay approving him.
And this is not about racism. I really resent this being made about race. It's about a scandalous governor, and I think it's unfortunate Mr. Burris is allowing himself to be used as a pawn in this really ultimate plea-bargaining effort by the governor of Illinois to save himself.
PILGRIM: We've seen this race discussion turn up in recent days. Errol, thoughts on this?
LOUIS: Yes. Well, look, think it is about race to the extent that it's about politics. You know, I mean, what you just described is not a legal process but a political process of delay and delay. I mean, I think he has every legal right, the governor, until and unless he's impeached or even indicted -- he hasn't been indicted. He has every legal right to make an appointment, which he has.
Now, to the extent that they politically want to jam him up and delay and stop Roland Burris from taking that Senate seat, well, he's going to respond. And his response among other things is to point out to Dick Durbin, the senior senator from Illinois, Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, that, "You know what? You've got black constituents. You know what? You've got some people that you've got to think about who may not be all that thrilled about the fact that you're keeping me from taking a seat to which I am legally entitled."
I mean, I think that's perfectly legitimate as an argument.
FREEMAN: Well, I think it's interesting seeing the judicial activism of the '60s hurt Democrats. The Constitution seems pretty clear that the Senate makes this call, but thanks to a decision from 1969, I believe, he seems to have an argument.
PILGRIM: This is what we'll be discussing next week also. Gentlemen, thank you for being with me -- Robert Zimmerman, Errol Louis, and James Freeman.
Still ahead, we'll tell you if any of your favorite movie lines are now written into this country's history books. Stay with us for that. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PILGRIM: Well, as millions of Americans headed to the movie theaters this holiday season, the Library of Congress announced the latest additions to its archives. And Louise Schiavone reports on some of the movies who are now officially preserved for posterity.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LOUISE SCHIAVONE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Film historians say, in the movies as in life, the past is prologue. So in this year when the first African-American won the presidency -
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT-ELECT: Change has come to America.
SCHIAVONE: Minorities, historically, tell their own stories in some of the movies singled out for preservation by the Library of Congress -- as in 1961's "Flower Drum Song."
(MOVIE CLIP)
PATRICK LOUGHNEY, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: Its cultural importance is that it featured real Asian-American actors in the parts rather than western actors, Anglo actors playing the parts of Asians.
SCHIAVONE: 1929's "Hallelujah" accomplished the same with its black cast. And the list calls our attention to 1910's "White Fawn's Devotion," an 11-minute film about and by Native Americans. Living with the consequences of chemicals run amok, a fear then as it is today, was the theme of 1933's "Invisible Man."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can always get a job haunting a house.
SCHIAVONE: And one of the many themes struck in 1965's "The Pawnbroker" is as fresh today as it was then.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You pawn something to buy something else, and then you pawn that. Each time it seems that folks getting deeper and deeper into the water.
SCHIAVONE: The challenges of independent women were presaged in 1914's "Perils of Pauline." While other images amaze us ...
(MOVIE CLIP)
SCHIAVONE: ... sizzle indelibly ...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know how you love it for breakfast.
SCHIAVONE: ... and live on if only for the dialogue.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (playing as Terminator): I'll be back.
LOUGHNEY: That's where films begin to migrate from simply works of commercial entertainment into the works of culture. So, catch phrases of the dialogue get passed on by people who may even not have seen the movie. SCHIAVONE (on camera): Library of Congress historians say films tell as much of the American story as do newspapers, books, and photographs. They're off to a modest but determined start, with the preservation of a total of 500 films of the more than 500,000 produced since the turn of the 20th century.
Louise Schiavone for CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Tonight's poll results: We have 94 percent of you who think it's irresponsible for companies bailed out by taxpayers to spend millions of dollars naming sports stadiums.
Let's take a look now at some of your thoughts. We have time for e-mail.
Jennifer in North Carolina wrote to us: "Lou, how can Congress give themselves a raise, never have to worry about their pensions nor health care being taken away, and expect the American working-class to sit by and think this is OK?"
Dewey in Ohio wrote to us: "Tell me, is there any other country in the world that gives its politicians a pay raise for ignoring, contributing to, or causing the historic economic problems we are having now and we will be facing in these many months to come?"
And Lori in Michigan wrote to us, "The car companies should have no choice but to buy American and support our local industry if we are to bail them out."
Cheryl in Illinois wrote, "I really enjoy the show that you do called "Heroes." My boyfriend is currently deployed in Afghanistan and isn't due to come home for another nine months; seeing this segment was bittersweet for me. Thanks much."
We love hearing from you. Send us your thoughts. Go to LouDobbs.com.
And thanks for being with us tonight. For all of us here, thanks for watching. Happy New Year! Good night from New York.
A CNN special report "Gimme My Money Back" starts right now.
