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American Morning
Jobs: Number One Focus of President Obama's State of the Union Address; Toyota Widens Recall; Poll Reaction to President Obama's State of the Union Address; State of the Union Put to the Dial Test; Obama Asks Congress to Repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"; Independent Voters Turning On Obama; Is the Stimulus Working?; Breast Cancer; Mid- Life Crisis
Aired January 28, 2010 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have never been more hopeful about America's future than I am tonight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: At the dawn of a new decade, double- digit unemployment and ballooning deficits, President Obama saying that the State of our Union is strong and that he still has hope. Critics this morning though are saying it sounded a lot like an old campaign speech, and so we'll be breaking it all down the morning after.
Welcome. It's Thursday, January 28th. Glad you're with us on this AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. And here, of course, are the big stories we'll be telling you about in the next 15 minutes.
President Obama saying that jobs are job one for him. The president devoting about two-thirds of his State of the Union address to the economy saying jobs will be the focus of 2010. Many critics are wondering why it wasn't the focus of 2009.
The best political team is live in Washington and fanned out across Middle America to find out how you are feeling the morning after.
CHETRY: The world's largest carmaker recalling another 1.1 million vehicles this morning. Toyota owners now flooding phone lines at dealerships with demands for new cars. Rental car companies now pulling thousands of Camrys and Corollas off their lots, and it's leading many to wonder how the reeling auto giant will recover from a growing PR nightmare.
ROBERTS: Plus, it is day four of the CNN "Stimulus Project." We're following your tax dollars to the small town of Fedford (ph), Nebraska, population a whopping 168 and home to a brand new $7 million bridge funded by the stimulus. But was it smart spending or just money down the drain? Well, that depends on who you ask.
CHETRY: We begin with President Obama's first State of the Union address coming after a year of setbacks. It was part pep rally, part counterattack in a bid to recapture the hearts of many middle class voters who've been underwhelmed and overburdened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I took office amid two wars, an economy rocked by a severe recession, a financial system on the verge of collapse and a government deeply in debt. Experts from across the political spectrum warn that if we did not act, we might face a second depression. So we acted immediately and aggressively. And one year later, the worst of the storm has passed. But the devastation remains.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, one Republican, Senator John McCain, called it biob (ph), blame it on Bush.
We have the best political team here with more reaction inside the beltway, also across the country. Ed Henry is live for us at the White House this morning.
ROBERTS: What words set off independent voters? Jessica Yellin has the results of a dial test for us this morning.
CHETRY: Also, Ted Rowland spoke to gay service members about President Obama's renewed promise to get rid of the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy.
ROBERTS: John Avlon and Jennifer Donohue (ph) will have more independent reaction from a place known for its free thinking.
CHETRY: Also Carol Costello watched the speech in Youngstown, Ohio, with a city still reeling from the recession. We're going to get thoughts from people she talked to.
ROBERTS: But we lead things off this morning with our senior White House correspondent Ed Henry.
Hi, Ed.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: John, good morning to you. I thought it was very interesting the president was candid about saying he suffered some political setbacks and some of them he said were deserved. But he was also pretty defiant about saying he won't quit in terms of pushing health care or the rest of his agenda.
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HENRY (voice-over): It was the pivot his critics believe he should have made months ago. Health care now on the backburner. The pain of a lingering economic recession front and center. BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I realize that for every success story there are other stories of men and women who wake up with the anguish of not knowing where their next paycheck will come from. That is why jobs must be our number one focus in 2010, and that's why I'm calling for a new jobs bill tonight.
HENRY: On health care, he took his share of blame for not explaining the issue clearly enough. It was self-deprecating about the political wounds.
OBAMA: By now, it should be fairly obvious that I didn't take on health care because it was good politics.
HENRY: The topic that has consumed most of his presidency was now just a short plea in a nearly 70-minute State of the Union address.
OBAMA: Don't walk away from reform. Not now. Not when we are so close. Let us find a way to come together and finish the job for the American people. Let's get it done.
HENRY: There was a laundry list of other policy proposals. Reforms for Wall Street. Climate change legislation. More money for education. And the president defended last year's work, especially the stimulus package. But was also candid, almost wistful about promises unkept.
OBAMA: I campaigned on the promise of change. Change we can believe in, the slogan went. And right now I know there are many Americans who aren't sure if they still believe we can change, or that I can deliver it. But remember this. I never suggested that change would be easy or that I could do it alone.
HENRY: He concluded with an optimistic call for both sides to come together.
OBAMA: We have finished a difficult year. We have come through a difficult decade. But a new year has come. A new decade stretches before us.
We don't quit. I don't quit. Let's seize this moment to start anew, to carry the dream forward, and to strengthen our union once more. Thank you. God bless you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY: Now some of this speech seemed to be sort of a challenge to the Republicans that now that they have 41 seats in the United States Senate they can't just say no, they're going to try to meet the president halfway on issues. But Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell who gave the official Republican response seemed to speak for a lot in his party. Many in his party when he said he believes the federal government is simply doing too much and the president is spending too much money still remains to be seen whether these two parties are really going to come together, John.
