Wolf Blitzer's Interview with Pres. Obama

Wolf Blitzer's interview with President Obama aired on Tuesday's The Situation Room.

To see more of the interview follow the link.

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CNN’s Wolf Blitzer to Interview President Barack Obama

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer to Interview President Barack Obama

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer will sit down with President Barack Obama in Peosta, Iowa on Tuesday, August 16. In this one-on-one interview, on the second day of the president’s bus tour across the Midwest, Blitzer and the President will discuss a variety of topics from domestic economic and international issues to 2012 politics.
The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer will broadcast live from Iowa today, Monday, August 15 and Blitzer’s interview with President Obama will air tomorrow, Tuesday, August 16, during The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer 5-7 p.m. ET.
Blitzer is CNN’s lead political anchor and the anchor of CNN's The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, which airs weekdays 5-7 p.m. and Saturday evenings 6-7 p.m. on both CNN International and CNN. Throughout Blitzer’s career, he has interviewed some of history's most notable figures, including former Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford.


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Piers on TSR

Piers Morgan talked with Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday's The Situation Room about being sucked into the hacking scandal and having his name mentioned today before Parliament.

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HRC Talks with Wolf Blitzer

As CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer travels through the Middle East and North Africa he spoke with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In Blitzer’s one-on-one interview with the Secretary she discussed the crisis in Japan, the situation in Libya and her future political intentions. Parts of this interview will air today during The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. ET on CNN and CNNI.

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Happy Anniversary Wolf

Fishbowl DC is reporting 'Last week, thirty-nine of Wolf Blitzer's closest colleagues including David Bohrman, Candy Crowley, Jill Dougherty and John King toasted to Wolf's twenty years and solid ratings at CNN. The dinner, held at Cafe Milano was kicked off with remarks by CNN/U.S. president Jon Klein and wrapped when Wolf's wife Lynn shared personal reflections of Wolf's time at the network.
A bright spot for the network, The Situation Room's ratings are up year-over-year, beating MSNBC in both the 5 and 6 PM hours.

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Your Views on the News, May 21, 2010

There have been some very interesting ideas for replacing Campbell Brown bouncing around the Internet. One has CNN hiring Eliot Spitzer and bringing back Crossfire. Another has Katie Couric taking over for Larry King when (and if) the CNN/CBS merger happens.

I also found a poll on polldaddy.com that listed these choices for what to do with Campbell's hour:

•Anderson Cooper Talk Show
•Late Edition with Katie Couric
•NewsNight with Eliot Spitzer
•Sanjay Gupta Live
•Jake Tapper Tonight
•Nancy Grace
•Crossfire with James Carville and Mary Matalin
•Another debate program with CNN contributors/analysts
•Ali Velshi Now
•David Shuster: No Bias, No Bull
•Rick's List
•None of the above

This morning Mediaite posted odds on some of the possible replacements:

• Crossfire-type show – 5:1 : A program like Crossfire would contradict some of what Klein has said in the past, but it’s a different time and as the election approaches, it could be a popular choice. While the masses of TV critics lent suggestions to the network recently, Crossfire kept coming up. This would also allow CNN to say it’s continuing its approach of representing both sides – in the way it show FNC and MSNBC do not. Some possibilities for the program could be Mary Matalin and James Carville, Roland Martin, Erick Erickson, Alex Castellanos, Gloria Borger, Donna Brazile and John Avlon. Side note – this choice is currently leading TVNewser’s poll.

• Current anchor, temporary – 10:1 : What if CNN puts in an anchor from another program with the promise it will just be through the November election. This allows a temporary solution – and the potential to completely revamp the line-up down the road. Possible anchors could be Rick Sanchez, John Roberts, Ali Velshi or Candy Crowley. But if this was for current anchor, permanent, the odds would leap up to 80:1. Don’t think that would happen at this point.

• Eliot Spitzer – 12:1 : This was floated by the Washington Examiner, and has been picked up elsewhere. It doesn’t sound likely – Spitzer is currently an MSNBC contributor – but it’s not getting shot down by CNN either. He’s a compelling selection, but is he really ready to anchor his own show? Maybe with another former GOP politician.

• Ed Henry – 15:1 : The White House correspondent was up for the Sunday show gig when John King left, so he could be slotted in for a D.C.-based show. This could be a temporary show as well, like above.

• Two major bomb-throwers – 16:1 : Similar to the Crossfire suggestion, but further. Like Crossfire on steroids. Think Ann Coulter paired with Michael Moore. Oh, you wouldn’t watch that?

• Alexis Glick – 24:1 : We’ve heard the name floated before, and the former FBN anchor and exec has shown up a few times on CNN since she’s left FOX. If she is picked, she could be paired with someone else as well, and you could theoretically make the hour business-focused. Does it draw the viewers though?

• Anderson Cooper – 35:1 : A suggestion of Glynnis MacNicol’s, this would put Cooper in the driver’s seat of CNN prime time. It could be interesting, but then re-opens another prime time hour. CNN could go the MSNBC route and replay Cooper at 10pmET, but that would most certainly look like a band-aid solution (or lack thereof).

• An HLN host – 36:1 : It would go against the grain – and against the mission statement recently of CNN. But couldn’t Nancy Grace or Joy Behar provide a spark the network needs in the prime time hour?

• Bill Maher – 60:1 : My pick – but certainly a longshot. He was great recently with Cooper, but it would cost CNN a lot to woo him from his cushy, and uncensored, home on HBO Friday nights.

• David Shuster – 75:1 : He’s already been in the building – and has felt the effects of the move at his current home, MSNBC. We haven’t heard this is a possibility, plus it would present more complications, like a buyout.


Personally I'd like to see CNN give Wolf Blitzer back his third hour of The Situation Room that earlier this year was whacked to give Rick Sanchez a regular slot. Or maybe bring back Aaron Brown.....of course I realize that that will never happen with Jon Klein at the helm of CNN, but that's a discussion for another day. Time will tell, but if you have a scenario for shaking up CNN's evening lineup we'd love to hear it.

