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American Morning

Chilean Miners Could Soon be Rescued; Thumbs Down for Congress; Rare Look Inside North Korea; Hearing for Fort Hood Shooter Today; Fight or Flight for the Democratic Party?

Aired October 12, 2010 - 07:00   ET

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

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. Thanks so much for being with us on this Tuesday. It's October 12th. I'm Kiran Chetry.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Thanks so much for being with us.

This could be the last night of captivity for 33 trapped Chilean miners. They've been stuck underground for 69 days now. Testing on a 2,000-foot escape tunnel has been a rousing success. And they're just about ready to go. We're live in Chile this morning where by this time tomorrow, all of the men could be back on the surface in the arms of their loved ones.

CHETRY: A CNN exclusive now -- ruled by a dictator, shrouded in secrecy, now we get a rare glimpse inside North Korea, a place that only got its first traffic lights as it pursues nuclear weapons. Our Alina Cho is one of the few outsiders allowed to look around and talk to people. She'll join us live from Pyongyang this morning.

ROBERTS: And the army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people at last year's shooting rampage at Fort Hood has a hearing today in a military court. Officials will determine whether Major Nidal Hasan will stand trial. A live report from Chris Lawrence in Ft. Hood just ahead.

CHETRY: And 69 days they've been trapped understood ground. The 33 Chilean miners could be rescued, though, by this time tomorrow. Work crews have finished reinforcing a 2,000 foot long escape tunnel with sheet metal.

ROBERTS: After four successful tests on that tunnel, the rescue is set to begin sometime in the next 18 to 24 hours. A steel cage will hopefully take the men in a tight twisting ride to their freedom. Karl Penhaul live this morning from Copiapo, Chile. And, Karl, I imagine the excitement is about to build there because they're about ready to launch this.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, absolutely, John. And as we're speaking the sun is just rising over this mountain, just on to my left. And it's amazing to think that after 69 days possibly some of these miners are going to see sunrise tomorrow for the first time in 69 days. It's just an amazing thought to me.

But, yes, all systems are now go. That steel tubing encasing is in place. The cement, a platform at the top of the rescue shaft has now dried. And we've seen that test of the Phoenix capsule, the rescue cage, as well, pretty dramatic pictures there as we saw that slide right down about 2,000 feet. It had a camera attached.

But that has allowed the engineers to test the integrity of that tunnel and they say it is A-OK. They say there are no chance of rock falls. They say that the Phoenix capsule is performing really well. All systems are go.

Really what they need now is the President Sebastian Pinera to arrive. Also we're told that maybe the Bolivian president will be here, as well. All along the Chilean president has said that as each of those miners comes out of that hole, he wants to hug each one personally. And we could be seeing that some time tonight and the wee small hours of Wednesday, John.

CHETRY: So many preparations underway, Karl. It seems they've planned for everything, not only physical extraction, but also the mental aspects, as well. And when you talk to the families, what are they feeling right now as the rescue seems to be imminent?

PENHAUL: Absolutely. I mean, everything has been meticulously planned for the last phase of this operation, Kiran, right down to the fact that in a short while the miners will be going on to a liquid diet supplied by NASA so they don't get nauseous or dizzy on the way up.

But yes, you're right. There's been a human drama down half mile deep through all this time. But the other part of the human drama is up here on the surface with the families.

And I can tell you, I've been here, we've been here at CNN for about seven weeks now, and it's inevitable that in that time you get to know the families, you get to make friends with families, because here in the desert where this golden copper mine is, it's a frigid place at night.

And so we've spent many hours huddled around campfires with these families. They've literally got nowhere to go. And last night there were a lot of hugs and tears. We've all realized this might be the last time that we see one another together because from now on, things are going to be very fast-moving.

And now one of the ladies, you know, she hugged me and said, you know, I don't know what to feel right now. She says I don't have any words to describe these kinds of emotions because I've never felt these kinds of emotions before, she said. She said she was anxious, she said she was stressed, she said she was nervous, but she was also overjoyed.

And I said to her, well, you know, there is no word because you haven't been through this experience. Those miners have never been through this experience before, this is uncharted territory. Don't put a name on it. You've just got to go with the emotions today. And it is going to be a long haul for a lot of these families. But we know that the eyes of the world are on this too -- 1,500 journalists from 39 different countries. And it's a story that's touched the world, really. A lot of people communicate with me via Facebook and Twitter, and there's a lady in Texas who says every night she goes down to her church and gets the priest to light 33 candles. So a lot of eyes here, but our thoughts are with the families and the miners, Kiran.