ROBERTS: All right. And in an election year it make it's all that more difficult.
HENRY: Exactly.
ROBERTS: Ed Henry for us this morning. Ed, thanks so much.
Our State of the Union coverage continues. Next up, we're going to take a look at real time reaction to the president's speech. Dial tests from Ohio, 10 Democrats, 10 Republicans, 10 independents. Eight of the 30 people in the group are unemployed.
Our Jessica Yellin was with the CNN focus group. Her report coming up in just about 10 minutes. You want to stick around for that.
CHETRY: And meanwhile, a major theme of the State of the Union address was jobs. Our Christine Romans joins us now with reaction to the speech. He talked about wanting a jobs bill on his desk. He also reminded the American public about how much they felt in tax relief because of some of his policies.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's right. He did not get applause from many Republicans on that. Right. But he's absolutely right. In the first year, there were a lot of tax, tax relief for the middle class, for seniors and others. People saw it in their paychecks, but the 10 percent unemployment is there any wonder that really he's got to recharge this jobs theme. A And it is quite probable, it really is quite probable the unemployment rate could continue to go higher because if companies start hiring, all the people on the sidelines not counted in the labor market are going to come flooding in.
So the president still has an unemployment problem for this year. The House has passed a big jobs bill. The Senate has not. As you said, he wants a jobs bill on his desk.
CHETRY: The other interesting thing that we're talking about today with you is this Toyota recall expanding now to 1.1 million people, additional cars.
ROMANS: Cars.
CHETRY: Europe affected, people ringing off the hook trying to call their dealership saying, what should I do, can I get a new car?
ROMANS: This is an incredibly important story for anyone who's driving a Toyota vehicle right now, or a Pontiac Vibe. We have expanded this recall. Toyota has expanded its recall. Another 1.1 million cars have been recalled because of an accelerator, gas pedal problem caught in this removable floor mat and it can cause out of control acceleration. The Highlander, the Corolla, the Venza, the Matrix, and the Pontiac Vibe. This is a massive, massive recall, folks. This is on top of cars that were recalled yesterday. So incredibly important to check in with your dealer to make sure what you're supposed to be doing right now with this car.
They're recalling -- I mean, this is on a scale of the Toyota -- or the Tylenol recall of the '80s, remember? The Firestone tire recall. Very, very rare to see so many vehicles pulled out.
CHETRY: All right. Christine, thanks so much. We'll be checking in with you the next hour to talk a little bit more about the "Stimulus Project." Thanks.
ROMANS: Sure.
CHETRY: So how much of a jump did the president get after last night's speech? We've got some new poll numbers from Speech Watchers, and we're going to show them after the break.
It's eight minutes past the hour.
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ROBERTS: We're back with the Most News in the Morning. Thanks very much for joining us on this Thursday, the day after the State of the Union address. And we're breaking it down for you.
Let's take a look at some instant polling that was done immediately after the speech. We asked a group of people, CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, what their response to the speech was. Forty-eight percent of people said it was very positive. Thirty percent reacted and then saying they were somewhat positive. Twenty- one percent said that they were negative about the speech.
We should point out that the breakdown of this was 38 percent Democratic, 25 percent Republican, and 37 percent other affiliation, including independents. Will President Obama's policies move the country in the right direction?
Now, look at the change here. Before the speech, 53 percent said yes, 43 percent said no. After the speech, the yeses jumped to 71 percent, and the nos decreased to 27 percent. So obviously the president made some impact there.
Another question we asked, will the president succeed in improving the economy? Sixty-seven percent of people said yes. Will he succeed in creating jobs? Fifty-nine percent said yes. Improving health care, little more skeptical, 51 percent. And then the majority of people said that he would not succeed in reducing the deficit, only 49 percent of people said that he would.
And a final question that we asked last night immediately after the speech, has the president paid enough attention to the most important problems? Look at this.
Before the speech, only 49 percent, less than a majority, said yes. But after the speech, 55 percent said yes. So it's pretty clear that the State of the Unions do have an impact on public opinion. The president seems to have improved his ratings. Again, though, there were more Democrats in this poll than there were Republicans, 38 to 25 percent. Thirty-seven percent were either independent or some other party affiliation. But interesting indication that the president did get through to some people, Kiran. CHETRY: It really is. And also we're getting some more reaction this morning. We put President Obama's speech to the dial test. It was a CNN focus group made up of Democrat, Republican and independent voters. They were all gathered in Columbus, Ohio, and they gave real- time reaction to the State of the Union address.
Our national political correspondent Jessica Yellin watched them watching the president.
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATL. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, John, it was a scientifically chosen focus group with an equal number of Democrats, Republicans and independents. The number one issue they wanted to hear the president address, they said, was jobs. But after that, the second top issue? It wasn't health care. It wasn't even Iraq or Afghanistan. They wanted to hear the president talk about bipartisanship and what he will do to change the tone in Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We face big and difficult challenges.
YELLIN (voice-over): Just watch the lines. Democrats in blue, Republicans in red, independents, yellow. And you can see how worried these voters are about jobs and economic insecurity.
OBAMA: So I know the anxieties that are out there right now. They're not new.