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Amanpour in Haiti

Christiane Amanpour did a live shot on The Situation Room this afternoon from Port-au-Prince. She will be doing her program 'Amanpour' on Sunday from Haiti. Here's her conversation with Wolf Blitzer about her early impressions of the Haiti disaster.

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Downsizing The Situation Room

Its been a while since I felt compelled to bring out the soap box, but the announced changes in CNN's daytime schedule seem to warrant dusting if off and making use of it. What's all the fuss about? Let's start by taking a look at an article from today's Los Angeles Times:

CNN is shaking up its afternoon lineup in the new year. Beginning Jan. 18, “The Situation Room” will start an hour later to make room for a new show dubbed “Rick’s List,” anchored by Rick Sanchez, that will air from noon to 2 p.m. PST. It will be followed by a two-hour “The Situation Room,” whose anchor, Wolf Blitzer, had until now been handling three live hours a day.

CNN executives declined to speak publicly about the move, but a spokeswoman that the change was made to bring more uniformity to the afternoon lineup. The shake-up also lessens the focus on political news, which is expected to be one of the main topics covered in the 4 p.m. PST hour when John King begins anchoring that time slot early next year. [Updated at 12:06 p.m.: Blitzer will continue to cover political news in "The Situation Room."]

[Updated at 12:24 p.m: Sanchez will also cover the top political stories of the day during his program, while the shows anchored by Blitzer and King will be based in Washington and have a strong political focus.]

“Rick’s List” is expected to incorporate Twitter, a tool Sanchez frequently uses. This morning, he tweeted that the show “will be full of newsmakers and thinkers we- and u- think are relevant to CNN. My access = your access.”

Blitzer, in turn, tweeted that he was fine about the change. “Our excellent team can focus on 2 solid hrs,” he wrote. “Less becomes more.”

In the short term, Blitzer will continue to anchor for three hours a day, as he’ll be substituting in the 4 p.m. PST time slot until King begins his new show. King replaces Lou Dobbs, who abruptly resigned from the network last month. There is still no word yet about who will take over for King on his Sunday show “State of the Union.”

Source: Rick Sanchez gets expanded show on CNN; 'The Situation Room' loses an hour [Updated]

I have to give credit to CNN's management for being consistent: with any tweak or change to the line up that they make that one could deem as an improvement (for instance Lou Dobbs parting ways with CNN and then turning over the 7PM hour to John King next year) they tend to follow it with another decision that just leaves one scratching their head and wondering "what exactly were they thinking?"

For the past four and a half years, The Situation Room has been one of the most consistent programs in CNN's daytime line up. Three hours of news, politics, and sprinkling of analysis and pundits. For me, this has been the "must see" program on CNN during the week. Earlier this year, the program was even expanded to included an hour on Saturday evening for a recap of the program's highlights for the week. This is the program that is now getting cut by an hour each day?

There are many perfectly logical reasons why CNN may have decided to make this cut.

• Maybe Wolf Blitzer wanted to cut down on the number of hours he spends on air? Maybe losing two hours a week at the beginning of 2009 worked out so well, that cutting back an additional five hours a week in 2010 makes perfect sense?
• Maybe this is CNN's way of pushing Blitzer out the door? (Although, admittedly, CNN is typically not so nice about pushing people out the door nor do they typically take years to accomplish it. )
• Maybe Blitzer is giving up an hour of the Situation Room, so that he can go back to working 7 days a week and revive Late Edition on Sundays when John King vacates State of the Union?
• Then there's the cost aspect: maybe CNN wants to limit the production costs at the DC bureau to three hours of live TV a day during the week. (Two hours of The Situation Room and one hour of John King)?

Of course, what really adds insult to injury is the hour Blitzer is losing is being given to Rick Sanchez. Who would have ever imagined that CNN would replace Blitzer with Sanchez? Think about that for a moment... they are replacing one of their best journalists/ anchors with the least capable anchor on staff. In what way does this make sense? If CNN wants "uniformity" in the afternoon lineup, wouldn't giving the two hour block to Don Lemon, TJ Holmes, Betty Nguyen, or Ali Velshi (all very good journalists/ news anchors) make more sense? Or how about giving the viewers in the US an hour or two of International programming (for instance, Back Story or Quest Means Business)? I don't understand CNN's fascination with Sanchez and "the twitter hour". The experiment of having Sanchez on at 3PM is one that should be abandoned and quickly forgotten instead of expanded into a two hour program.

NOTE: The views and opinions reflected in this post are those of Book Asylum's and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the other contributors to All Things CNN.

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Highlights - State Of The Union - April 5, 2009

Programming note:

On Tuesday, April 7, 2009, CNN Lead Political Anchor Wolf Blitzer and Senior Political Analyst Gloria Borger will site down for an EXCLUSIVE interview with Vice President Joe Biden. The conversation will touch on a wide variety of topics including the economic crisis, the federal budget and national security.

The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday, April 7th at 6 PM ET.

CNN wants your questions for the vice president. You can submit your questions via iReport at http://www.ireport.com/situationroom

State of the Union with John King started with news of North Korea's missle launch late Saturday night (ET). John King spoke with Ed Henry who is in Prague, Czech Republic following the President. King also spoke with Kyung Lah in Tokyo.

King spoke with Ed Henry a second time later on in the broadcast. During the primary campaign, there was the infamous commercial about the “3 AM phone call”... well, the President received that phone call a little bit later than that – 4:30AM local time – when he was notified about the North Korean missile launch.

Just a side note on Ed Henry... CNN has posted the latest “44” podcast with Ed Henry. I thought it was odd when I went to retrieve the podcast that there were two versions of it. Turns out the first version that was posted had an extra four minutes that included a pre-program staging conversion between Ed Henry (who was reporting from Strasbourg, France) and Dick Uliano of CNN Radio. The actual podcast includes calls from listeners, discussions with Dick Uliano, Mark Preston, and Dana Bash. Ed also does his Richard Quest impression towards the end of the podcast.

Here are the links to both versions: the full version or the edited version.

John King continued the discussion about North Korea with Lt. Gen. Henry Obering at the magic wall where they talked about the type of missile that was launched, the expected range, and what could have caused the failed attempt.

