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American Morning

Texas and Oklahoma Wildfires; Only Way Back By Boat; Obama Backs Down; Trouble Brewing For Tea Party; Danger: Automation Addiction; President Moves Speech Date to Accommodate GOP Debate; Museum to Open Exhibit on 9/11; First Lady Michelle Obama Profiled in "Essence", Michelle Obama Power Player; America's Sugar High

Aired September 01, 2011 - 07:59   ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A perfect storm for wildfires. I'm Christine Romans. High winds, deep, severe drought fanning the flames that have destroyed dozens of homes in Texas and Oklahoma, putting hundreds of others in harm's way.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: What's left of their lives piled on the sidewalk.

I'm Carol Costello.

People in Vermont see what Irene did with their own eyes as others still wait for help days after the storm.

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Use it or lose it.

I'm Ali Velshi.

Who knew that expression could apply to an airline's pilot ability to do their job and keep us safe? On this AMERICAN MORNING.

(MUSIC)

VELSHI: Good morning. It is Thursday, September the 1st. September the 1st!

Boy, August has been a busy month. I think on most fronts, many people are glad to be done with it -- on the financial front, on the weather front. A lot happened.

ROMANS: Yes, let's turn the page and move into September hopefully with some better results.

But, first, some wildfires fueled by severe drought are burning across Texas and Oklahoma. Dozens of homes are already been destroyed there and hundreds more are being threatened.

CNN's Jim Spellman is getting up close look at the fire in the town of Possum Kingdom Lake. He joins us now.

Jim, what are you seeing now in terms of the flames? You know, yesterday, zero percent contained -- hoping for cooler weather maybe?

JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's pretty cool right now and the winds are calm. The sun is just coming up here in Texas, so crews are able to get out and get a better assessment of what may have happened overnight. The previous night it was good.

They woke up yesterday morning, they thought they were going to be able to get it under control. Midday hit, the temperature soared over a hundred and the winds picked up and the fire got away from them. It grew. They lost 14 homes yesterday, about 39 destroyed. And today, they hope to prevent a similar thing today.

They say 400 more homes just in this community are in jeopardy. The drought conditions are so extreme. 90 percent of the state under a severe drought conditions and stretching all the way into Oklahoma where this morning we know a fire is burning there approaching the suburb of Edmond and they had to close the interstate for a while.

So, with these conditions, it's hard to fight this fire and new fires can literally pop up at any time and started with just a spark with this drought meeting the winds that picked up in the middle of the day -- Christine.

ROMANS: Certainly could use some moisture and even watching some of the tropical storm action in the ocean, maybe hoping that some of the weather is going to bring some water one of these days.

All right. Jim Spellman -- thanks, Jim.

COSTELLO: It was another dark night for close to 2 million people days after hurricane Irene knocked out power. President Obama will travel to Paterson, New Jersey, this weekend. The floodwaters have slowly started to recede there. Now, people are worried that the murky polluted water left over may be toxic.

Some flood victims returning home to Vermont only to find their houses aren't there any more. Water surged down the mountains and into the towns. The governor is saying it's the worst flooding in 100 year.

Crews patching up some roads and creating all new ones to get supplies to the hundreds of people still stranded in Vermont. They haven't been able to get in or out since Sunday. Food supplies is now a major problem in parts of New England.

Our Susan Candiotti is actually live in Wayne, New Jersey, where high water is keeping thousands of people from returning home in that state. For some, the boat is the only way. I can certainly see why, Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right.

The water is about six inches lower than it was when we were here last night but we are still almost five feet above the flood stage. We are in the middle of a parking lot right now and I can tell you, the current here is rather strong, putting a left down, you can see how swiftly it moves away.

This is a parking lot of a car wash. And this is what a lot of businesses look like. They can't reopen because they are surrounded by water and just over here, you cannot tell where the parking lot for this place ends and the Passaic River begins. You're looking at it. Right over there, there's a bridge there and homes.

And as you heard, the only way to get in and out of some of these neighborhoods is, indeed, by boat.