YELLIN: Here in Ohio, there's almost 11 percent unemployment. In this group alone, eight of the 30 are unemployed. No surprise then that big winners for President Obama were promises to create jobs --
OBAMA: Jobs must be our number one focus in 2010, and that's why I'm calling for a new jobs bill tonight.
YELLIN: And proposals to cut taxes for families trying to get ahead.
OBAMA: And give families a $10,000 tax credit for four years of college.
YELLIN: Clarence Das (ph) is a Republican.
CLARENCE DAS (ph), DIAL TEST FOCUS GROUP: And the one I saw from him was concreteness. I was happy about that.
YELLIN (on camera): You wanted immediate action and concrete proposals.
DAS (ph): Yes, and I think he delivered on that.
YELLIN (voice-over): Big areas of division? Health care reform.
OBAMA: I didn't take on health care because it was good politics. YELLIN: Look at the reaction by Republicans and independents. And the stimulus bill, not exactly a crowd pleaser.
OBAMA: Though this bill has help save jobs and avert disaster.
YELLIN: A top concern to everyone in this room, but especially the independents President Obama was trying to win back, bipartisanship. So how did he do?
OBAMA: We were sent here to serve our citizens, not our ambitions. Let's show the American people that we can do it together.
YELLIN: By and large, folks here came away from the speech sharing this view.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I heard what I wanted, but I don't know if he's going to be -- or he or Congress is going to be able to deliver.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
YELLIN: For the most part, folks in this room say they're willing to give the president a chance and reserve judgment for now. They say it was just his first year. There is a learning curve, but they're going to watch closely to see if he follows through on the promises he made in this address -- John, Kiran.
CHETRY: Jessica Yellin for us. Thanks so much.
And our State of the Union coverage continues. Coming up in about ten minutes, our Ted ROWLANDS talks with gay service members about living with the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. After the President's renewed pledge last night to get rid of it.
ROBERTS: And our week long stimulus project continues, today which town got more than 40,000 stimulus dollars per person in one of the highest rates in the country? Our Christine Romans hit the road to find out how your money is being used or some might charge, misused, 15 and half minutes after the hour.
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ROBERTS: It's 18 and half minutes now after the hour, that means it is time for "Minding Your Business", and all this week we are bring you the stimulus project. The stimulus, one of the most expensive bills ever passed in American history, and this week we're breaking down how your money is being spent, all now recalculated, $862 billion of it.
CHETRY: That's right. And today we're looking at a $7 million bridge that's being built in a tiny town in Nebraska. Our Christine Romans has been talking to people there, a lot of them say it's actually a huge waste of your cash. And she joins us now to talk more about the differing opinions on whether or not this is healthy.
ROMANS: And most of the people there frankly say they don't see the point of this bridge. But we found this town because we're looking at per capita spending on stimulus. You know the places where you've break it down by the number of people who live in the county and where were the biggest projects.
So let me give you some here to put it in context. Here's a big one, Franklin county in Kentucky, with -- well, $27,941 stimulus money per capita. It's because the state capital, Frankfort is in this county. There are a 100 road projects there in just one county. So it's a big per capita recipient.
There's a billion dollar nuclear site cleanup, that makes Aiken county in South Carolina another big per capita recipient of stimulus, that's per capita spending about $10,700.
And then we found this little county, Thomas county, Western Nebraska where they're receiving $11,910 per person. The largest in the entire state, all for one project.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS (voice-over): In the Nebraska sand hills, in the small ranching town of Thedford, long time resident Marv Blauvelt still doesn't know why millions in stimulus money landed on his front yard.
MARV BLAUVELT, LONGTIME RESIDENT: We just feel they sold us down the river, really.
ROMANS: Maybe not a river, but a railroad. A railroad bridge to be exact. The citizens of Thedford, all 168 of them, will get this new $7 million bridge to replace this railroad crossing on the way into town and right through Marv's front yard.
ROMANS (on camera): Can you explain to me what the point is of this bridge?
BLAUVELT: Well, really in all honesty, we don't know what the point is, except some design engineer in Lincoln decided that this is what needed to be done.
ROMANS (voice-over): Nebraska officials say the new bridge means cars will avoid waiting for trains. Sometimes the wait is 30 seconds. Sometimes three minutes. The bridge also means train engineers don't have to worry about safety at the crossing.
MONTY FREDRICKSON, DIRECTOR, NEBRASKA DEPT.OF ROADS: Eliminating the conflict between the rail in the highway is an important feature, both from a safety aspect, continuity, mobility, and especially emergency services.
ROMANS (on camera): It's standard country living to wait for the train at the rail crossing in some 60 to 80 trains every day go rumbling through here. On paper, at least, this rail crossing is a traffic and safety issue. But residents say they never minded the wait. And the big stimulus bridge to replace this crossing, they say that stimulus bridge is nothing more than a big detour.
MIKE HODGES, THEDFORD BUSINESS OWNER: The amount of time it's going to take you to go around the loop to get back to the highway is probably about the same amount of time you would have sat and waited for the train to go by.