CHETRY: You're right when you say it's captured the world's attention, and now as we're getting closer, everybody wants to know that these men will indeed get out OK. Karl Penhaul, thanks so much.

ROBERTS: When the big stories break, CNN is the place to be. We'll have live coverage of the dramatic miner rescue when it happens tonight and tomorrow morning here on the Most News in the Morning.

CHETRY: Five minutes past the hour right now. Also new this morning, President Obama is promising to get to the bottom of a failed rescue attempt by U.S. special forces that ended in the death of British aid worker Linda Norgrove. Prime minister of Britain David Cameron says that she may have been killed by a U.S. grenade. Both leaders agree that the rescue mission was the right move given the grave danger to her life.

ROBERTS: Well, from Bond girl to stocks and bonds girl -- Anna Chapman, the accused Russian spy who was sent packing last summer, has got herself a new gig working for a Russian bank, FSB, the same initials as Russia's main spy agency. Coincidence? She caused a stir last week when she showed up at the launch of a Russian rocket carrying an American crew. The bank, which funds aerospace projects. says that she was there as a, quote, "adviser."

CHETRY: Well, the disgraced former city manager of Bell, California, had his Huntington Beach house TP'd Sunday night. Police say that Robert Rizzo was not home when vandals littered his property with toilet paper.

Rizzo is facing 53 corruption counts and a corruption scandal. He and other public officials are accused of ripping off more than $5 million from taxpayers. Pretty big house, by the way.

ROBERTS: Yes. That goes to show you what those municipal government salaries will buy you.

CHETRY: That's right.

ROBERTS: When, you know, spent correctly.

(WEATHER BREAK)

CHETRY: Well, a paperback flyer on the campaign trail, someone throws a book at President Obama. Find out why the Secret Service says the person in the end meant no harm. It's eight minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROBERTS: "Minding your Business" this morning, and give me a break -- happy birthday to the Kit-Kat bar. It turns 75 years old today. The brand was launched back in 1935 in the U.K. It's estimated the world eats 564 Kit-Kat fingers every second of every day.

CHETRY: I used to throw them in the freezer. They'd go nice and cold.

Well, the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, may be selling the iPad soon. Don't expect Wal-Mart to roll back the price of the popular tablet computer. The iPad will still start at $499.

ROBERTS: Well, Christine Tomans is here minding your business this morning. And she's got a look at --

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: The best jobs in America. CNNmoney.com has done a fantastic set of lists -- best pay, best availability, best jobs overall in America.

We've been talking about all of the gloom and doom of the jobs drought. But there are areas where there are great pay and there are jobs available.

And I wanted to give you where the best pay is. This is available on CNNmoney.com and they break down the lists in a lot of different ways. So if you're curious about where you fit or where your kids should be getting trained, I would suggest you walk over there and take a look.

And 45 percent of highest paid jobs are in health care. Also, boys and girls, that's where we're adding a lot of jobs. Be careful where you're getting jobs in health care, because there's a big divide in the best-paid jobs and least-paid jobs.

Technology is 15 percent of the jobs there, sales, lawyers, and management, got to work your way up the ranks. Management consultants, in fact, are among those people who are paid quite well.

So what are the top jobs in each of these industries? Number one, anesthesiologist. This top job by pay alone, $290,000 -- I just had a baby. I paid that bill. I'm sure that guy made $290,000.

CHETRY: You're so happy to see the anesthesia.

ROMANS: Oh, yes, please, please, come back again soon.

The product management director, $148,000 -- these are just a few we wanted to show you. A software engineer makes $144,000 a year. A sales director makes about $142,000. And an attorney makes about $118,000. Of course, it depends on what kind of field you are, where you are in with different jobs.

What we do know and something I've talked to you before is when you're telling your kid how to get trained and what kind of education to have, be careful. A lot of the engineering fields pay very, very well. A lot of these health care fields pay very, very well. But you have to be careful where you choose.

And sometimes when I do these stories, I get a lot of e-mail and a lot of feedback from people who say, you know, that's great, that's really great. But we have 20 million people in this country who need a job right now and aren't necessarily going to be an anesthesiologist overnight.

ROBERTS: That takes a substantial period of time.