Next, was a discussion with Wendy Sherman, Former Special Adviser to President Clinton about the missile launch, the impact of the launch of the UN sanctions and the six party talks. She also talked about what it was like to meet Kim Jong-il.

Reaction to N. Korea launch

King spoke with Senior White House advisor, David Axelrod, who is in Prague with the President, about nuclear proliferation and the progress with the G20 and NATO. They also discussed the town hall meeting where the President took questions from the Europeans. And, of course, King asked Axelrod about the comments that the former Vice President made on a previous State of the Union program.

Obama advisor talks North Korea

The next guests on the program were Sen. Bob Corker (R) from Tennessee and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D) from Michigan. The discussion started with North Korea, the economic impact of the G20 summit, NATO sending more troops to Afghanistan, and led into a heated discussion about the US auto industry.

Bankruptcy for auto companies?

Christiane Amanpour reported on the North Korean missile launch.

At 10AM, John King spoke with Sohn Jie-Ae who was reporting from Seoul, South Korea. (This appeared to be taped from earlier when he also spoke with Kyung Lah.) He also spoke with former CNN correspondent, Mike Chinoy, who was in Hong Kong.

Where was Howard Kurtz with Reliable Sources? Kurtz had about 7 minutes of his portion of the program stolen as a result of the reports on North Korea.

Once Kurtz was able to get on air, he jumped right in with a discussion about the media's coverage of the First Lady on the President's first over seas trip and the lack of coverage over Gov. Sebelius tax problems. The panel included Matt Frei, Danielle Crittenden, and Keli Goff.

Kurtz also criticized FOX's coverage of Obama's speech in France. Here's an excerpt from the CNN Transcript:

There's one more thing I want to get to, one more piece of tape, because Obama, in his speech in France, criticized the U.S. And in the next sentence, he criticized Europe.

Fox's Sean Hannity played a bite from that speech. Let's take a look at that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: There have been times where America's shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: And the liberal tradition of blame America first, well, that's still alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: But in the very next sentence, the president of the United States said, "But in Europe, there is also an anti-Americanism that can be casual but can also be insidious."

And Sean Hannity's entitled to any opinion he wants. If he wants to criticize Obama for talking about American arrogance, that is fine. But he didn't play the second part of the sound bite, and I thought that was not quite fair.

The next topic was a person that some people love, others hate, and still others just think is looney...former CNN/ HLN host, Glenn Beck. Beck has received some criticism and a lot of media attention since he joined FOX News. Stephanie Miller and Steve Malzberg joined Kurtz for the discussion. They also discussed the state of talk radio.

Carol Marin and Jim Warren joined Kurtz for a discussion about the two Chicago newspapers that are bankrupt. Kurtz was quite animated while introducing this topic – not surprising since he also writes for a newspaper (The Washington Post). Couldn't help but notice the nice stage craft behind Warren... a monitor with Reliable Sources on it.

If you missed any portion of Reliable Sources, CNN has posted this video clip:

Right on time at 11AM, the program was turned back over to John King. After reviewing some of the stories that had appeared earlier on State of the Union as well as other Sunday morning talk shows, King interviewed Jack Welsh, former CEO of GE. They discussed the Dow and unemployment figures, the government's involvement in the auto industry, Obama's European trip, and Obama's performance so far. Here is an excerpt from the interview:

KING: Let me ask you a question. From the perspective of a guy who has been the CEO, imagine that you are the CEO of Ford at this moment. Ford decided we're going to try to get through this without taking any government bailout money. But now you have the president of the United States essentially saying publicly, look, we'll back up a GM warranty, don't worry if GM goes into bankruptcy. Buy a GM car. The government will back up the warranty. He's pushing the unions. You say you're skeptical, but he's pushing unions to go back to the table. If this happens and they go into a controlled bankruptcy with the federal government support, has the government of the United States created an environment that is disadvantageous to Ford?

WELCH: Well, I think Ford is going to be able to offer the same benefits. Ford was not able to knock out their competitor, that's all that's saying. And they're going to have the same competitive playing field they've had all along. So I don't think it's a surprise to Ford. They happen to be in better shape at this moment. But I think it is what they expected.

KING: Is it America?

WELCH: Well, America's in a very different spot now. Capitalism has gone off the rails and government has had to step in. And once you allow that, because you have to, you're not allowing it, you're begging for it once you get that help, you get all that comes with it, John.

KING: You get all that comes with. …

KING: And, Jack, I want to circle back with one more question. If we have a conversation in three to five years, will there be a viable General Motors and Chrysler that are competitive in the world market?

WELCH: John, I don't know the answer to that. I think that with the help we're giving him, I've seen this new fellow, Mr. Henderson, on television a couple of times, I don't know him, he seems determined to take action. Look, I don't know the answer but I would bet on it.

I bet America is going to come back in the automotive business if everybody makes concessions they have to make, everybody.

Almost half way through the 11AM hour, we see the first (and only) analyst panel with David Gergen, Ed Rollins, and Gloria Borger. Topics included North Korea and Obama's over seas trip.

King traveled to Detroit to talk to the new GM chief, Fritz Henderson. Henderson brushed over the “fairness” issue when asked about the comparison between AIG contracts and union contracts:

KING: What about fairness argument? When you talk to the workers, it comes up quite a bit and again, most of these are people who supported this president and supported the Democrats who run Congress. But what they see is this double standard. They say they are told that they have to go back to the table and renegotiate their contracts and then they hear from the same administration, well we can't go after bonuses of the AIG guys because that's contractually negotiated money. Is there a double standard when it comes to your people?

HENDERSON: Our people really have done a fantastic job. We're going to focus on General Motors. We have our hands full at General Motors. I don't work for AIG. I don't work for a bank. I think that the way the administration's handled General Motors has been in a very professional way. You know, human nature being what it is of course there's got to be some part of that. But I think our people really understand, what it will take to make General Motors competitive? How do we actually move to the next century and not necessarily dwell on how we compare with some other industry.

And King asks Henderson the same question that he asked Welsh:

KING: In business school and in your early days at GM, could you ever imagine it coming to this? This is Detroit. It's Motor City. It's home of the big three. I'm not sure people equate the big three in the way they used to before. But this was capitalism at its finest, companies going out there making new cars, hiring people. And now you're dependent on the government. Did you ever see this happening?

