PBS NewsHour - 2008-10-17

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] theater.

[0:10] Good evening. I'm Jim Lehrer. On the

[0:12] NewsHour tonight, the news of this

[0:14] Friday, then what happened today in the

[0:16] presidential campaign, the analysis of

[0:18] Mark Shields and David Brooks,

[0:20] a final big picture report from New

[0:22] Mexico, this one on voting

[0:25] irregularities,

[0:26] followed by a national look at that

[0:28] voting situation. Plus, another update

[0:31] report from John Merrow on the troubled

[0:33] New Orleans schools, and a Richard

[0:35] Rodriguez essay on the changing American

[0:38] dream.

[0:40] Major funding for the NewsHour with Jim

[0:43] Lehrer is provided by

[0:46] oil,

[0:47] energy,

[0:48] the environment.

[0:50] Where are the answers?

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[1:58] Thank you.

[2:02] Wall Street finished a furious week of

[2:04] highs and lows. The Dow Jones Industrial

[2:07] Average swung back and forth nearly 600

[2:09] points today. It ended with a loss of

[2:12] 127 points to close at 8852.

[2:16] The NASDAQ fell six points to close at

[2:18] 1711.

[2:20] For the week, the NASDAQ rose more than

[2:22] 3 and 1/2% The Dow gained 4 and 1/2%

[2:26] after a series of wild gyrations. The

[2:28] index was up more than 900 points on

[2:31] Monday, then down more than 700 on

[2:33] Wednesday, and back up again by 400

[2:36] yesterday.

[2:38] Overseas markets rallied today as major

[2:41] indexes gained in both Europe and Asia.

[2:44] President Bush insisted today the

[2:46] financial rescue plan will pay off. He

[2:48] spoke this morning just before the US

[2:50] markets opened. The president defended

[2:53] the government's move to buy up stakes

[2:55] in banks as a last resort. Now he said

[2:58] Americans must have patience.

[3:00] The actions will take more time to have

[3:02] their full impact.

[3:05] It took a while for the credit system to

[3:07] freeze up. It's going to take a while

[3:08] for the credit system to thaw.

[3:12] These are decisive measures aimed at the

[3:14] heart of our financial challenges.

[3:17] And they're big enough and bold enough

[3:19] to work.

[3:20] And the American people can be confident

[3:22] that they will.

[3:23] There were small signs of hope today for

[3:25] the credit market. A key interbank

[3:27] lending rate fell for the fifth day in a

[3:29] row. And in today's New York Times,

[3:32] billionaire Warren Buffett said he's

[3:34] buying stocks, and he urged others to

[3:36] follow suit. He wrote, "Fears regarding

[3:38] the long-term prosperity of the nation's

[3:41] many sound companies make no sense."

[3:44] The presidential candidates traded

[3:46] charges today over health care. Democrat

[3:48] Barack Obama claimed Republican John

[3:50] McCain would cut Medicare to finance his

[3:53] health care plan. McCain's campaign

[3:55] charged Obama was simply lying. It

[3:58] insisted McCain won't cut a single

[4:00] benefit. Well, I have more on the

[4:02] campaign right after this news summary.

[4:04] The US Supreme Court today rejected a

[4:06] complaint in Ohio over voter

[4:09] registration. The state Republican Party

[4:11] demanded a better system to verify who's

[4:14] eligible. The state's top elections

[4:17] official, a Democrat, said it was really

[4:19] a bid to disenfranchise voters. The

[4:22] court ruled the federal law in question

[4:24] does not allow suits by political

[4:26] parties.

[4:27] The State Department confirmed today

[4:29] North Korea has resumed dismantling its

[4:31] main nuclear facility. Work at the site

[4:34] began again after the US took North

[4:36] Korea off a list of states that sponsor

[4:39] terror. Spokesman Sean McCormack said US

[4:42] officials on the ground have described

[4:44] the progress.

[4:46] All the seals are back on. The

[4:47] surveillance equipment is back. Uh

[4:50] they're reinstalled. And the equipment

[4:52] that had been removed is back where it

[4:54] had been. So, in it in addition in

[4:56] addition to that, they have moved um

[5:01] uh removed more rods from the reactor.

[5:05] McCormack acknowledged North Korea still

[5:07] has work to do on dismantling factories

[5:09] that handle nuclear fuel.