ROMANS (voice-over): During town meetings, Mike Hodges, owner of a local service station, tried to fight the project, which cut through his property.
HODGES: They had their mind made up what they were going to do, how they were going to do it. They ask everybody's opinion, but it didn't matter.
JUDY TAYLOR, COUNTY TREASURER AND TOWN CHAIRMAN: We saw no money.
ROMANS: Judy Taylor is the county treasurer and Thedford's town chairman.
TAYLOR: I haven't seen anything that said we benefitted from this. Not yet.
ROMANS: All she sees is a little town with a very big bridge.
TAYLOR: I think it's humongous.
ROMANS: The Nebraska Roads Department says the bridge was an appropriate stimulus project. It was shovel ready.
FREDRICKSON, DIRECTOR, NEBRASKA DEPT.OF ROADS: One of the main criteria of the whole bill in the first place is to get money on the street fast and put people to work.
ROMANS: So who's building the bridge? Not Nebraskans, a Colorado contractor won the bid, using its own out of state workers. A few locals were hired as temps, like Trina Mentel, she waved a flag for $10 an hour, enough to make her technically a stimulus worker.
TRINA MENTEL, TEMP BRIDGE WORKER: It was there, now it's gone. I didn't gain anything except a part-time job for a couple months. That's it.
ROMANS: And that's the Thedford's beef. No economic benefit, no full-time jobs, and a lot of taxpayer money just to cross the railroad tracks.
ROMANS (on camera): No matter what, $7 million is a lot of money anywhere, but especially here.
BLAUVELT: Yes, definitely. Buy a lot of cows. Buy a lot of cattle.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: We asked the railroad BNSF to weigh in on the economic benefit of this big bridge, it is after all benefiting its railroad, its owned in part, the big investor Nebraska billionaire Warren Buffett. The railroad said it did not lobby for this project but supports it for safety reasons, and they will kick in more than $300,000 on top of the almost $7 million in your money, only when the bridge is done, and the railroad crossing is no longer operational.
Okay so bottom line for this project, $6.9 million. Jobs, we counted these ourselves, folks, 20 existing jobs from Colorado. Those people came in, and then two to three local jobs, part-time jobs together, probably about three jobs that have since ended. There might be a little work for the locals again when they have to pave the actual highway over the bridge later this spring.
ROBERTS: Well perhaps they can build a local diner or something.
ROMANS: And you know they stayed in some local hotels right? But then it was there and then kind of gone. So people there keep kind of saying we don't like -- they didn't like the title of the biggest per capita Nebraska recipient of stimulus funds. Because they say, we didn't get any stimulus funds. Don't put us on that list.
ROBERTS: I'm sure the barns of Nebraska are full of shovel- ready projects. Doesn't necessarily make economic sense.
ROMANS: I asked Marv Blauvelt, I said am I going to find anybody who likes this bridge? And he says I'll bet you a steak dinner you won't. There you go.
ROBERTS: Great story. What a great story.
CHETRY: Thanks Christine. Tomorrow on American Morning the recession led to huge layoffs for manufacturing companies but the stimulus has helped some of those workers new skills and also find new skills and jobs. And our Gerri Willis has the story of one man in Ohio, the stimulus saved his family from losing everything, that's giving them hope for the future. That's tomorrow right here on The Most News In The Morning. It's 25 minutes past the hour.
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OBAMA: This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are. It's the right thing to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: That's President Obama reaffirming his commitment to get the Pentagon's "don't ask don't tell" policy off the books. And according to the latest Quinnipiac poll56 percent of Americans do agree that the 1993 law that bans gays from serving openly in the military should be repealed. Our Ted ROWLANDS talked with three gay service men about the impact of "don't ask don't tell" on their lives and the push to finally make the Pentagon policy history. TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Kiran, we talked to three active members of the U.S. military, all of them gay, all of them possibly risking their careers by talking to us. That's why we're not showing their faces. An army Sergeant with ten years of service, including a tour in Iraq, a female army MP captain with five years of service, she's also been to Iraq, and a navy sailor who joined about a year and a half ago. They all argue that despite all that's going on in the world, including two wars, that now is the time to change "don't ask, don't tell." And listen to what they say about living a lie.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am terrified that somebody in my chain of command is going to find out. There's always that pressure.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I agree, it is a near constant thing because you're almost always putting up some sort of a front, the band of brothers that everybody talks about. I'm kind of that brother with the secret and yet it does wear on me.
ROWLANDS: why do this interview?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well being in an institution, doesn't mean that you can't tell it when it is broken, which is giving voice, you know, something is screwed up here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I truly think it is the best thing for the military services and the best thing for this service for this law to be repealed.
ROWLANDS: Why now? Why do we need to deal with this now?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is a problem now. I think that our deployed soldiers deserve to have their full rights.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgenders, are in the military now. People know about it and the people against it who don't want to take a shower with us that stuff already happens. It's not going to change.
ROWLANDS: Do you find that people, through the process of elimination, figure you are gay?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been aware of people who knew that I was gay. And never really felt like I was threatened. I never felt like I had to keep watching over my shoulder for, you know, the witch hunters to come after me with torches and pitchforks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would say everybody in my group where I work, they all know that I'm gay. If I can be open with them, I'll be able to trust them more, and they would know hat they can trust me because I trust them with something, you know, so important.