HENDERSON: No, I didn't.

KING: Is it American? It's sort out of our way of doing things, isn't it?

HENDERSON: It is out of our way of doing things. But I think, you know, what is also American is when you need a hand, when you need help, that is American.

KING: And so to those out there, whether they're every day Americans or members of the United States Senate who say, you know what, this government is not supposed to be doing this, up or down in the marketplace, tough love, go to bankruptcy court if you have to but this is not the government's job, you would say what?

HENDERSON: I would say that we can and will play a role in the future of the auto industry. Clearly, the weaknesses and the fragilities of our business were exposed in the current economic environment. It's our job to take care of customers and then take care of the taxpayer, pay it back and justify the -- you know, what has been done to try to help us.

G.M. CEO on Pres. Obama

G.M. CEO on who he voted for

GM CEO: We need to go further

King also traveled to Tennessee this week. Here is a behind the scenes clip that CNN posted to Facebook and to CNN.com:

King spoke with a newly retired GM worker and UAW president about the resignation of Rick Wagoner and about the future of General Motors.

The first half of the 12 PM ET hour was a recap of the 9AM hour ET. The second half of the hour started with the Last Word which was originally scheduled to go to David Axelrod. Who ended up getting the last word instead? Senator Jack Reed (D) of Rhode Island. The discussion started with North Korea, General Motors and Timothy Geithner's remarks about possibly forcing out current heads of large banks.

U.S. reaction to North Korea

A special session of the UN Security Council was meeting to discuss North Korea's missile launch and King spoke with Senior UN Correspondent, Richard Roth.

The Diner segment this week was from Franklin, Tennesse at Merridee's Bread Basket. Those at the table this week were all Republicans and were hesitant to speak well of the President.

Links to this week's podcasts:

• State of the Union with John King Audio podcast
• State of the Union with John King Video podcast
• Reliable Sources Video Podcast

One final item tonight, Channel Guide recently interviewed John King. Here are a few excerpts from the interview:

“Some people watch those shows because they’re provocative,” King explains. “I watch some of them, because I learn. It’s like intelligence gathering. Some people go to those shows because they can be fun. Sometimes they’re shout festivals, but sometimes it’s provocative, challenging conversation. My idea is, ‘Let’s have a show with provocative conversation with all views — not just one view.’ My goal is to try to have that conversation, but involve everybody. Let the people watching make the decision.”

Do they ever. Bloggers examine King’s every guest, every comment, every question for telltale hints of political leaning — usually hammering their perceived context into something that pairs up with foregone conclusions. ”Some days I am apparently Satan to the left and on some days I am Satan to the right,” says King “If that happens just about equally, then I assume I am trying to do my best and I am somewhere in the middle where I belong.”

While King believes there is danger in viewers only choosing news programming that embraces a particular ideology, he begrudges no one their program or programming choices — choosing to merely let the lessons learned guide his own professional habits.

“It reinforces my determination to be as objective as possible” King says. “I’m not perfect. I don’t pretend to be perfect. But I try, in everything I do, to be respectful of all opinions and to solicit all opinions. To ask questions to try and cover the broad range of the spectrum. I do this myself and I try to impress upon the staff of the show how important it is to make sure we’re entertaining different voices.”

And not entertaining for the sake of entertainment alone.

“My training is as an AP Wire guy before I came into television,” Kings says. “So I speak for myself in this regard when I say that I am a little bit more of a dinosaur in that I say ‘Well, why would I do this?’ and ‘What is the news value of that?’

“I don’t want to be viewed as an entertainer. I want to be viewed as somebody who is a source of information for people. There are a lot of people on television now. You have all these talk shows now. And when you turn on the television — from 5 o’clock in the morning through late-night television — there are people on TV talking. So we need to be very careful to delineate — as we do on [State of The Union] — this is a conversation with a Senator, a politician, a newsmaker, an administration official. This is a conversation with one of our reporters; they are giving you objective information from their news gathering. This person is an analyst, they have an opinion and you should understand their opinion when they speak. They are not speaking as an objective person — they are speaking as a person with an opinion.

“The lines need to be carefully drawn, so that when there is a big news day — whether it’s an upbeat, positive news day, or God forbid, a tsunami or a 9/11 — when the people see you in that box, they trust you. And they trust that you are telling them facts and relevant information to the best of your ability — that you’re not trying to perform.”

Also included in the interview were King's views on Rush Limbaugh.

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Saturday Edition of The Situation Room Announced!

Photographer: Edward M. Pio Roda
©2009 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.
Viewers will get an additional dose of The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer starting Saturday, Jan. 24 when the weekend edition premiers. It will air at 6 p.m. (ET) and include news-making interviews and stories compiled from the weekday editions of the program, as well as fresh perspectives on recent events.

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Wolf On Ellen

Obama, Axelrod, Gillespie to Appear on First State of the Union with John King

President-elect Barack Obama, senior Obama adviser David Axelrod, Bush White House press secretary Dana Perino and Bush White House counselor Ed Gillespie will all appear on the inaugural broadcast of State of the Union with John King on Sunday, Jan. 18. CNN anchor John King will broadcast live from the Newseum in Washington, D.C., from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. (ET).

Topics King will discuss with Axelrod, Gillespie and Obama include the ailing economy, national security, the Bush administration’s legacy and the historic nature of Obama becoming the first African-American U.S. president. Additionally, Obama will discuss his relationship with President George W. Bush and share his thoughts on his family’s move to Washington.

Howard Kurtz will join the program with Reliable Sources media analysis. Perino and Clinton press secretary Dee Dee Myers will discuss their roles during their respective administrations and the challenges the incoming press secretary Robert Gibbs may face. Kurtz will also be joined by CNN White House correspondent Dan Lothian and American Urban Radio Networks White House correspondent April Ryan, who will discuss diversity in the press corps.