We went along for a ride with some locals.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's Lake Passaic.

COSTELLO: It's now, yes, now called Lake Passaic. I'm seeing what probably are the tops of fences leading up to the front door. But that's not on house on stilts. That is a garage that's under water.

They stayed around? That house? Of course, lost the car. Oh, a classic Mustang lost. Yes.

You've gone through this time and time again. I mean, why do you and other people still live here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, you know, what are you going to do? You can't sell the house. You can't give them away down here.

CANDIOTTI: Here is a sign over here that has a double meaning now. Road closed a few hundred feet ahead. Local traffic only. At this point, it's local boat traffic only.

You're about to start school, your senior year in high school coming up in just a week.

LAURA SHAKIRI: Yes.

CANDIOTTI: What's going through your head?

L. SHAKIRI: How am I going to pay for school? My clothes, everything is stuck at home. I don't know how I'm going to get them. Everything is closed to go shopping. Mall is down and I don't know where to go.

CANDIOTTI: All you have is a suitcase you were able to run out with?

L. SHAKIRI: Yes. Like five pants, five shirts, that's it. That's all I have. A week -- school starts in one week.

CANDIOTTI: Probably won't be the only one, sad to say, huh?

L. SHAKIRI: Plenty. I have so many friends that live on this street too.

SAM SHAKIRI: Wow.

CANDIOTTI: Is this the first time you're seeing it?

S. SHAKIRI: Yes.

CANDIOTTI: How do you even begin to think about the cleanup that is involved here? What is going through your head?

S. SHAKIRI: I don't want to think about that right now. As long as we're safe, that's good. That's the main thing is to be safe and then the cleanup comes next.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: A lot of cleanup and a lot of heartache. You have police from the Wayne Police Department here in New Jersey. They don't go back there in those neighborhoods during the nighttime. They tell me it's far too dangerous and you don't know what you could run into. They are going out there now in the morning to check on the property back there and there are also some people who refuse to evacuate.

So, they'll be checking them out as well. Some people have just enough food and water and they are staying put until the waters recede.

Back to you, Christine.

COSTELLO: Actually, it's Carol, Susan. I like Sam's attitude.

CANDIOTTI: Sorry, Carol.

COSTELLO: That's all right.

Sam put it all in perspective. Everybody is safe so it's OK. That's awesome. Susan Candiotti --

CANDIOTTI: So far, so good.

COSTELLO: So far, so good. Thank you, Susan.

Let's head to Atlanta and check in with Rob.

What's interesting here is the waters have receded in Vermont but not so much in New Jersey. Why is that?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Rougher terrain. Bigger mountains, deeper valleys. So, the water, you know, drains much more -- much faster. And because of that , you get the torrential force behind those rivers and that's why we saw the structural damage across Vermont. The Connecticut River Valley really only takes 24 hours or so to completely drain, so al that moves relatively quickly.

Jersey, it's a little bit flatter so it rises more slowly, also recedes more slowly. They get down towards places like North Carolina, it rises much more slowly but also takes days, if not weeks to recede.

All right. Do we have more rain in the forecast for the Northeast?

Hurricane Katia, yes, became one overnight, 75-mile-an -hour winds, moving off to the west at 19 miles an hour. Here's the forecast track.

Bring it to category 3 status by the weekend -- moving it closer to the U.S. That's the trajectory right now. Of course, it's only five days out. It does miss the Caribbean. We are hoping it misses the U.S. Too early to call that yet but there are stronger cold fronts I see down the pipe and hoping pushes this thing out to sea. I can't make that clear signal call just yet.

This thing now more immediate concern, all right? This could be tropical storm Lee before the day is done. Hurricane hunter going to fly into this. It's in the Gulf of Mexico, my friends. So, look for this to develop into something. I'm not sure how strong. We aren't really sure where it's going to go either.