ROWLANDS: Would you all come out right away if "don't ask, don't tell" was lifted?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wouldn't go up to everybody saying, "Hey, I'm gay." But, you know, the people that were important to me, if they're important to me, they will know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not going to hang a rainbow flag in my office, but I'm definitely having a coming out party.
ROWLANDS: All three are pleased and surprised the president mentioned repealing "don't ask, don't tell" in his State of the Union address. They're hoping it actually leads to change, so, as they say, they can stop living a lie -- John, Kiran.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Ted Rowlands for us -- thanks so much.
So, how is the president's speech playing with Middle America?
Our Carol Costello is live with reaction from voters in Youngstown, Ohio. It's a city that's still reeling from the recession. That's coming up in about 10 minutes.
ROBERTS: It's crossing the half hour now. That means it's time for this morning's top stories.
French rescuers are calling it a huge miracle. A 16-year-old girl pulled alive from the rubble in Haiti, an astonishing 15 days after the earthquake. Darlene Etienne was found near-death beneath a collapsed home, suffering from extreme dehydration and a broken leg. The teen is believed to have had access to water and Coca-Cola.
CHETRY: It's amazing.
And Toyota announcing yet another major recall, this is the second since last week. This time, faulty floor mats that can jam the gas pedal. The company recalled millions of cars last fall for the same reason. And now, another 1.1 million vehicles are affected.
The latest announcement also comes just a day after Toyota suspended sales and production of eight models with potentially defective accelerators, and barely a week after recalling more than 2 million cars with that same problem.
ROBERTS: And the man in charge of keeping Vancouver's Winter Olympic Games safe says the city's nearly $1 billion security operation is ready to go. With just 15 days until the Olympics open, the multi-agency force has been prepping for a variety of terrorist attack scenarios. Fifteen thousand police, military and private security screeners will be on hand to protect all of the Olympic venues.
Well, the president's State of the Union address was a bit reconnect with millions of people who voted for change and didn't see much last year. The results of last week's election in Massachusetts may have been a wake-up call for the president and his party.
CHETRY: And let's look at this new Quinnipiac Poll that's out. Forty-seven percent of independents say that President Obama's first year was a failure. And polls also show that independents heavily favored Republican Scott Brown for Senate in Massachusetts, a special election there; and also the two new Republican governors, both Bob McDonnell of Virginia and Chris Christie in New Jersey.
Joining us now with an independent's perspective, John Avlon, he's with "The Daily Beast." He's columnist there and the author of "Independent Nation." And also joining us Manchester, New Hampshire, political analyst and feature contributor for the "Huffington Post," Jennifer Donahue.
Thanks to both of you for being with us.
Let's just start out of the gate, both of your initial impressions.
I'll start with you, John. What did you think of his speech? What stuck out to you where the president was speaking to independents?
JOHN AVLON, AUTHOR, "INDEPENDENT NATION": Just the speech's two main themes, focus on the economy, and attacks against kind of the bitter partisanship we still see in Washington, those are the two main themes independents wanted to hear. Continuity from the '08 campaign, that's what independents wanted and I think he connected.
CHETRY: Jennifer, what about you? What stuck out to you?
JENNIFER DONAHUE, POLITICAL ANALYST: I'm going to give him a "C" for going for to independents. I think he threw bones to the left, he threw bones out to the right. I didn't see a lot there in the middle. I don't see a lot that's going to galvanize people who are looking for specifics on jobs, specifics on deficit reductions, and alternative to the year that's passed, and something they can really get their hands around.
He complained about partisanship and bipartisanship being lacking, but really, with the supermajority, it's the Democrats who played that foot of. So, I don't really see where independents had much to hold on to in that speech last night. And I think it was very underwhelming.
ROBERTS: Well, let's talk then about the number one issue last night: jobs.
AVLON: Sure.
ROBERTS: And there are many people who are saying, OK, so, you're talking about jobs in 2010. It's going to be the number one priority. Why wasn't it the number one priority a year ago?
AVLON: That's the question independents are asking. You know, I mean, independents voted for this guy by an eight-point margin. And all of the sudden -- in 2007, independents were already focused on the economy, way before the Wall Street, you know, financial crisis.
Democrats focused on health care, Republicans on the war on terror.
So independents have been focusing on the economy for a long time. And when the president veered off into health care and with all the massive government overspending, independents started to say, "Hold on, that's not the hope and change I voted for."
So this was, in many ways, a return to those themes that caused independents to support President Obama in the first place. There's still a long way to go. Independents feel burned by the lack of focus on these core issues. But it was a step in the right direction, and reaffirming to many.
CHETRY: You call it underwhelming, Jennifer. He did try at least to bring back the focus to jobs. He talked about reminding people that, listen, you did get a tax cut. I cut taxes across board, especially if you were in the middle class. And he also talked about taking that $30 billion from Wall Street and putting it towards some of the regional banks so they can get lending started again.
Did any of that resonate with independents on your opinion?