King will also host a panel of CNN political contributors and correspondents to discuss the goals and challenges the new administration faces and the hurdles the Republican Party is facing with a Democratic White House and Congress in power. King will gauge the pulse of the country by taking viewers outside of Washington to explore the concerns and tell the stories of everyday American citizens.

Source: CNN

CNN’s State of the Union anchor John King traveled today to a manufacturing factory in Bedford Heights, Ohio, to interview President-elect Barack Obama for an exclusive interview before being sworn in as president on Tuesday, Jan. 20. They discussed the historic nature of his upcoming inauguration, the cost of his economic stimulus plan, the federal ban on embryonic stem cell research, press coverage of his two young daughters, his family’s move to Washington and his reluctance to give up his Blackberry. Highlighted excerpts are below, and a full transcript follows. For additional coverage of this story, visit CNNPolitics.com and the CNN Political Ticker.

Highlighted Excerpts

On the historic nature of being named the first African-American president

OBAMA: You can think about what Washington, DC was like 50 years ago or 60 years ago and the notion that I now will be standing there and sworn in as the 44th president, I think is something that hopefully our children take for granted. But our grandparents I think are still stunned by it and it’s a remarkable moment…

I’m going to try to keep in together, but I will tell you that during the convention, there was a moment at the end of my convention speech where I talk about Dr. King and what he accomplished and the first time we practiced it, I had to stop. I started choking up, because, you know, when you start thinking about is not just your own personal journey. But you think about all the women who walked instead of riding the bus, out in Montgomery and Birmingham and what a moment like this would mean to them and what’s remarkable is some of them are still alive. They’re still there and some of them are going to be standing there at the inauguration.

On the cost of his economic stimulus plan

OBAMA: Here’s what we’re going to have to do. We’ve got distinguish between short term and long term. Short term, the most important thing is to put people back to work. All those folks that you had breakfast with. If they’re working, that means they’re paying taxes. That means that they’re buying goods and services and the economy, instead of being on a downward spiral, starts back up on an upward spiral. But what we also have to recognize is that the deficit levels that I’m inheriting, over $1 trillion coming out of last year, that that is unsustainable. At a certain point, other countries stop buying our debt, but at a certain point, we’d end up having to raise interest rates and it would end up creating more economic chaos and potentially, inflation.

So what we want to do is to say that instead of just printing more money, let’s look at medium term and long term, let’s get a handle on Social Security. Let’s get a handle on Medicare. Let’s eliminate waste in government where it exists. Let’s reform our Pentagon procurement practices. All those things are going to have to be done in concert and that’s going to be tough. It’s going to be tough because the only way to do it is if Democrats and Republicans both are willing to give up a little bit of what they consider to be their favorite programs and we’re going to have to look at all this stuff in a fairly short period of time because we’re not going to have five or 10 or 15 years to kick the can down the road. We’ve got to get started right now.

On regrets he may have from remarks made on the campaign trail

Read it on the CNN Political Ticker: Obama says he always thought Bush was a 'good guy'

KING: You spent two years traveling the country saying President Bush was incompetent when it came to domestic leadership, had a debacle of a war in Iraq, and had hurt our image around the world. You've gotten to know him a little bit better during what by all accounts is an incredibly smooth and professional transition. Anything about him you want to take back or any new judgments about him?

OBAMA: You know, I think if you would look at my -- if you look at my statements throughout the campaign, I always thought he was a good guy. I mean, I think personally he is a good man who loves his family and loves his country. And I think he made the best decisions that he could at times under some very difficult circumstances. It does not detract from my assessment that over the last several years we have made a series of bad choices and we are now going to be inheriting the consequences of a lot of those bad choices. That does not mean that I think he's not a good person. And his White House staff has done an extraordinary job in working with us for a smooth transition.

On press coverage of his two young daughters

KING: Where do you draw the line when it comes to my business and your daughters, family?

OBAMA: Well, my hope is that the press is going to be respectful of the fact that growing us is hard enough without doing it in a fishbowl. It would be naive of me, or of Michelle to expect that people take no interest in the girls, but I think the press has a lot of control over this. We've asked them not to follow them around, not to take pictures of them when they're not, you know, with their parents doing something that is a public event. And I hope that folks are respectful of that, precisely because, you know, that folks in the press are parents, as well. And they know the struggles. And even if you're not a parent, you'll remember what it's like being a teenager. And, you know, that can be a painful process, as well.

On his family’s visit to the Lincoln Memorial

KING: What did you talk about, walking around and looking at the president and reading those walls?

OBAMA: This is a good story. I love the Lincoln Memorial at night. It always inspires me. So I take Michelle and the girls. We're looking at the Gettysburg Address. And Michelle's describing what Lincoln's words mean. The fact that these soldiers died on this battlefield means that any words that Lincoln could have said or any of us could have said would ring hollow. They've already consecrated this ground, and what we have to do is to honor them by working for -- for more just -- more justice, more equality here in America. At which point, Malia turns to me, and she says, "Yes, how are we doing on that?"

(LAUGHTER)

OBAMA: “…Mr. President-elect.”
KING: Accountability in the house. That’s a good thing.

OBAMA: And then we go and look at the -- Lincoln's second inaugural, which is on the other wall. And Sasha looks up, and she says, "Boy, that's a long speech. Do you have to give one of those?" I said, "Actually, that one's pretty short. Mine may even be a little longer." At which point, then Malia turns to me and says, "First African-American president. Better be good."

On his attachment to his Blackberry

Read it on the CNN Political Ticker: Obama thinks he can keep his BlackBerry

KING: I'll ask you one last question. And it's, in part, silly. But it's not always silly. You like these [King holds up a Blackberry]. I was just with you before this, and you have a couple of them. And there are a lot of people who say, because this will end up in the presidential library, because you don't have privacy any more. Your life's about to change Tuesday noon, you have to give this up.

OBAMA: Yes.
KING: You going to do it?

OBAMA: I think we're going to be able to beat this back.

KING: Beat this back?

OBAMA: I think we're going to be able to hang onto one of these. Now, my working assumption, and this is not new, is that everything I write on e-mail could end up being on CNN. So I make sure to -- to think before I press "send." But what this has been -- what this does is -- and it's just one tool among a number of tools that I'm trying to use, to break out of the bubble. To make sure that people can still reach me. But if I'm doing something stupid, somebody in Chicago can send me an e-mail and say, "What are you doing?" You know? Or "you seem detached" or "you're not listening to what is going on here in the neighborhood."