[5:12] The Prime Minister of Iraq lashed out

[5:14] today at the top US commander there,

[5:17] Army General Ray Odierno, had said Iran

[5:20] may be bribing Iraqi lawmakers to oppose

[5:23] a security agreement with the US. Today,

[5:26] Prime Minister al-Maliki shot back that

[5:29] Odierno has risked his position and

[5:32] complicated US relations with Iraq. The

[5:35] draft security pact is now before

[5:37] Maliki's cabinet.

[5:39] Alaska Senator Ted Stevens testified

[5:41] today he always pays his own bills. The

[5:44] veteran the

[5:45] took the witness stand for a second day

[5:48] at his federal corruption trial in

[5:50] Washington. He again denied accepting

[5:52] $250,000

[5:54] in home remodeling for free. The senator

[5:57] said he tried to oversee the

[5:59] renovations, but his senatorial duties

[6:01] often got in the way.

[6:03] Drug maker Pfizer announced the

[6:05] settlement of nearly $900 million today

[6:07] over two painkillers. The agreement will

[6:10] end thousands of lawsuits targeting

[6:12] Celebrex and Bextra. They claim the

[6:15] drugs caused heart attacks and strokes.

[6:18] Pfizer pulled Bextra from the market in

[6:20] late 2005. Celebrex is still being sold.

[6:24] And that's it for the news summary

[6:25] tonight. Now, out there on the

[6:27] presidential campaign, Shields and

[6:29] Brooks,

[6:30] voting challenges in New Mexico and

[6:33] elsewhere, a New Orleans schools update,

[6:37] and a Richard Rodriguez essay.

[6:46] What the candidates were up to today,

[6:48] Ray Suarez has our report.

[6:51] Democratic nominee Barack Obama returned

[6:53] to Virginia today trying to build on

[6:56] recent polls that show him ahead

[6:58] in a state that hasn't supported a

[7:00] Democrat for president in more than 40

[7:02] years. I'm pretty sure that America's

[7:05] ready for change. I'm sure Virginia's

[7:07] ready for change.

[7:08] Speaking in Roanoke, Obama focused on

[7:11] health care. He said John McCain would

[7:13] pay for his health care plan by cutting

[7:15] funding for Medicare. $882

[7:19] billion in dollars in Medicare cuts

[7:22] to pay for a ill-conceived, badly

[7:26] thought through health care plan that

[7:28] won't provide more health care to

[7:30] people.

[7:31] Even though Medicare is already facing a

[7:33] looming shortfall. If you count on

[7:35] Medicare, it would mean fewer places to

[7:38] get care.

[7:39] And less freedom to choose your own

[7:41] doctor.

[7:42] You'll pay more for your drugs.

[7:44] You'll receive fewer services.

[7:46] You'll get lower quality care.

[7:49] I don't think that's right.

[7:50] Obama said as president he would improve

[7:53] Medicare coverage.

[7:55] We can strengthen Medicare

[7:57] by eliminating wasteful subsidies to big

[7:59] HMOs in Medicare, making sure seniors

[8:03] can access home-based care, letting

[8:05] Medicare negotiate with drug companies

[8:07] for cheaper prices on their drugs.

[8:10] That's the kind of change we need.

[8:12] Obama's running mate, Joe Biden, also

[8:14] campaigned today in a state that voted

[8:16] for President Bush in 2004, New Mexico.

[8:19] I love John talking about, "Well, you

[8:21] know, Barack Obama wants to redistribute

[8:23] income." Let me talk about

[8:24] redistribution, ladies and gentlemen.

[8:27] The fact of the matter is the biggest

[8:29] redistribution of wealth has taken place

[8:31] under George Bush.

[8:32] Wall Street Journal, not Joe Biden,

[8:34] points out, "Not since 1921 has this

[8:37] existed. Right now, the top 1% of the

[8:40] American people make over 22% of all the

[8:44] income in America, 1%. The bottom 50,

[8:47] they make less than 13%.

[8:50] Ladies and gentlemen, that's

[8:51] redistribution the wrong way. Let's set

[8:53] the record straight. Let's help the

[8:55] middle class. Republican candidates John

[8:58] McCain and Sarah Palin brought their

[9:00] economic message to the traditional

[9:02] battleground states of Florida and Ohio,

[9:05] both won by President Bush in 2004.

[9:08] There's no doubt whatsoever we will win

[9:11] the state of Florida. In Miami, McCain

[9:14] again hammered Obama's tax plan. Then

[9:17] Obama claims that he wants to give a tax

[9:19] break to the middle class,

[9:21] but not only did he vote for higher

[9:23] taxes on the middle class in the Senate,

[9:26] his plan gives away your tax dollars to

[9:29] those that don't pay taxes. That's not a

[9:31] tax cut.