Our computer models are all over the place. This is almost a joke. Here are your spaghetti models. If you look, you lose around the Mississippi Delta, back to Texas. And some of them getting into the Florida Panhandle. So, no clue what this thing is going to do but it could really affects folks in the northern Gulf Coast as soon as this weekend. So, we'll be watching that closely.

Also watching the fire threat. You saw Jim Spellman out there. Fire threat high just north of Texas. Dallas is going to cool off to only 100. So, that's one of the reasons they don't have the extreme fire threat there, but it's still going to be obviously hot. Temperatures will be in the 90s right on through the rest of the week.

So, that's the latest from here. We are watching Katia, of course, with the item in the Gulf of Mexico. We're going to be watching that very, very closely. And folks who live in the northern Gulf of Mexico are going to want to pay very close attention for that.

Folks who live in Texas are going begging for it. They'd love to get some of that.

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: That was really like a spaghetti bowl there. Quite a thing when you say that September 1st in Dallas have a nice cool day, just a hundred degrees.

Rob, thank you.

MARCIANO: All right, guys.

VELSHI: President Obama pushing back his jobs speech after Republicans objected to the date he asked to speak to Congress. This as the president's approval on the economy tumbles.

A new CNN/ORC poll shows two out of three Americans are not happy with the way the president is handling the economy. That's not all. When asked about how things are going in the country today, 73 percent said badly.

Brianna Keilar is joining us live from the White House this morning.

Brianna, for anybody who wasn't following this very closely, we knew the president was going to make a speech next week. He basically wrote a letter to John Boehner and to the Senate to say, can I speak next Wednesday? And then what happened?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, he wrote a letter. And according to White House Press Secretary Jay Carney who was just on MSNBC, he said that the house Republicans were given about 30 minutes of notice. And I have to tell you, Democrats didn't get a whole lot more than that, Ali.

So, it's not really surprising that the White House had to bend on this. This was a bit of an unforced error. It wasn't well- coordinated with Congress, as I mentioned, Democrats and Republicans.

So, what you have is White House saying, actually we did coordinate with House Republicans. That 30-minute notice has House Republicans saying that's not coordination. That's just kind of alerting us.

And the protocol that you normally see some something like this is that it's worked out behind the scenes ahead of time and that didn't happen here.

So, why would the president -- why would the White House want to just kind of alert for when they wanted this address to happen?

Well, a couple of reasons. The congressional schedule basically dictates that it would have to happen on Wednesday or Thursday without calling congress back into town earlier, having them stay late. And Wednesday, you had the Republican debate. Thursday, you had -- Thursday, you have the NFL season opener, so neither day was really good here. The White House went with Wednesday.

The other thing you have to recognize that is going on here is that the White House feels that whenever it tells Congress something, it has essentially made it public that it has leaked and they were trying to keep this under wraps. The format of this speech we only just learned this right after they alerted Republicans and Democrats in Congress, Ali.

VELSHI: Right. Bottom line is we are all right in thinking that usually, there is some kind of a back room arrangement or there's some predetermination before these things come out and get litigated in the press. What an interesting situation.

All right. Brianna, thanks so much.

And, of course, CNN will have live coverage of President Obama's address next Thursday night, September at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. And most of us will actually be watching, Carol, and we are unsure because of that big football game.

ROMANS: Gosh! But controversy over the scheduling of something that is going to have controversy about creating jobs.

VELSHI: This might not be as smooth as you think.

ROMANS: Wow.

COSTELLO: I know. You're right. I'm going to be taping one event or the other because, boy, I love Drew Brees.

Anyway, seriously though. And now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. The question this morning, is President Obama's jobs plan DOA before it's even unveiled. Not exactly look to a fantastic start.

The president has already had to postpone the unveiling of his plan by 24 hours to avoid a clash with Republicans. Now, his primetime jobs speech before a joint session of Congress will be on TV at the same time the NFL kicks off the first game of the season, instead of the original date, September 7th when Mr. Obama's speech would have competed with a televised Republican debate.