DONAHUE: I think that there was something out there to small businesses, and to that extent, he reaches independents. But you got to realize, a lot of people are involved in small businesses now, not by choice. He said, for the person who could start their small business, for the woman who didn't want an employer and wanted to be her own boss, now, there's more -- that's not really why the woman out there is her own boss now, she's her own boss because she lost her job.
And so, even coming from New Hampshire where unemployment is 7 percent, instead of the national average of 10-plus, there are people out there with just hemorrhaging debt. There was nothing to address that. There was -- there should have been more about debt relief for Americans. There should have been more about tax cuts that have teeth, not just things that look over 20 years, 10 years of deficit reduction.
That's not what people want to see. They want to see a fix now. They wanted to see it a year ago, and health care has sucked up the oxygen for an entire year, and nothing has been done.
ROBERTS: And, John, on this idea of trying to end the partisanship in Washington, the president said last night that, you know, it's like every day is an election day. He said, quote, "We cannot wage a perpetual campaign where the only goal is to see who can get the most embarrassing headlines about their opponent, a belief that if you lose, I win."
You know, Washington has been, for years now, this is a zero-sum game. Nobody has been able to change it. Is the president likely to change it in 2010 when Republicans smell so much blood in the water?
AVLON: Well, look, you know, there's question. The culture of Washington is addicted to division, and that's the problem. And President Obama is saying, look, I'm a leader -- it's a leader's job to change culture. Change doesn't happen overnight.
ROBERTS: But did he do anything in 2009? The change, but the Democrats wrote the health care bill all by themselves.
AVLON: And that's a big part of the problem. That's big part of problem for independents. They felt, hey, President Obama campaigned on this post-partisanship and then we got the same thing we saw from Republicans from Democrats, a play to the base approach, narrow partisan votes.
But look at the way -- that's why I think President Obama's continued hammering home that is important to independents, not just symbolism. When he announces a bipartisan deficit commission, that's an important step to independents to say, look, there's some substance behind this rhetoric.
When he focuses on the economy and he focuses on small business, middle class, debt relief for college debt if you go to public service -- these are small things in and upon themselves. But they do address what he didn't do in the first year, which is targeting the economic appeals to moderates and the middle class.
CHETRY: Go ahead, Jennifer.
DONAHUE: He promised those things a year ago and nothing happened. He promised -- I mean, those are right parse down the middle to the two biggest generations in America, the baby boomers and the millennials. So he threw out bones for college loans and child care help.
But you know what? There's no need for child care help when there's nobody in the household working. There's no need for a college loan when nobody is even in college in anymore who's sitting back at home with their parents, helping those parents to create more debt.
There's no debt relief out there. There's no jobs out there. There's nothing. And nothing was said that really got to the heart of that.
Independent, Democrat, Republican, it doesn't matter. Nobody trusts what Obama said. There is a deficit trust and if you can't get things done with the supermajority, how are you going to get it done with less than a supermajority.
AVLON: I think that's -- that's a little harsh that nobody -- but clearly, there's a skepticism. And Obama is now -- it's not about rhetoric anymore. It has been for a long time. It's about record. And that's the issue he faces going forward.
(CROSSTALK)
DONAHUE: What on the record has he done? What's he done?
ROBERTS: We're going to have -- I'm going to have to invoke the dreaded words that we're going to have to leave it there. Jennifer Donahue, John Avlon, with the independent perspective this morning -- thanks so much.
Well, we heard from the people of Youngstown, Ohio, yesterday before the speech. What they wanted to hear, did they get what they want? We're checking in with Carol Costello who spent the night at Ball Busters -- right after the break.
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ROBERTS: We're back with the Most News in the Morning.
President Obama says jobs will be his top priority in 2010. He reached out to the middle class in last night's State of the Union, but did he make a connection?
Our Carol Costello is in Youngstown, Ohio, this morning.
The city is heavily Democratic, 70 percent voted for President Obama. Yesterday, people told us what they wanted to hear from the president. This morning, Carol is asking: did he deliver?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jim Krokoski's bar was packed for a Wednesday night. The crowd, middle class Democrats and independents, gathered here to knock a few back while they watched the president try to reach out to them.
OBAMA: I have never been more hopeful about America's future than I am tonight.
(APPLAUSE)
COSTELLO: It was a good try, but...
BOB BENISH, DEMOCRAT: He's having a dream.
COSTELLO: His skepticism isn't surprising. Youngstown, Ohio, hasn't seen signs the recession is easing. One-third of the people here live below the poverty level.
OBAMA: I never suggested the change would be easy -- or that I could do it alone.
COSTELLO: It's something people here understand, but distrust in government at all levels runs deep -- even with some Democrats.
BENISH: He should be embarrassed. The Democrats and Republicans, they should be embarrassed what they're doing to us now.
COSTELLO: In an attempt to ease that kind of anger, the president offered populist proposals always like tax credit for child care and a cap on student loan programs.
His most popular idea here, though: using money paid back by bailed out Wall Street banks to help small businesses.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he means it. But can he get it done? That's the question.