ROMANS: It does. But at least it gives you a little snapshot of what some of the best jobs in America with, of course, the understanding that we need to do a lot more work to get jobs for everyone else there too. So take a look at CNNmoney.com. There is some good stuff there.

ROBERTS: All right, good luck getting that epidural.

ROMANS: Yes, exactly.

ROBERTS: Thanks, Christine.

CHETRY: All right, well, a paperback flyer on the campaign trail -- someone threw a book at the president while he was speaking on a campaign speech. Find out why the Secret Service says the person meant no harm.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most Politics in the Morning. Crossing the Political Ticker now. Americans giving members of Congress a thumbs down.

ROBERTS: Our senior political editor Mark Preston live at the CNNPolitics.com desk. And, Mark, as we like to say around here, the best surprise is no surprise, right?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: The best surprise is no surprise, Kiran (ph), you're absolutely right. Look, Democrats haven't had a whole lot to crow about in this new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll. They might not want to crow that much. But when asked how Democrats are handling their jobs in Congress, they actually polled a little bit better than Republicans. And in fact, 34 percent of Americans say that they approve of how Democrats are doing their job in Congress. When asked the same question of Republicans, Americans only say 31 percent of Republicans are doing or 31 percent of Americans believe the Republicans are doing a good job.

So is this good news for Democrats? Well, of course not. I mean, look at those numbers. A little more than three in 10 Americans are actually saying something positive about what's happening here in Washington. And when we asked on specific issues, such as terrorism and health care and immigration and most importantly the economy, Republicans have come up on top on every one of those issues. Of course, very critical heading into the midterm elections. You know, Kiran, you were talking a little bit about that book- throwing incident. You know, about President Obama's rally up Philadelphia.

Well, if you see this video, you can see the president talking. Of course, this was his big rally in Philadelphia. He's trying to really get the Democratic base fired up.

Well, a book came flying by him. Not sure how close it actually got to him. In fact, he didn't even know it was coming. The Secret Service were able to detain the man. They have not charged him. What they described him as was an overzealous author. They let him go, no charges. We'd have no other information about this gentleman. They haven't said what the book was about or what his name was. But I guess the big question is. Would he been better off throwing it at Oprah or President Obama? Because isn't Oprah the one who makes authors? I'm not sure about that.

ROBERTS: Definitely. Considering that the president didn't even see it go by him. It was a misplaced toss to begin with.

CHETRY: Yes, terrible. If the president would have caught it and said, oh, "How to Win Friends and Influence People," this looks great. Maybe it would have helped. At least it wasn't a shoe.

PRESTON: And he could have read it on the way back home from Philadelphia and back to D.C.

ROBERTS: All right. Mark, great to see you this morning. Thanks so much.

A CNN exclusive this morning. Inside North Korea, a place that's infamous for its labor camps and propaganda. Would you believe it's got an amusement park? Alina Cho is going to take you there this morning.

It's 20 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Twenty-three minutes past the hour right now.

We have a CNN exclusive for you. A rare look inside of North Korea. The politics, the pageantry, and, of course, the propaganda.

ROBERTS: A nation closed off to the world for six decades is opening up, well, just a little bit to introduce a new dictator to the world. Our Alina Cho is one of few foreign journalists allowed into the country this week. She joins us now live from Pyongyang with a look at North Korea that you might not expect.

Good morning, Alina.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening from Pyongyang, John and Kiran. You know, for all the pomp and circumstance that we've seen here in North Korea over the past several days, what we really wanted to know is how do average North Koreans live?

Now, remember, it's hard to get a true picture. Our movements are tightly controlled by the government. And this is a communist country, after all. But having said that, we have seen remarkable signs of progress.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHO (voice-over): Your eyes are not deceiving you. This is communist North Korea. Its newest attraction, this western-style amusement park, and it's packed. There's a ride called "Tower Surge." And take a look inside the food court, you'll find western fair.

The Un (ph) family comes here often to unwind. He says words cannot explain the excitement. After working so hard, General Kim Jong-Il has given us this park to relax. We really love it.

If North Korea is Stalin's last playground, this is its version of Disneyland. Not far at this outdoor food market, they're serving up more traditional fair, like soybean pancakes. And people are paying. Like their enemy neighbors in South Korea, North Korean currency is also called the wan, but this money features a hammer and sickle. One hundred North Korean wan equals $1 dollar. That will get you two sweet potatoes. One ticket to the amusement park, or a hot dog at the food court.