I want to be able to have voices, other than the people who are immediately working for me, be able to reach out and -- and send me a message about what's happening in America.

Source: CNN’s State of the Union anchor John King

Here's a clip from that interview:

Finally tonight, Wolf Blitzer was on Ellen earlier this week. Here are a few clips from the program:

All content, unless otherwise cited, is © All Things CNN and may not be used without consent of the blog administrator.

Ratings At A Glance- Week of December 29

Ratings for the week DECEMBER 29, 2008 - JANUARY 2, 2009

	8PM^Adults 25-54 FOX 339,250 3 CNN 232,000 2 MSNBC 351,500 1 HLN 432,400
	9PM^Adults 25-54 FOX 292,800 CNN 241,200 MSNBC 360,000 1 HLN 183,400
	10PM^Adults 25-54 FOX 339,500 1 CNN 303,500 3 MSNBC 176,333 2 HLN 339,800

HLN comes out on top again this week with the highest weekly average in the Adults 25 -54 demographic during the 8PM and 10PM hours. They only won the 10PM timeslot once last week, but because special programming was not included in the averages, it was enough for them to claim the hour.

MSNBC had the highest rating during the 9PM hour , but was only using a 2 day average compared to the 5 day average that was used for CNN, FOX, and HLN. MSNBC’s special programming during the 9PM and 10PM hours on Thursday and Friday won the timeslots.

CNN didn’t have a great week. The high points were on Wednesday with Tom Foreman’s look at the best and worse of 2008 at 8PM and Larry King at 9PM with both programs winning their timeslots.

¹ 2 day average. FOX & MSNBC special programming on Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday nights excluded.

² 3 day average. CNN special programming on Wednesday and Thursday excluded. MSNBC special programming on Thursday & Friday excluded.

³ 4 day average. FOX & CNN special programming on Thursday excluded.

^{^} Courtesy Nielsen Media Research; Demographics where noted; Live + Same Day (LS) Fast Track Nationals.

In other ratings news, this was released by CNN:

Blitzer Leads The Situation Room to No. 1 Among Younger Viewers in 2008

Throughout a record-breaking year for CNN, more viewers in the 25-54 demographic turned to CNN during the 5 p.m. hour than to any other cable news channel. Additionally, The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.,was No. 1 among 18-34 and 18-49 viewers in 2008.

For the three hour block, The Situation Room attracted, on average, 81,000 viewers in the 18-34 demo, as compared to the 61,000 viewers who turned to Fox News and the 53,000 viewers who turned to MSNBC. In the 18-49 demo, an average 219,000 viewers watched The Situation Room versus 209,000 and 129,000 who turned to Fox News and MSNBC, respectively.

At 5 p.m., The Situation Room averaged 245,000 viewers in the 25-54 demographic, compared to the 243,000 for Fox News’ Election Headquarters and 197,000 for MSNBC’s Hardball. According to Nielsen data for the year, The Situation Room also beat its competitors in the 5 p.m. hour in the 18-49 demo with 213,000 viewers, versus Fox News’ 190,000 and MSNBC’s 146,000, as well as in the 18-34 demo with 77,000 viewers, compared with Fox News’ 57,000 and MSNBC’s 58,000.

“I attribute 2008’s ratings to The Situation Room’s incredibly hardworking, talented team who tirelessly wrote, booked, produced, directed, anchored and performed countless other tasks to craft the most comprehensive and fair newscast every weekday,” said Sam Feist, CNN’s political director. “Viewers trusted Wolf Blitzer and this team during 2008, and we promise to not disappoint in 2009 and beyond.”

The Situation Room airs weekdays from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Eric Sherling is the program’s executive producer.

Could Sanjay Gupta be leaving CNN?

This from the CNN Political Ticker:

Chief CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been approached by the Obama administration about the U.S. surgeon general's post, according to sources inside the transition and at CNN.

Watch: John King on Dr. Gupta

The transition team is impressed with the combination of Gupta's past government experience, as a White House fellow and a special advisor to then-first lady Hillary Clinton, along with his medical career as a neurosurgeon and his communication skills, the transition source said.

Gupta has declined comment on the matter.

CNN released a statement saying, "Since first learning that Dr. Gupta was under consideration for the surgeon general position, CNN has made sure that his on-air reporting has been on heath and wellness matters and not on health-care policy or any matters involving the new administration."

Here is the video clip from John King's report that aired on The Situation Room:

Howard Kurtz also filed this report for the Washington Post:

The offer followed a two-hour Chicago meeting in November with Obama, who said that Gupta could be the highest-profile surgeon general in history and would have an expanded role in providing health policy advice, the sources said. Gupta later spoke with Tom Daschle, Obama's White House health czar and nominee for Health and Human Services secretary, and other advisers to the president-elect.

The Michigan-born son of parents who were born in India, Gupta has always been drawn to health policy. He was a White House fellow in the late 1990s, writing speeches and crafting policy for Hillary Clinton. His appointment would give the administration a prominent official of South Asian descent and a skilled television spokesman.

Gupta, who hosts "House Call" on CNN, has discussed the job offer with his bosses at CBS and CNN to make sure he could be released from his contractual obligations, the sources said.

His role as journalist and physician have sometimes overlapped. During the 2003 Iraq invasion, Gupta was embedded with a Navy unit called Devil Docs and, while covering its mission, performed brain surgery five times, the first of which was on a 2-year-old Iraqi boy.

Gupta's only hesitation in taking the post is said to involve the financial impact on his pregnant wife and two children if he gives up his lucrative medical and journalistic careers. But he is expected to accept the position within days.

All content, unless otherwise cited, is © All Things CNN and may not be used without consent of the blog administrator.

Ratings At A Glance

One quick video clip before we get to the Ratings tonight... from yesterday's The Situation Room. John King and Wolf Blitzer discussed some of the changes that are planned for Sunday morning on CNN next year.