As a "Washington Post" op-ed put it, this spat sums up so well the image problems that Obama has faced since the start of his term. If the White House has spent months working to appear above the partisan fray as they insist they have, then pulling a blatantly partisan stunt like this torpedoes all of that P.R. work, and don't think the Republicans running for president didn't pile on.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now does this show maybe a little insecurity on the part of the president? Either A, he wants to distract the American people so they don't watch it, or B, he doesn't want the American people to hear what the next president of the United States is going to say about the president's job plan!

(END AUDIO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Whether you think that is fair or not, it may resonate more than a statement from the White House. The statement, quote, "The president welcoming the opportunity to address a joint session of Congress on Thursday so our nation's leaders can focus 100 percent of their attention on doing whatever they can to help the American people."

So the talkback question today: is President Obama's jobs plan DOA before it's even unveiled? Facebook.com/AmericanMorning. Facebook.com/AmericanMorning. I'll read your comments later this hour.

ROMANS: Can't wait for that.

Still to come this morning: the Tea Party about to play first role in a presidential election. Questions are being raised as to whether the movement will help or hurt Republicans.

We're going to be right back with that.

Thirteen minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Virginia rattled by another after-shock this morning. It hit just over three hours ago now, registering a 3.4 magnitude. The epicenter located about 36 miles northwest of Richmond. So far no reports it did any damage. More than 20 aftershocks have hit the area since last week's 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck.

COSTELLO: Crews returning to the fire lines this morning to battle wildfires in Texas and Oklahoma. Strong winds and severe drought conditions have fueled a blaze in north Texas about 100 miles outside of Dallas. Fire officials hope calmer winds today will let them get a handle on this fire.

VELSHI: Days after hurricane Irene brought the water, isolated parts of Vermont are finally getting help. Air-drops are being made to several towns. The National Guard is bringing supplies to other communities on patched up roads. And President Obama is going to Paterson, New Jersey, on Sunday, where water in the streets was over 15 feet high.

And the 9/11 terrorist attacks 10 years later. A museum dedicated to news is set to open an exhibit called "War on Terror, The FBI's New Focus." This is going to examine how the FBI's mission has changed since 9/11. It includes artifacts from the World Trade Center site. When you think about how much has changed since 9/11, it really gives you some pause. CNN's Athena Jones has more on the exhibit.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are haunting symbols of grief found in the rubble of the World Trade Center site. A mother's wallet and credit cards packed for a trip cut short when United flight 175 struck the south tower.

SUSAN BENNETT: Ruth McCourt was going to take her four-year-old daughter to Disneyland. Some families got human remains back, so it was really important possess them to get anything, whether it was a wedding ring or a credit card, a wallet, a shoe, because that brought some closure to them.

JONES: And 60 artifacts make up the museum on war on terror exhibit, like engine parts from flight 175, found several blocks from ground zero, hijackers passports found in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and part of a five letters that were given to each of the 19 hijackers with instructions on how to spend their last night. And there are several more personal items that belonged to victims, like cell phones and pagers that rang for days after the towers fell. A team of 30 from the museum worked closely with the FBI for eight months to put the exhibit together, part of an effort to remember and to educate.

CATHY TROST: The story was not only the investigation but also how it changed the FBI forever. The FBI's mission was indelibly changed by 9/11.

JONES: The FBI's top priority after 9/11 was to prevent another attack after 9/11. And the exhibit includes articles from the shoe- bomber case, like Richard Reid's boarding pass and shoes and the four matches he struck in his attempt to bring down the trans-Atlantic flight in December, 2001. But it was the items from September 11th that hit home the most for this visitor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It hits home for any American. It's still so hard to believe, at least for me, even though it's been 10 years.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JONES: Another interesting fact -- you saw police car door among the items on display. And 61 police department vehicles and 102 fire department vehicles were among the debris at the World Trade Center site. So it gives you a sense in a physical way in front of you a sense of the scale of this tragic event. Ali?

VELSHI: Athena, thanks very much.

JONES: Thanks.