MICHELLE AMICONE, DEMOCRAT: It seemed as if he was trying to put a lot of sugar on a lot of things. It just seemed like he was jumping around a lot of things and just trying to appease everybody.
COSTELLO: Still, others felt the president showed the kind of resolve they heard during his run for president, especially when he called for an end to partisanship.
SAM SWOGER, DEMOCRAT: The Civil War is over with. We don't need another one between the Republicans and the Democrats.
OBAMA: God bless you and God bless the United States of America.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And, John, a lot of people wanted to know more about health care. Some of these people are out of work. They don't have health care. And the president mentioned health care reform, but he didn't exactly say where it was going or what its final form would take. They wanted to know a lot more about that.
As far as the overreaching question, did President Obama repair the rift with middle class Americans? Well, it's a mixed bag. These Democrats and independents say they like the president personally, but they wonder if he can push through his ideas and get something done. And most importantly, you know, get some jobs back in Youngstown, Ohio.
ROBERTS: Well, you know, traditionally these State of the Unions are long on ideas and short on detail. We may be hearing that over the next few days. But as you say, the key is whether he can get any of this through Congress.
Carol Costello in Youngstown this morning -- Carol, good to see you this morning. Thanks.
CHETRY: Also during the State of the Union, President Obama pointed to a high-speed railroad project in Tampa as a sign that the stimulus bill is putting Americans back to work. But we wanted to look into the claim a little bit more.
So, now, we go out to Don Lemon. He is minding your business at our stimulus desk this morning, the nerve center of our week-long "Stimulus Project."
Good morning, Don.
DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nerve center. I like that. Good morning to you, Kiran. Good to see you this morning.
Hey, listen, $8 billion that the president is expected to announce today in Tampa, Florida. We're going to focus on Tampa a little bit, but it's going to go really all over the country, $8 billion he said -- north, south, east and west.
But we're going to focus on Tampa, Florida, $1.25 billion going there. So, our stimulus thing right here. Let's see -- $3 billion, we're going to raise that up. It's going to change to $1.5 billion. That's where we're going to focus now, on Florida.
Take a live look right now at Florida. This is Tampa, Florida, where the president, vice president, they're going to show up today. Looks like the sun's coming up there. It's probably a lot warmer there today. I'll ask Jacqui what it is.
This is what we're talking about: high-speed railways -- high- speed railways in Florida. They say -- they're not exactly sure how many jobs it's going to create, but it should create jobs -- auxiliary jobs, manufacturing, people who provide seats, engines, motors, wheels, everything.
Now, listen, this is a nationwide effort, again, that the president is expected to announce today, and it's going to take years. I mean, it took Spain, like, two decades to get their rail system. It took South Korea 12 years to do it. So, it's going to take a while. But again, we're focusing on Tampa, Florida, $1.25 billion we have right there.
How many jobs going to create? Yet to be determined, but they say it should be a lot over the next decade, so we'll see what happens. Stand by today, in Florida, the Vice President and the President will be making that announcement today. Back to you, Kiran. By the way, you look great in red.
CHETRY: Thank you, and you look great in green, meaning the stimulus behind you. Thanks so much, Don.
ROBERTS: Coming up on 46 minutes after the hour. Jacqui Jeras is going to have this morning's travel forecast right after the break.
CHETRY: And also in ten minutes, time for the "Moost" News in the Morning. Jeanne Moos that is and a story about a breakup. The President and a black jacket and a big times square billboard that is no more. You're watching the Most News in the Morning. Forty-six minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It's 49 minutes past the hour. That means it's time for your AM House Call, stories about your health. Breast cancer patients who exercise on a regular basis may be less likely to suffer from depression. Researchers from Vanderbilt University studied nearly 1400 women, and they found that depression was 28% lower among women who worked out for more than two hours a week.
Is the mid-life crisis really a myth? Psychologists are now saying yes. Fifteen hundred middle-age adults were surveyed and most said that they were actually happier and better off today than they were 20 years ago in part because they ready to tackle the dreams that they were putting off. Researchers say that the term mid-life crisis was coined 40 years ago when life expectancy was much lower and people's health in later years was much worse.
Also, researchers say that eating and drinking may be okay during labor. For almost seven decades, most women have been told you can only have ice chips on the off chance that things go wrong and then you need to be put under general anesthesia. The doctors nowadays say C-sections are generally done using regional anesthesia. Also, a review of existing studies found no benefit and no harm when it came to resisting food.
So there you go, I still remember being in labor for 17 hours and I took a couple bites of my husband's meatball sandwich and some Dr. Pepper, but I had to sneak it because they told me I couldn't eat anything.
ROBERTS: Did they say what type of drinking was all right? Was it limited to sort of juices, sodas, or water? Can you knock back a couple shots to knock down the pain?
CHETRY: I don't know. Who knows? All I know is the ice chips wasn't cutting it after 17 hours. Sorry.