Ratings for the week DECEMBER 1 - DECEMBER 5, 2008

	8PM^Adults 25-54 FOX 631,400 CNN 328,400 MSNBC 591,600 HLN 412,400
	9PM^Adults 25-54 FOX 495,200 CNN 381,750 1 MSNBC 464,400 HLN 156,600
	10PM^Adults 25-54 FOX 375,800 CNN 405,750 1 MSNBC 253,200 HLN 290,400

FOX had the highest average ratings for the week in the Adults 25 - 54 demographic during the 8PM and 9PM hours. During the 10PM hour, they came in second. For each time slot on all five days, they ranked either first or second except on Thursday night at 10PM when they came in third behind CNN and Headline News. (Yes, HLN's Nancy Grace repeat had more viewers in the demographic than FOX's On The Record.)

CNN's averages for the week put them in fourth place during the 8PM hour. At 9PM, they were consistently in third all four nights that Larry King Live aired. CNN had the highest average in the demographics based on the four nights that AC360 aired during the 10PM hour.

During the 8PM and 9PM hours, MSNBC was consistently in either first or second in the Adults 25 - 54 demographic. The average of the week put them in second behind FOX during both time slots. They didn't fair as well during the 10PM, where they fall to fourth behind HLN.

On December 4, 2008, CNN aired CNN Presents: Scream Bloody Murder during the 9PM and 10PM hours. Over the average of the two hours, the program came in second in both Adults 25 - 54 and total viewers.

December 4, 20089PM - 11PM

	Average Adults 25 - 54	Average Total Viewers
FOX	366,500	1,869,000
CNN	360,000	1,185,000
MSNBC	319,500	1,002,000
HLN	236,000	476,500

¹ 4 day average. Thursday CNN aired CNN Presents: Scream Bloody Murder from 9PM - 11PM ET.

^{^} Courtesy Nielsen Media Research; Demographics where noted; Live + Same Day (LS) Fast Track Nationals.

All content, unless otherwise cited, is © All Things CNN and may not be used without consent of the blog administrator.

Ratings At A Glance

Ratings for the week OCTOBER 27 - OCTOBER 31, 2008

	8PM^Adults 25-54 FOX 1,020,000 CNN 532,600 MSNBC 1,179,800 HLN 439,600
	9PM^Adults 25-54 FOX 1,011,200 CNN 630,800 MSNBC 1,063,000 HLN 182,200
	10PM^Adults 25-54 FOX 879,400 CNN 888,400 MSNBC 757,000 HLN 337,000

Viewership was up the week prior to Election Day. During the 8PM and 9PM hour FOX took second place to MSNBC (leaving CNN in third place) in the Adults 25 - 54 demographic. The 10PM hour once again has CNN ahead of both FOX and MSNBC.

Photo credit: E.M. Pio Roda/CNN
Election Day, November 4, 2008
7PM - 12 MIDNIGHT

	Average Adults 25 - 54	Average Total Viewers
FOX	3,549,600	8,312,200
CNN	5,839,400	12,122,200
MSNBC	2,651,200	5,861,200

Among the cable news networks, CNN had the most viewers over FOX and MSNBC in both the demographic Adults 25 - 54 and total viewers. Above lists the average viewers from 7PM - 12 MIDNIGHT in both the demo and total viewers. Below you'll find press releases from CNN that give more details on the breakdown of their ratings for the night.

^{^} Courtesy Nielsen Media Research; Demographics where noted; Live + Same Day (LS) Fast Track Nationals.

CNN was the most-watched network on television from 8-12:30a on Election Night with an average of 13.3 million total viewers, ABC followed with 12.5 million, NBC had 11.9 million, Telemundo had 8.5 million, FNC posted 8.1 million, CBS averaged 7.5 million, MSBNC had 6.4 million and FOX posted 4.7 million.

CNN’s 2008 Election Night coverage dominated the competition and resulted in its highest primetime ratings in the network’s 28-year history. CNN topped the cable news competition with an average of 12.3 million total viewers tuning in during primetime (8-11p), a 36% advantage over FNC’s 9 million and an impressive 109% lead over MSNBC’s 5.9 million. Among adults 25-54, CNN was also #1 with 5.8 million, a 48% advantage over FNC’s 3.9 million and 119% lead over MSNBC’s 2.7 million demo viewers. Among younger viewers18-34, CNN was also first with 3.4 million, FNC placed second with 1.8 million and MSNBC was third with 1.4 million.

CNN had the largest gains in prime time compared to 2004 in 25-54, doubling its audience, up 102%, while FNC only increased 4% and MSNBC was up 87%. (This was also reflected in total day where CNN grew the most among 25-54, up 97%, while FNC declined -16% and MSNBC was up 94%.)

CNN.com delivered the largest daily audience in its history with 30 million unique visitors on Election Day, more than doubling the previous record of 13.4 million generated on Super Tuesday of this year.

CNN.com generated 282.5 million page views, also marking the highest day in the site's history and more than doubling its previous record of 103.2 million page views from Super Tuesday of this year. On Election Day, CNN.com's traffic peaked during the 9pm ET hour with 35.6 million page views. CNNPolitics.com also saw record-breaking traffic on Election Day, generating 30.1 million page views - a 43% increase over its previous record. Furthermore, CNN.com's special Election Section alone generated 103.2 million page views. The Political Ticker, the No. 1 political news blog according to Nielsen Online, generated 8.7 million page views, scoring its second best day ever. (Source: Omniture SiteCatalyst, global)

Election Night 2008

8p-11p	P2+	P18-34	P18-49	P25-54
CNN	12.292	3.374	6.512	5.817
FXNC	9.027	1.823	4.042	3.922
MSNBC	5.888	1.382	2.672	2.662

7p-1a	P2+	P18-34	P18-49	P25-54
CNN	11.940	3.517	6.575	5.826
FXNC	7.516	1.518	3.333	3.246
MSNBC	5.821	1.495	2.803	2.635

As Internet users sought up-to-the-minute news, information, analysis and results on Election Day, the CNN Digital Network dominated all competitors, ranking No.1 in unique Visitors and Page Views. Additionally, CNN.com Live, the Internet’s only multi-stream, live video news service, smashed previous records by serving 5.3 million live streams on Tuesday, Nov. 4.