ROMANS: The whole controversy over scheduling the president's jobs plan to Congress spilling over to the pages of the opinion sections today in the papers and online. The first op-ed in the "Washington Post" taking a looking at what they call the "Speech back," the unprecedented rebuff by House Speaker John Boehner when the White House planned that address the same day as the next GOP presidential debate.

James Downey questions the administration's motives, saying "Scheduling the speech during the GOP debate is the one way the White House could guarantee, a, that fewer voters will be watching, and that, b, viewers and pundits would pay less attention to the speech's contents and more to the theatrics surrounding it, in other words, it's the easiest way to lessen the speeches chances of success. If this is a preview of Obama's reelections campaign, Democrats should be very worried."

Now the speech is now scheduled for the day after the debate, as we told you. But no matter the date, op-ed columnist Ezra Klein doesn't have hope that the president's job speech is going to lead to any action. He writes in Bloomberg "Obama's speech will achieve nothing. It will go nowhere because it has nowhere to go. It can't change the fundamental fact of politics right now, which is that the two parties disagree on the most profound question in Washington. It's not how do we fix the economy. It's who should win the next election."

VELSHI: Sad state of affairs.

ROMANS: That's really cynical, though? Isn't that cynical?

VELSHI: Yes, but increasingly, how many analysts and commentators do we talk to and say that is driving it?

ROMANS: Ron Brownstein said earlier today the whole leadership, I don't know, the leadership level of society, people don't trust it anymore, whether it's attorneys, whether it's the media, whether it's congress, whether it's political leaders, regulators, companies. People are just like it feels bad out there and what are you people doing for us?

COSTELLO: That's why, in some people's mind, president Obama needs to present some plan, some bold plan and look lawmakers in the eye and say, these are my ideas, give me one better or do something about it. And then lawmakers would have to say, well, we can't do this but we can do this because we also have a plan, some of us.

ROMANS: It's not clear to me that the whole speech spat was even calculated, that the White House calculated so much when to do that and actually the lack of calculation is also even --

VELSHI: The lack of calculation might be the bigger problem.

COSTELLO: That's disturbing, too.

Still ahead, she is a power play. We are talking about Michelle Obama. She has influence and she has a platform. So is it time for the first lady to go out on the trail with the 2012 election? It's 36 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It's 39 minutes past the hour. "Essence" magazine just put first lady Michelle Obama on the cover of its October power issue. She is clearly one of the most powerful black women on the planet. Actually I would argue she is one of the most powerful women on the planet period.

At the same time many leaders in the black community have blasted her husband for not doing enough about minority unemployment. Michelle Obama was called the secret weapon during the campaign of 2008, so is it time for her to get back on the campaign trail?

Joining us now is "Washington Post" reporter Krissah Thompson. She shadowed the first lady on her recent trip to Africa and she wrote the cover story for "Essence." We're also joined by Constance White, the editor-in-chief of "Essence." Welcome to you both. Glad you could be here.

Krissah, lets' start with you. You were able to accompany Michelle Obama on her trip to Africa. What struck you the most about her as you followed her and interviewed her? KRISSAH THOMPSON, REPORTER, "WASHINGTON POST": Well, you know, this was her first presidential level trip. She had press travel with her before, so we just have really seen her embrace the office in a way that she hadn't. She talked about her policies, her popularity on a global scale. You just really saw the reach of the first lady. And like you said, she is most of the well-known women on the planet now.

COSTELLO: She certainly is. Constance, the first lady was criticized for that trip, as she is criticized about so many things, about spending money on fashion, about her anti-obesity campaign. Is she one of the most criticized first ladies in history, or is it some people's imagination?

CONSTANCE WHITE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, "ESSENCE": I think what we do know she has one of the highest approval ratings of anyone in history, so she is clearly very popular. I think the first lady office will always have its detractors, but she clearly is very popular with a wide swath.

COSTELLO: Why is she criticized so much, though?

WHITE: I find she really is someone who women, particularly our "Essence" readers, really love and admire. And we put her on the cover for that reason.