[9:32] That's welfare.

[9:37] America didn't become the greatest

[9:40] nation on earth by redistributing the

[9:42] wealth. We became

[9:45] We became the greatest nation by

[9:47] creating new wealth. And McCain said it

[9:50] was Obama who would put health care out

[9:53] of reach for millions of Americans.

[9:56] If I'm elected president, I won't fine

[9:57] small businesses and families with

[9:59] children as Senator Obama proposes to

[10:02] force them into a huge new

[10:04] government-run health care program while

[10:07] he keeps the cost of the fine a secret

[10:10] until he hits you with it.

[10:14] I'll bring down the skyrocketing cost of

[10:16] health care with competition and choice

[10:19] to lower your premiums and make it more

[10:21] available to Americans. In Westchester,

[10:23] Ohio, Sarah Palin told the crowd a

[10:26] McCain-Palin administration would cut

[10:28] the federal deficit. As president, John

[10:31] will impose a spending freeze to cover

[10:34] all but the most vital functions of

[10:36] government, those that would include

[10:38] worker training and taking care of our

[10:40] veterans. We must balance the budget.

[10:43] We'll balance the budget by the end of

[10:45] our first term.

[10:50] He's got the guts to confront the $10

[10:53] trillion debt that the federal

[10:55] government has run up. That debt that

[10:57] we're expected to pass on to our kids

[10:59] and our grandkids. No, that's not right.

[11:02] That's not fair. That will not happen on

[11:04] our watch. Today's event was stark

[11:06] contrast to the more genteel setting

[11:09] last night at the Alfred E. Smith dinner

[11:11] for charity in New York. The candidates

[11:14] left the campaign trail to poke fun at

[11:16] each other and themselves.

[11:18] It's true that this morning I dismissed

[11:21] my entire team of senior advisers. All

[11:24] of their positions will now be held by a

[11:26] man named Joe the plumber.

[11:30] I must say tonight's venue isn't really

[11:32] what I'm used to. I was originally told

[11:35] we'd be able to move this outdoors to

[11:36] Yankee Stadium.

[11:38] And can somebody tell me what happened

[11:41] to the Greek columns that I requested?

[11:44] The candidates will keep up their horrid

[11:46] pace this weekend with appearances in

[11:48] several hotly contested states. North

[11:50] Carolina, where the race has tightened

[11:52] in recent weeks, will get visits from

[11:54] both nominees. McCain will be in Concord

[11:57] on Saturday and Obama is set to appear

[12:00] in Fayetteville on Sunday.

[12:09] And to the analysis of Shields and

[12:12] Brooks syndicated columnist Mark

[12:13] Shields, New York Times columnist David

[12:15] Brooks. Mark, the candidates remain very

[12:17] much on the attack, but it's about

[12:19] issues now, is it not? It is I It is on

[12:22] issues. Barack Obama is very heavy on on

[12:25] health care. I'm going on issues that he

[12:27] feels

[12:28] work to do with the Democrats, no

[12:30] question about it, works for him. John

[12:32] McCain going on taxes, which has been

[12:35] the strong suit for the Republicans.

[12:37] David, Obama has said from the beginning

[12:39] that he sees health care as part of the

[12:42] overall economic issue. Do you agree

[12:44] with that as as as a principle? Well, I

[12:46] guess if you include the economic issue

[12:48] as uncertainty. It is true when you go

[12:51] out on the campaign trail,

[12:53] health care has been sometimes every

[12:55] other question, especially early in the

[12:56] last couple months.

[12:58] But and then people yeah, I think

[13:00] especially in the middle class people

[13:02] are really going for

[13:03] as part of the uncertainty of the times.

[13:06] Now, I must say, I mean, the two issues

[13:08] they're talking about are issues they

[13:09] could have been talking about 6 months

[13:10] ago. And they're very safe issues for

[13:12] each of them. I'm not sure either have

[13:14] really adapted to the issues of last

[13:15] month. You mean the financial crisis?

[13:18] >> and that's a separate issue. And it

[13:19] seems to me both of them are tested by

[13:20] I'd say the health care thing. I mean,

[13:22] Barack Obama's health care plan

[13:24] would cost a lot of money, even

[13:26] accepting his cost savings, which are

[13:28] dubious. Is he going to still have such

[13:30] an ambitious health care plan given the

[13:32] new fiscal reality? It seems to me

[13:33] that's the crucial question that

[13:35] Democrats are debating. They're almost

[13:36] debating the governing decisions he's

[13:38] going to have to make. Do you blow a

[13:40] hole through the deficit uh because of

[13:42] the recession, or do you pay attention

[13:43] to the deficit and try to restrain

[13:45] spending?