Continuing its reputation for being the premier online destination for news and information, the homepage of CNN.com was the most popular news gateway on Election Day, according to Nielsen Online. Overall, the site attracted the largest, most engaged daily audience in its history, more than doubling its previous records for both unique users and page views. On Election Day, the CNN Digital Network:

• Attracted 12.8 million unique visitors, besting MSNBC Digital by more than 700,000 and Yahoo! News by 1.4 million;

• Generated the largest number of page views with 137 million, 11 percent more than MSNBC Digital’s 123 million and 81 percent more than Yahoo! News’ 75 million; and

• Registered 66 percent growth in unique visitors over Election Day 2004. (Sources: Nielsen Online)

Election Day 2008 also marked a milestone for CNN.com Live, as it served 5.3 million live streams, nearly tripling its previous daily streaming record of 1.8 million streams, which was set on Sept. 1 – the first day of the Republican National Convention and the day Hurricane Gustav made landfall. CNN.com also served an additional 6.8 million on-demand video streams on Election Day. (Source: Omniture SiteCatalyst, Global)

Likewise, CNNPolitics.com saw record-breaking traffic on Election Day, generating 30.1 million page views – a 43-percent increase over its previous record. CNN.com’s special election section alone generated a staggering 103.2 million page views. The Political Ticker, the No. 1 political news blog according to Nielsen Online, generated 8.7 million page views, scoring its second best day ever. (Source: Omniture SiteCatalyst, global)

For Wednesday, Nov. 5, the day following the election, CNN.com continued its momentum by doubling its daily average unique users. Additionally, Wednesday marked the highest day on record for on-demand video usage when CNN.com served 12 million streams, representing an increase of 78 percent over Election Day and nearly doubling the previous record high of 6.5 million set on Sept. 12, when Hurricane Ike made landfall. (Source: Omniture SiteCatalyst, global)

Today CNN chief national correspondent John King sat down with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for an interview airing on CNN’s “Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer,” airing Sunday 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. (ET). A partial transcript of their conversation, which aired today on “The Situation Room,” is below.

(Note: John King will guest host “Late Edition” on Sunday).

O'BRIEN: Over on Capitol Hill, we're learning more about a confrontation with Democrat-turned-Independent Senator Joe Lieberman. At issue is Lieberman's support of John McCain and his very public criticism of Barack Obama. Now at stake, Lieberman's committee chairmanship and whether he's going to continue to caucus with the Democrats.

Let's get right to our Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash. Dana, you've been reporting on what's been going on behind the scenes. What are you hearing?



DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Soledad, you know, we have learned that in that private meeting yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told Joe Lieberman that, because of that harsh criticism specifically of Barack Obama at the Republican convention, that Reid wants to strip Lieberman of his chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee and instead make him the chairman of a lower profile committee. And I'm actually told that one option that Reid gave Lieberman was the Veterans Affairs chairmanship. Now, that is possible, but it also seems at this point that other low-profile committees are more likely.

Now, the Lieberman aide I spoke to said that Lieberman told Reid that that was "not acceptable," and that Lieberman thinks he should remain chairman of the Homeland Security Committee because he actually helped write the legislation that created the Homeland Security Department.

And get this, Soledad. Things have gotten so tense, that sources tell us Lieberman, the former Democratic vice presidential nominee, is in discussions with the Republican Senate leader about caucusing with them.

And actually, just moments ago our John King sat down with the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, and asked him about the pressure on him to punish Lieberman and his own feelings about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: Joe Lieberman has done something that I think was improper, wrong, and I'd like -- if we weren't on television, I'd use a stronger word of describing what he did. But Joe Lieberman votes with me a lot more than a lot of my senators. He didn't support us on military stuff and he didn't support us on Iraq stuff. But you look at his record, it's pretty good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: You can see the pressure and how torn Harry Reid is there about what to do about Lieberman. But he also did say, Soledad, that the decision on whether to really punish Lieberman and how far to grow is up to the Democratic Caucus, and they're going to meet next week.



O'BRIEN: We learned today that the Senate majority leader, Reid, talked to John McCain as well. Those are two people who I think it's fair to say hate each other.
BASH: I think that's pretty fair to say. They did speak. In fact, Reid told our John King in this interview which is going to air on "LATE EDITION" on Sunday that he called McCain today, and the two did agree to work together in the Senate.
And as you said, this really is a big deal. Because to say they don't like each other is definitely an understatement.

You know, they came to the House together in 1983, so they've known each other for 25 years. And remember, Reid was incredibly vocal during the campaign about how he did not think that McCain had the temperament to be president -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: All right. Dana Bash for us this afternoon.

Thanks, Dana. Appreciate it.

For additional coverage of this story, visit the CNN Political Ticker:
Lieberman not happy with Reid's offer, flirting with Republicans

(Credit: CNN’s “Late Edition”)

Here is the video clip from today's The Situation Room:

Weekend Specials Look Ahead to Obama Presidency, GOP Plans

CNN special programming over the weekend will examine President-elect Barack Obama’s transition into office as well as President George W. Bush’s final days in the White House.

After Party: Where We Go From Here kicks off the weekend specials on Saturday, Nov. 8, at 6 p.m. (ET) with hosts CNN political contributors Stephen Hayes and Hilary Rosen. For the hour, key conservative and liberal observers will discuss how Obama will govern, his first priorities in office and Republican Party rebuilding efforts.

For Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will appear on the program with CNN chief national correspondent John King as guest host. Schwarzenegger will discuss his reform agenda and the future of the Republican Party, while Reid will focus on the Obama presidency, the expanded Democratic majority in Congress and Sen. John McCain’s return to the Senate. King will also be joined by seasoned Washington observers and power players, as well as members of the Best Political Team on Television. Late Edition airs on Sunday, Nov. 9, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. (ET).

Photo credit: E.M. Pio Roda/CNN

At 8 p.m. on Sunday, John King will host a one-hour special, Transition to Power, focused on Obama’s presidential agenda and what to expect in Washington when he assumes office.

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