In the two years since I last visited North Korea, I've noticed some changes. For one, more average North Koreans speak English.

CHO (on camera): Do you like coming here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Very much.

CHO (voice-over): For the first time, there are traffic lights installed this spring. Most notably, in a country closed off to the rest of the world, North Koreans are now talking on cell phones.

This girl says everyone in her family has one. But international calls are forbidden. Word is, punishable by death. In that way, and others, time stands still.

We can only see what our government minders want us to see and undeniably, it's North Korea's best face. Many North Koreans live in poverty. There are very few cars. In this city, there's no such thing as a traffic jam.

(on camera): This is Pyongyang's Puhung (ph) subway station, one of two main hubs and one of the main forms of transportation for average North Koreans. Many don't own bikes let alone cars, so this is how they get from point "A" to point "B," and today the trains appear to be running on time.

(voice-over): And many travel on foot. On the streets, there are no ads, just propaganda. And listen -- they not only see the message, they hear it. North Korean propaganda songs blaring across Pyongyang. (on camera): So look at what we happened upon here. You know, we're in the middle of week-long celebrations here in North Korea commemorating the 65th anniversary of the Workers Party of North Korea. This is how people are celebrating. They're literally dancing in the streets.

(voice-over): It's possible they're also celebrating the choice of their next leader, Kim Jong-un, son of the ailing dictator Kim Jong- Il. For all the small changes we've seen, the larger question remains, will the change at the top affect the average citizen? For now, North Korea remains sealed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHO: We are standing in front of North Korea's most famous monument. An enormous statue of Kim Il-sung, the founder of this communist country. It is a very holy place. Even at this time in the evening, there is music, people lay flowers. They go right up to the statue and bow. It is almost like being in a cathedral in a country, John and Kiran, where there is no organized religion.

CHETRY: An interesting look this morning. Alina, thanks so much.

And right now, we're crossing the half hour. Time for a look at our top stories.

Thirty-three trapped Chilean miners could see freedom by this time tomorrow. Work crews have successfully tested a 2,000-foot tunnel and could begin lifting the miners out by midnight tonight.

ROBERTS: All right. So are you having financial woes? You'll want to pay attention to this next story.

Wall Street on track for a record payday. According to the "Wall Street Journal," about three dozen firms are set to pay -- here's the figure -- $144 billion in compensation and benefits this year. That's a four percent increase from 2009. Wall Street revenue also expected to rise to $448 billion despite a slowdown in activities like stock and bond trading.

CHETRY: Tracking tropical storm Paula, now a hurricane after gaining strength near Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula overnight. The storm is about 230 miles south-southeast of Cozumel, Mexico right now. A hurricane warning has been issued for the Mexican coast. Paula could also dump up to six inches of rain over eastern Honduras, northern Belize and the Yucatan Peninsula before heading toward Cuba later in the week.

ROBERTS: Major Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of opening fire on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood last year is about to face his victims in a military court.

CHETRY: Yes. A hearing begins today to determine whether enough evidence exists to put Hasan on trial and to court martial him. He's charged with murdering 13 people, and 32 others who survived that massacre will be sitting just a few feet away from him in the courtroom today.

Chris Lawrence is live in Fort Hood, Texas, this morning. He joins us on the phone.

Chris, tell us more about what is happening today.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Yes, Kiran. Right now, we're just now driving on to the Fort Hood base. A lot of extra security.

You know, we've spoken to about a dozen people since we got down here a couple of days ago. And a lot of them have just been telling us they're really looking forward to this being over. One of the MPs on base told us, you know, hey, nobody likes it when Hasan comes on base. We do our job, of course, we protect him. But really, we want this man to go away.

We also spoke with the fiance of one the most seriously wounded soldiers. This was a young soldier who had just got back a couple days ago from fighting in Iraq. He was only a few days away from leaving for officer candidate school. That's why he was in that building when Hasan was shooting that day. She told us based on everything that she's gone through and the other families, a lot of them want to be here to face him in court.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSICA HANSEN, FIANCE OF PATRICK ZIEGLER: We all cope in different ways. And, you know, I know in my situation I just like to know all of the facts as I can get them. And, you know, for me, I'm anxious for the Article 32 to begin. So the public can start seeing some of the facts of what really happened that day and, you know, what led up to that day. And you're going to hear more stories about just how selfless those 13 people were and how many heroes are among the wounded.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE: Yes, as for Hasan himself, he had been held in a county jail nearby. He spends most of the day either sitting in a chair or in bed. He's got a TV and a Koran in his cell. John, Kiran?