COSTELLO: I guess I'm talking about people who don't read "Essence" magazine.

WHITE: Who is that?

(LAUGHTER)

THOMPSON: I do think that the office of the first lady is one that does attract criticism. I think Michelle Obama has done a great job of really deflecting whatever criticism there is out there by focusing on issues that she cares about, by really being her authentic self. She had some bumps in the beginning and now she has embraced the office being owner authentic telephone and using it to address issues that she cares did.

COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about using her authentic self and using her popularity, because President Obama is getting slammed by some members of the Congressional Black Caucus and some members within the black community saying the president is not paying attention to the plight.

THOMPSON: That is somebody who is criticized.

COSTELLO: Exactly. Christa, I guess I would like to ask you, what if Michelle Obama would go into black communities and talk to people about what her husband is doing? Would that make a difference?

THOMPSON: We have seen some engagement already. Like you said the Congressional Black Caucus has had this jobs tour where they are aired this frustration about the really high unemployment rates we are seeing in the black community. We had President Obama just this week was on Tom Joyner's morning show, a very popular urban radio show, speaking himself about, look, these are the policies we have done. I have this jobs plan coming out. We are trying to push this.

But we are looking to see what the first lady is going to do. She said she is going to be engaged in the 2012 campaign. We know she is very popular with black voters and also with women, frankly, so I think we're going to see her a lot as the campaign continues to pick up.

COSTELLO: What about the president's big job speech, which is supposed to take place on September 8? Do you see a necessary role for Michelle Obama to maybe go out to middle America and connect with people in a way her husband can't seem to?

THOMPSON: What she has been most comfortable doing is what we kind of call soft policy, you know, the Lets Move, anti-obese campaign, working with military families. Will she engage in some of these harder policy issues? It's not clear. It hasn't been a part of her role really in the past. She generally talks about this is what my husband has been doing. These are the policies that he is pushing. We are working hard for you.

But what she has been most comfortable in is these policies that she, as Constance said, authentically cares about, which are children and families really.

COSTELLO: But you know, Krissah, the approval ratings for President Obama aren't so great. If he finds himself in trouble and they continue to decline, why not put his wife out there to fight for him?

THOMPSON: You know, the Democratic Party officials have said she is one of the most popular figures in the party now. I think if they could use her, they would. And the question is, how much is Michelle Obama really willing to engage some of these hard policy issues? I think we saw here in 08 campaigning hard for him. She says that she's ready to get back out there again. But clearly her daughters' schedules come first. She has policy issues that she has been pushing herself so it's going to be a balance. That's what we're going to be looking for.

COSTELLO: Well, Constance I was just going to say, Michelle Obama can certainly handle all kinds of issues. So why not put her out there?

CONSTANCE WHITE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, "ESSENCE" MAGAZINE: Yes as so many of us can't, as women. We are used to juggling all of these things. You know, we know at the beginning when the President was running, when he was a candidate, Michelle Obama was the reluctant -- reluctant wife, if you will, and then she really came into it because she believed in what her husband was going to do. She decided to campaign and we know she did it very effectively. So it would be nice to see her out on the campaign trail again. And --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: And maybe even selling the President's jobs plan?

WHITE: Perhaps. We know for women, for our readers in particular, they care about jobs and they also care about seeing positive role models out there and that was one of the reasons we put Michelle on the cover because we don't see enough of that. And we've heard that from our readers seeing these positive role models, positive black women in the public arena. And she has done a really great job in that regard.

COSTELLO: Ok, I wish the conversation could continue. Thanks to both of you. It was really fascinating.

Krissan Thompson, "Essence" magazine and national staff writer for the "Washington Post" and Constance White editor-in-chief of "Essence" magazine. Thank you so much.

THOMPSON: Thank you.

COSTELLO: We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back with more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: It's 48 minutes after the hour. Here are your morning headlines.

Less than four hours ago a 3.4 magnitude aftershock rattled Virginia. It was centered about 36 miles northwest of Richmond. So far no reports that it did any damage.