ROBERTS: Ten minutes to the top of the hour now. Let's get a quick check of this morning's weather headlines, Jacqui Jeras in the Extreme Weather Center this morning. Hi, Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, guys. You just made me hungry with that meatball sandwich, by the way. It's a good morning for maybe a cup of coffee or something to warm you up here across the plain states. We're watching our winter storm we warned you about. We're of concern about the ice accumulation. We're starting to see that in the panhandle of Texas here as well as pushing into Oklahoma, the Amarillo Area reporting freezing rain right now.
We are expecting to see that change over to some snow in the next couple of hours. Just liquid yet in Lawton as well as Oklahoma City, but we'll start to see that freezing rain move in this morning, and then we'll watch the snow come in as well as really windy conditions, so power outages can be expected. The snowfall heaviest in the panhandle areas, 8 to 12 inches, a good possibility, and then you can see how that sneaks on through the mid South as we head into tonight and throughout the day for tomorrow.
Now, elsewhere across the country, we're going to be dealing with some severe weather on the south end of this system. Slight risk here, hail will be the primary concern. That front actually sneaks all the way up here into the northeastern quarter for today, and you get a little hodgepodge of weather here as well. Mostly snow across the Great Lakes, but temperatures kind of borderline here in northeast, so a little bit of mix possible this morning, changing over to some light rain for the afternoon, but that's going to be enough to cause some problems at the airports, so expect delays, really just 30, to 60 minutes at best. For Boston, New York City, D.C. metros, Chicago, and Philadelphia, windy conditions there; Cleveland, Detroit, and Pittsburgh getting the lake-effect snow, so some delays expected, and then those thunderstorms where we're talking about in the Dallas Area. Going to be a big day for those folks across the midsouth and much colder temperatures following the mid and eastern sections of the country through the rest of the week. So, guys, bundle up. We're going to be lucky to see 20s later this week.
CHETRY: Wow.
ROBERTS: It's winter, you get weather, right? Thanks, Jacqui.
JERAS: Yes, we do.
CHETRY: This morning's top stories are just minutes away, including President Obama delivering his first State of the Union Address at a time when his popularity is dropping, and public skepticism is growing. Did the President get his message across? The best political team is here to break it down.
ROBERTS: Toyota in more trouble. The world's biggest carmaker announcing yet another recall. Is your car safe to drive this morning?
CHETRY: And all this week, we are taking on the stimulus project, and this morning, a small town getting a multi million-dollar bridge that no one really wanted, so was this a good use of money? Those stories and much more at the top of the hour.
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ROBERTS: Coming up now at four minutes to the top of the hour, and it's time for the "Moost" News in the Morning. The Times Square billboard featuring President Obama wearing that weatherproof rain jacket has finally been taken down.
CHETRY: Yes. Jeanne Moos tells us the jacket may be able to fend up mother nature, but it was no match for the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Obama took it all off. You cannot call this the Obama jacket.
UNKNOWN MALE: Absolutely not. Where is the black Obama jacket?
MOOS: We know where it's not. Not anymore. The Times Square ad showing the President in a weatherproof jacket bits the dust at the demand of the White House.
UNKNOWN MALE: We didn't want to in any way alienate the White House.
MOOS: The folks at weatherproof noticed President Obama wearing their jacket on the Great Wall of China. UNKNOWN MALE: It's majestic.
MOOS: President meant the wall, but the coat company thought he looked majestic in their jacket, so they bought rights to an associated press photo and slapped it on a billboard. A Leader in Style. Bet you say that to everybody.
UNKNOWN MALE: You look great in that, by the way.
MOOS: To avoid any kind of legal problem, the company officially refers to the Obama jacket as style 2821. The White House doesn't want the President's image to be used to sell any product, so after milking the controversy for a few weeks, weatherproof carefully took down the billboard and asked Sarah Palin if she would model one of their jackets.
UNKNOWN MALE: Categorically, she said no.
MOOS: When they spotted Conan O'Brien wearing one the other day on the NBC, they asked his first.
UNKNOWN MALE: They were not interested at this point.
MOOS: But an Israeli Satellite TV company knows the next best thing to having the actual first couple peddling their products.
UNKNOWN FEMALE: Mr. I'm-going-to-change-the-world, maybe you can start with this boring TV.
UNKNOWN MALE: Yes, I can.
MOOS: They hired an Obama look-a-like.
UNKNOWN MALE: He looks like me, Jose Williams.
MOOS: On Jose's way to shoot the ad in Romania.
VOICE OF JOSE WILLIAMS, OBAMA IMPERSONATOR/REPORTER: It was nonstop. I got on the plane. People thought they were being privileged by the President sitting in the economy class.
MOOS: Jose says he loves the President, and when he impersonates him --
WILLIAMS: I'm very careful that it's going to be, in my mind, good taste.
MOOS: Catch you later Obama billboard. It was replaced with Mount Rushmore. Sit (ph) for a president, it's safer to use a dead president or --
UNKNOWN MALE: I don't know if you're available in terms of modeling.
MOOS: Yes?
UNKNOWN MALE: But you look fabulous in the jacket.
MOOS: Forget weatherproof. Call me weather-beaten. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Don't be too hard on yourself. She looks good in it.
ROBERTS: She does. She models it well.
It's two minutes to the top of the hour. Your top stories coming your way in 90 seconds. Don't go away.
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