ROBERTS: Chris, how much of the case is going to be presented today? What's the exact procedure to determine whether or not he can face a court's martial?

LAWRENCE: John, what we're going to hear is that the prosecutor is going to lay out the what. They're going to talk about how he allegedly went out and bought these weapons, how he went to a local gun range to practice his aim, and how he carefully planned this attack. What they probably won't get into is the why. His motivation, his alleged links to terrorist organizations overseas.

They probably will not get into that until the actual court martial. So based on what we talked to with some of the families, they want to hear, not only how he planned this, but sort of what his motivations were. We may not get those answers in this hearing, John.

ROBERTS: Chris Lawrence watching it for us in Ft. Hood, Texas, this morning. Chris, thanks.

CHETRY: We got less than a month left, three weeks before the midterm elections and President Obama is trying to fire up his own party now. But how much trouble could the Democrats be in this year? Especially if their base is not as fired up? Well, we're going to speak to David Sirota, a syndicated columnist, Jane Hamsher, the founder of a progressive blog about why they feel that in many cases the president let them down.

32 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: 35 minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the most politics in the morning. How do you inspire the base that helped propel you into office? It's proving to be a bit of a challenge for the Obama administration with just three weeks to go now until the midterm elections. The president's been hitting the campaign trail. He's trying to fire up the crowd and rekindle the excitement from two years ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our victory in that campaign, that wasn't the end of the road. That was just the beginning of the road. That was just the start of the journey. By itself, it does not deliver the change that we need. On November 2nd, I need you as fired up as you were in 2008.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Well, the president has good reason to be in all-out campaign mode. The latest CNN polls show Republicans with a 20-point lead when it comes to voter enthusiasm. So what happened to all of those fired up Democrats from two years ago?

Our next guests say that the president flat out failed to deliver what he promised and they're both Democrats. Syndicated columnist David Sirota joins us from Denver and in Washington, Jane Hamsher, founder of firedoglake.com, a progressive blog. Thanks to both of you for being with us.

DAVID SIROTA, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: Thank you.

CHETRY: Jane, let me start with you. Conventional wisdom, of course, is that the president's party always tends to lose. They face an enthusiasm gap in the midterm elections but personally speaking, what has the president done or not done that's let you down?

JANE HAMSHER, FOUNDER OF FIREDOGLAKE.COM: Well, I think that one of the things that people are seeing is not that he failed to do things, but that he claimed to support things and his actions didn't match up with his words. For instance, he's promised on many occasions to end don't ask, don't tell. And Congress has, of course, not been cooperative on that front.

But as commander in chief, he could suspend the discharges under "Don't ask, don't tell" right now. And we've had Joe Biden who has been saying "oh, well, we can't suspend them because we traded that away for the votes in the Senate," but it didn't pass the Senate.

And so people are going, wait a minute, you said you had the votes and then you don't and you could do this, but you're not. So, you know, what's really going on here? And I think that's caused a lack of trust.

CHETRY: Another thing, David, it's interesting, though, that the president has taken a lot of political heat. He's seen his poll numbers drop for supporting things that progressives and liberals are in favor of. Things like the health care reform and the bailout. So isn't he between a rock and a hard place when it comes to this? Because some of the things that you want him to go a step further with he's losing support for doing.

SIROTA: Well, I don't think that progressives and liberals are for - were for the bailout, the bank bailout and I don't think they were for the health care bill as it was constructed.

(CROSSTALK)

CHETRY: Well, let me clarify about the - about the bailout. I mean, there were a lot of - of economists like Paul Krugman and others who say he didn't do enough, it should have been bigger. The stimulus should have been bigger. I understand what you're saying that you weren't happy that the bailout had to happen, but felt that more government intervention was better.

SIROTA: Well, yes. I just want to make a distinction. I mean, there was the bank bailouts and then there was the stimulus. Those are two separate things. I think look - I think the progressives have said about the stimulus that it didn't go far enough, that it wasn't big enough to make the right economic impact. I think people think that the health care bill didn't include key provisions that would've actually made the health care bill actually work in a lot better fashion as opposed to being a pretty big give away to the insurance industry.