President Obama visiting Patterson, New Jersey on Sunday. The city hit hard after Hurricane Irene was flooded out with more than 15 feet of water. The cleanup only starting after the water slowly begins to recede across the northeast.

Fire crews in Texas hoping for cooler weather and calmer winds today to help them get a handle on a wildfire that's destroyed dozens of homes and threatened hundreds of others near Dallas.

In Oklahoma City a brush fire has burned 3,000 acres and destroyed two dozen homes.

Sarah Palin is headed to South Korea. The former Alaskan governor will speak at gathering of business leaders in Seoul next month. She'll be discussing how America can lead the world out of the global economic crisis.

The Labor Department just announced 409,000 unemployment claims were filed for the first time last week. That report is a little bit weaker than expected and a level above 400,000 signals a weak labor market. Not news to most of us.

Right now U.S. stock futures are trading lower off of this news. The markets open in less than 45 minutes from now.

That's the news you need to start your day. AMERICAN MORNING is back right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, there's a pretty good chance you've already had one of these this morning. Talking about sugary drinks like soda or vitamin water maybe. A -- a new study finds half of Americans will have a sugary drink today and often these things contain a lot of calories.

Our CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now. Elizabeth what did this research find?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know this research helps answer the question: why are we so fat as a nation? Now, I'm not going to blame sugary drinks but when you look at the number calories that we are getting from them, it does help answer that question.

So let's take a look at what this study found from the CDC. What they found is that men on average are consuming about 175 calories per day from these sugary drinks and women about 98 calories per day. Now, that may not sound like so many but imagine day after day after day of consuming these many calories. And secondly, that is just an average.

So let me show you what it looks like on the high end. One out of 20 Americans is drinking four of these drinks today. That is 567 calories a day. That is half a Big Mac a day. So half a Big Mac a day in sugary drinks that, as I said, often have no other nutritional value, I mean that is a lot of calories.

And the -- you know, the American beverage folks, the association says look we are not why Americans are fat. In fact people are getting fewer calories from sugary drinks than they ever have before.

ROMANS: And they always like to send these e-mails when they talk about sugary drinks and the effects on the American obesity just --

COSTELLO: And they spend a lot of money to lobby too. You know, whenever governments try to ban the sugary stuff.

COHEN: To tax them, yes.

COSTELLO: Right, exactly. Who tends to drink these types of drinks the most?

COHEN: You know what, unfortunately, young people. And I say unfortunately, because we all know that the obesity epidemic is really becoming particularly bad among young people. So take a look at these numbers for teenagers and the number of calories that they are getting from these sugary drinks.

So boys, 273 calories per day; girls, 171 calories per day. Again, that is -- that is really, I mean, 273 calories a day and multiple that out, that's a lot. COSTELLO: So as Ali is putting away his sugary drink.

VELSHI: You know, you guys, between you and Sanjay -- Sanjay sent me something called kombucha (ph) which I drank this morning.

COHEN: How was it?

VELSHI: No it's horrible. It tasted like smelly fatten blue cheese and bad breathe.

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: It's why you're sitting so close to Carol.

VELSHI: Oh I want -- I want to go -- go is go to vending machine and get a real drink --

(CROSSTALK)

COHEN: Ali, can I give you -- can I give you a radical suggestion for what to drink?

VELSHI: Yes. Yes.

COHEN: Water. Have you tried it? It's really good.

VELSHI: It does not have the same kick.

COHEN: It quenches your thirst.

VELSHI: Yes. Is that -- is that the solution here? How about diet drinks? How about like non-sugar -- is that ok?

COHEN: You know diet drinks are controversial. Some researchers will tell you, you know, have a diet drink you'll get the best sweetness without getting all the sugar and the calories but other people will say hey, the fake sweeteners are bad for you in other ways. So that's a little bit controversial.

So let me give you a couple of other ways that you can try to cut down on the number -- the amount of sugary drinks that you're drinking. Number one is don't go cold turkey. We like sugar, we like sweetness, we're programmed to like it biologically and so if you're having three day, have two a day, then one a day, do it slowly.