[13:45] >> And and in fairness to Obama, the the

[13:48] corporate argument that's made that

[13:50] United States business to be competitive

[13:53] internationally, that that there has to

[13:55] be the the burden that is now shouldered

[13:59] by American corporations for health care

[14:01] of their workers and the contract uh

[14:04] that that has to be if if that that

[14:06] burden could be lifted by a national

[14:08] health plan, that they feel American

[14:10] American economy and American

[14:12] corporations would be more competitive

[14:13] internationally. Marty, let me ask you

[14:15] this. The conventional wisdom in the

[14:17] polls show that uh

[14:19] when it comes to the economic issue, the

[14:21] fiscal crisis, the financial crisis,

[14:23] whatever, John McCain he does not do

[14:26] well on this. Not He doesn't do In fact,

[14:28] it's costing him tremendously in the

[14:31] polls. Why? Why is it that he's not seen

[14:34] as a leader of these kinds of issues?

[14:36] >> Well, I I think

[14:37] Jim, first of all, it's never been John

[14:39] McCain's strong suit. Second, he's

[14:40] carrying the brand of the Republican

[14:42] Party and it which is blamed by most

[14:45] voters uh for the condition of the

[14:47] economy right now. I mean, Tom Tom Davis

[14:49] said, "Really prominent and respected

[14:51] Republican uh member from Virginia that

[14:54] if we were in John Brandon Republican

[14:56] document it it it would be removed from

[14:58] the bookstore shelves." I mean, it has

[15:00] fallen so in such discredit. And I I

[15:03] think uh John McCain himself has no

[15:06] particular strength in that by his own

[15:08] admission. And uh I guess I guess the

[15:11] third thing is that John McCain's own

[15:13] performance uh in the time of the

[15:15] financial crisis when the spotlight was

[15:17] on,

[15:18] uh suspending his campaign, coming back,

[15:21] uh and and it did not did not

[15:23] He talked about a steady hand at the

[15:25] tiller, but he did not project that to

[15:27] voters.

[15:27] >> United States. You agree with that, Jim?

[15:29] Yeah, absolutely on that that final

[15:31] point. I don't think Barack Obama knows

[15:32] all that much about

[15:34] the financial world and credit default

[15:35] swaps more than John McCain does. But in

[15:37] a time of stock market volatility, you

[15:40] probably don't want presidential

[15:41] volatility. And that's that's partly the

[15:43] decision McCain has made over the past

[15:45] couple weeks. Partly it's just their

[15:46] nature. Uh Obama is a relatively, in

[15:49] fact remarkably, unvolatile personality.

[15:52] And McCain, especially in the debate

[15:54] performances, has been wound tightly.

[15:57] And you showed a video in the early of

[15:59] earlier in the show about the Al Smith

[16:00] dinner. And when I watched the McCain

[16:03] performance

[16:04] the whole performance is really worth

[16:05] watching on YouTube or wherever.

[16:07] It's the old McCain. It's the McCain

[16:09] enjoying himself. It's the McCain

[16:11] relaxed, gracious toward Obama, very

[16:14] funny, very personable. And when you saw

[16:16] the debate performance and then you saw

[16:18] that Al Smith dinner performance, you

[16:20] remind me that he doesn't seem to be

[16:22] enjoying himself. He seems have a

[16:23] different personality from himself and

[16:25] sort of the attack personality which he

[16:27] feels constrained to put on. And you

[16:29] wonder why is there such a big

[16:31] difference between these two uh

[16:33] performances.

[16:34] And I think it's the campaign has

[16:36] surrounded him with a series of

[16:38] arguments and a posture that's not

[16:40] really him. And he And someone if after

[16:42] this is all over is going to have to

[16:43] figure that all out. What do you think

[16:45] accounts for it, Mark? I think every few

[16:47] brief First of all, there are two John

[16:48] McCains. Oh, I I do. I mean

[16:50] McCain at the Al Smith dinner was

[16:51] winning and wonderful. And And more more

[16:53] than even the lines he delivered, such

[16:55] as I have a pet name for Senator Obama,

[16:58] I call him that one. He has a pet name

[17:00] for me, he calls me George Bush. I mean,

[17:02] that was just I mean, that was sort of a

[17:03] nice That was self-deprecating.