So my point here is only that the president has put forward big ideas, but I think it goes back to whether he's going to and whether he did legislate them in the precise way, in the precisely progressive way that he said he would. And I don't think that he has. There was no public option. The Wall Street bill got watered down. The bank bailouts were, frankly, big give aways to the banks. And so, I think, that again - that they were not structured in a way where he looked like he tried, where he effectively tried to legislate them in a progressive way.

CHETRY: Jane, in some cases, though, isn't it ideas versus reality? He would've wanted a public option. But in some cases, it might not have gotten through the Congress because of Democrats who weren't necessarily supporting a public option. HAMSHER: Well, I believe that's the line that they tried to peddle. But this last week we saw Tom Daschle give an interview for his new book. That says that the White House traded away the public option very early in the process in 2009 long before it ever hit Congress. And so, again, people were going, "wait a minute, the president was saying in September that he supported a public option but he'd actually already traded it away." So it didn't really have anything with how anybody in Congress felt.

And so that's the problem that we're getting to. If you look at the Hispanic vote, it's actually shifted weirdly, almost 20 points towards the Republicans since July. And that's not because they think that the Republicans, the party that passed the immigration bill in Arizona, you know, represent our great champions of, you know, Hispanic issues. It's because they believe that the president was not honest with them.

And, you know, despite the fact that he says, yes, I'm for immigration reform, deportations are actually up significantly under Obama than they were with George Bush. So there's a lack of confidence going on. There's a gap between action and rhetoric. And people are nervous. The stimulus bill. You know, people argue whether it's big enough or small enough, but the fact is that we have a very bad jobless crisis right now.

We've got a foreclosure crisis and the president hasn't articulated a clear message that people feel they can have confidence in order to be able to, you know, go to the polls and say, "yes, this is what I want for my life."

CHETRY: And so David, where does it leave people like you who obviously would much rather still see the Obama administration in power and the Democrats in control of Congress than having anything be seeded to the GOP? When you hear things like buck up, stop whining, some of the things on the campaign trail that Joe Biden has said. Does that inspire you to go vote? Or does that annoy you?

SIROTA: Well, I think it's perplexing. I think if you yell at people and you tell them in the middle of the worst recession in the country's contemporary history to stop whining, I think that really shows just how out of touch this White House is. I mean I think there may be a triangulation strategy here, frankly.

I think the White House may be politically calculating that it can bash its own base and that's somehow a way to get Republican or independent voters. I don't think it will work, I think it's a mistake. I think the best way for the Obama administration to go about motivating people is to say, listen, we didn't do enough, we're going to try harder, and that's why you should elect Democrats. Unfortunately, that's not the message right now.

CHETRY: Mark Halperin said that the White House is "in over its head, isolated, insular, (INAUDIBLE) and clueless about how to bring everyone together." And he said it - this is an article he wrote for "Time" magazine where he said that this isn't just the opinion of the Republicans, but Democrats, as well. I mean, Jane, in your opinion, has it gotten that bad in a way that people who supported the president so unabashedly in 2008 feel this way now?

HAMSHER: Well, you know, as you said, there always is an enthusiasm gap in a midterm election. But I think one of the things that Mark Halperin was referring to is the fact that there is tremendous descent within the Democratic Party, all the focus on the professional left is basically on a bunch of people nobody's ever heard of.

But in reality, there's tremendous tension between the DNC and DCCC and the DSCC who feel that the DNC is focusing on Obama 2008 surge voters that will help Obama in 2012 but may not be the best use of their efforts. In 2010, when they should be turning out the traditional midterm election voters. That, you know, they really need to turn out and are much more likely to turn out. So there's a lot of sort of war within the Democratic Party about how to, you know, deal with this election right now.

CHETRY: David, just quickly. What's the one piece of advice that if they were listening this morning at the White House, you have for them?

SIROTA: Concede that everything is not perfect. Concede that they made mistakes, concede that they frankly didn't try on certain issues and then go to voters and say that they will try, that they will succeed, that they will make an effort if voters elect Democrats. Don't just bash Democratic voters and tell them that they're whiners.

CHETRY: David Sirota and Jane Hamsher, great discussion this morning. Thanks for being with us.

HAMSHER: Thanks.

SIROTA: Thank you.

ROBERTS: Hurricane warnings are up in Mexico including some tourist hot spots. Is the state of Florida next? Rob Marciano's got hurricane Paula's latest track right after the break.

Plus, it's as though as an embryo traveled through time. A woman has given birth to a healthy baby boy from an embryo kept frozen for nearly 20 years. What implications does this have for the future? We'll talk about that coming up.