Also try a little club soda or some other kind of fizzy water with lime. I get it, I hear you snickering. I know it's not the same thing. But at least it's got the bubbles and it's got a little bit of flavor.

Also don't let kids start. It just kills me when I see a 3-year- old or 4-year-old drinking a soda. There is no reason. There is nothing else in there for them and they either -- there's so many other things they could be drinking that would be better for them.

ROMANS: Even like lemonade, you know when you make lemonade for kids, cut it with a lot of water. You can cut orange juice with water.

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: Does putting lime in your club soda count as a vegetable serving?

COSTELLO: It's a fruit.

COHEN: It's a fruit and it's a fraction.

VELSHI: All right.

COHEN: It's both.

COSTELLO: All right. Thanks so much, Elizabeth Cohen.

COHEN: Thanks.

VELSHI: By the way, I have a half bottle of like Kombucha, if you want it.

ROMANS: No.

COSTELLO: I don't think I'll be touching that stuff.

ROMANS: Sanjay is trying to like make you live forever and not have a heart attack?

VELSHI: If I had to drink that stuff every day, I don't think I want to live that long.

ROMANS: He's pulling (INAUDIBLE) out or this project for Ali Velshi.

COSTELLO: Coming up next, our "Talk Back" question of the day. Is President Obama's jobs plan DOA before it's even unveiled? We have your responses next.

It's 54 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: We asked you to "Talk Back" on one of the big stories of the day. We asked this question: Is President Obama's jobs plan DOA before it's ever unveiled?

This from Michael. "Even if Obama's job plan is DOA the Republicans don't have a plan to work with, anyway. Besides I believe the economy needs more than just talk, it needs action. What happened to the infrastructure plans? Wouldn't that incorporate new jobs as well? If Obama doesn't start getting it straight, he can kiss his presidency good-bye in 2012."

This from Gary. "Obama has had over three years in office and he now has a plan to create jobs? What took him so long? He needs to be a one-term president. We can't afford to have four more years of malaise and incompetence."

And this from Larry. "I believe it's mostly DOA because I don't know what is in it but it does seem like Obama is doing everything he can to make his campaign DOA as well. I'll still vote for him because the Republicans scare me to death."

Keep the conversation going; Facebook.com/AmericanMorning

ROMANS: He did have a jobs plan; it was called the stimulus and it --

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: Yes. That's right.

ROMANS: -- it stopped the bleeding of jobs but didn't create enough new ones and that's why they're back to square one. But yes --

VELSHI: Yes. It was $800 billion jobs plan.

COSTELLO: Yes. Exactly.

ROMANS: Ok. They are painting the town red in Bunol, Spain.

VELSHI: This looks like so much fun.

ROMANS: Site of the world's largest tomato fight. 20,000 people took part in the annual Tomatina Festival slinging 120 tons of ripe tomatoes.

VELSHI: They do look a little squished in there. The concept of ripe tomato fight sounds like fun to me, like it feels nobody really gets hurt.

COSTELLO: Oh, look there.

ROMANS: I like it because all the fighting in this country is political and I feel like there's no resolution.

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: This is a dirty fun fight with no purpose and no winners or losers, right?

VELSHI: I love it. But, yes, they do -- I'd like a little more space.

COSTELLO: True.

ROMANS: And I want basil in that tomato sauce.

COSTELLO: Right, exactly. It's a great fight.

VELSHI: This all sounds very appetizing after that Kombucha --

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: Oregano, a little basil.

VELSHI: -- that Sanjay made me drink. And now I have to go finish it. It grows hair on your chest.

That's it for us. We will be back here same time tomorrow. Lots of news to cover today though and T.J. Holmes, our good friend --

ROMANS: Hi T.J.

VELSHI: -- is taking over in the "CNN NEWSROOM". T.J. if you're good to me, I'll send you a bottle of kombucha as well.