44 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: 53 minutes after the hour. Time for your AM House Call, stories about your health. Used to be something that you read about in a Sci-Fi novel. Now it's a medical journal. It's a mind- blowing breakthrough. A healthy baby boy born from an embryo that was frozen for almost 20 years. Two decades between conception and birth. It's a real Rip van Winkle story.

Joining us now to talk more about it is Dr. Jacob Mayer, he is the co- author of the study on this and rheologist at the Jones Institute Embryology Laboratory at the East Virginia School of Medicine.

Jacob, great to talk to you this morning. A lot of people might wonder. You know, you had an embryo that was fertilized in 1990 in your program. You had an infertile couple that came along, wanted it. Why use a 20-year-old embryo, though, opposed to something that was newer?

JACOB MAYER, PROFESSOR OF OBSTETRICS AND GYNECOLOGY AND EAST VIRGINIA MEDICAL SCHOOL: Well, actually, the number of embryos we have in storage is limited and so patients often will look for the best match, best physical match for themselves. so we give them a list of embryos we have with the general characteristics and they choose from that. We'll tell them about how long it's been in storage and give them the information and the patient makes the choice based on what's available.

ROBERTS: So this embryo was almost two decades old. And when I talk to folks about this, just around here this morning, the first thing out of their mouth is, wow, a 20 year-old embryo. What's the risk of having an embryo that was frozen for 20 years? Could there be potential health problems with the baby in the years to come?

MAYER: Well, I mean, actually, of course, this is all new. IVF itself is only a few decades old. So the real risk we have to tell patients always, that there may be unknown risk. But we felt pretty confident about it because in 2008, we published a paper on over 11,000 embryos that had been frozen and stored, looked at the impact of storage on those and saw no real impact at all with the viability or the ability to produce a pregnancy, or the health of the offspring. So we felt very comfortable with that.

ROBERTS: Great. Now, the baby was born back in May, which would make it about five months old now. I know that the mother wants to remain anonymous. But tell us a little bit about her story. You know, what type of person was she? How long had she been trying to conceive?

MAYER: Well, actually, the patient was 42-years-old when the transfer was made. And had what's referred to as low ovarian reserve, which means she had very few eggs left in her ovaries and the chances of her having a child with her own eggs were slim. So, for that reason she chose to go ahead and -- the options that couples have at that point are either do something with eggs from a younger woman -- an egg donation. Or, in this case, she chose to go with embryo donation.

ROBERTS: Now, is there a limit to how long an embryo could be stored now if it's stored properly?

MAYER: That's a difficult experiment to do. I mean, 20 years -- remember that freezing mammalian embryos of any type has only started to occur in the 1970s. Human embryos in the 1980s. So we really -- 20 years, 20-some years is about the longest we could have had something in storage at the moment.

But in theory looking at it, these embryos frozen and stored at minus 321 degrees Fahrenheit. And at that temperature, there are no thermally driven reactions. All of the biochemical reactions are essentially frozen in place. It's really a state of suspended animation.

ROBERTS: So what then are --

MAYER: In theory it should be hundreds of years that we should be able to keep them.

ROBERTS: So what then are the implications for the future? I know that egg freezing is becoming very popular, as well. Could you have a situation --

MAYER: Absolutely.

ROBERTS: -- where a woman 30 years old, she decides to either freeze some embryos or freeze some eggs and then two generations later along comes a great grandchild who is infertile and could potentially use those eggs. So the great-grandmother could provide the material for her own great, great, great-granddaughter?

MAYER: Well, I think there are all kinds of things that I'm sure there'll be plenty of writers and people that write -- do movies. They'll come up with all kinds of scenarios. There are a lot more things that are possible now.

But the reality is most of the embryos frozen, most of the material that's frozen is used relatively quickly, within a couple of years for the patient's own use. And the primary purpose of all of this, remember, is for their own fertility treatment. And that's for the vast, vast majority -- 90-some percent of everything is actually used in the patient's own treatment.

ROBERTS: Then at the same time you had one hanging around for 20 years. So I guess anything is possible.

MAYER: We did. We did. We did. And it will probably getting more and more as time goes on.

ROBERTS: Jacob Mayer, great to see you this morning. Congratulations.

MAYER: Well, thank you so much.

ROBERTS: Top stories coming your way right after the break. Stay with us.

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