[17:06] And while he And he delivered every one

[17:07] of those lines dead pan. He delivered

[17:09] them well, but the the key, Jim, was

[17:12] when Obama was delivering his lines. And

[17:14] Obama did quite well, too.

[17:16] McCain was laughing uproariously at the

[17:18] funny line.

[17:18] >> As was Obama. Yeah, and Obama was too.

[17:21] But it was it was interesting. That was

[17:22] that was just part of the right I mean

[17:23] for example Mike Bloomberg, the

[17:26] the mayor of New York did not

[17:28] laugh uproariously when Obama took a

[17:30] needle at him for his seeking a third

[17:32] term and trying to repeal term limits in

[17:34] New York.

[17:35] Even though it was a shot at Bill

[17:36] Clinton as he did it. He said you know

[17:38] Obama when Bill Clinton found out the

[17:40] term limits of Bill Clinton

[17:41] Bill Clinton said you mean you can do

[17:43] that?

[17:43] But

[17:44] I I think I think David I think David is

[17:46] right and it's been every every other

[17:47] night or so every campaign every

[17:50] campaign is inevitably a mirror

[17:51] reflection of the candidate and the

[17:53] strengths and the weaknesses of the

[17:54] candidate and I think we're seeing the

[17:56] strengths and the weaknesses of John

[17:58] John McCain. I mean and and part of it

[18:00] has been the material nature of his

[18:02] candidacy. Yeah, I wonder I wonder if

[18:04] that's really true in this case. I mean

[18:06] people used to say it was not true of Al

[18:08] Gore. He didn't run this kind of

[18:09] campaign. You know John McCain I don't

[18:11] think of as a standard issue Republican.

[18:13] And yet you look at the lot of things

[18:15] he's done over the last couple weeks.

[18:17] The Bill Ayers thing sort of refighting

[18:19] the 60s. He never cared about the 60s

[18:21] and I mean those kind of culture war

[18:23] fights until this campaign. He wasn't

[18:25] around for the 60s. He was in Vietnam.

[18:27] It just wasn't the thing that bubbled up

[18:29] naturally in him.

[18:30] The tax cuts.

[18:32] The Republicans all use tax cuts at this

[18:34] time in a campaign but I'm not sure

[18:36] that's really what he preferred to be

[18:38] talking about and I just think that a

[18:40] decision was made early on in the

[18:41] process. They decided to run this as a

[18:44] reasonably conventional Republican race.

[18:47] Why they wanted to do that this year of

[18:49] all possible years is beyond me but they

[18:52] can't change now. They're they're down

[18:53] this path and they're going to continue.

[18:55] But they didn't decide. Yeah, who's

[18:57] that? John McCain decided. John McCain.

[18:59] Barack Obama decided. I mean that's

[19:01] that's that's the decision they're going

[19:02] to make. Al Gore decided not to mention

[19:04] the environment. I mean his counsel not

[19:06] to do it but he decided and I I think

[19:08] there's something I deeply here that is

[19:11] bothering the John McCain candidacy this

[19:13] time and this worked in very much for

[19:15] Obama and we saw it in the in the

[19:16] debates. And that is

[19:18] Jim

[19:19] Take take the presidencies of Richard

[19:21] Nixon and and Lyndon Johnson. Two of the

[19:24] most knowledgeable and serious men. Both

[19:26] had been vice president, senate,

[19:28] congressman

[19:29] and both tragedies of Vietnam and

[19:32] Watergate. And as a consequence of their

[19:34] presidency Jimmy Carter was begat in a

[19:37] in a in a in a biblical sense. Uh

[19:40] that that the

[19:41] his lack of experience became a positive

[19:43] virtue. His no no knowledge of

[19:45] Washington as a one-term governor of

[19:47] Georgia became an asset to voters. Uh he

[19:50] wasn't tainted by Washington. He wasn't

[19:51] tainted and he and he he he was honest

[19:53] he said I'm never going to lie to you.

[19:55] American voters were looking for what

[19:56] was missing in the president that

[19:58] disciplined.

[19:59] George Bush has been a guy who says I

[20:03] speak from the I I decide from the gut.

[20:05] Uh he's been proudly undeliberative.

[20:08] He's been

[20:10] you know, almost disdainful of of

[20:13] intellectual presentations or ideas. And

[20:17] uh

[20:18] this is made is made to order for Barack

[20:21] Obama. His coolness, his calmness, his

[20:24] confidence, his reflectiveness is is uh

[20:28] really I think cherished by the

[20:30] electorate whether it's conscious or

[20:31] unconscious in 2008 because the the Bush

[20:35] model has been found wanting.

[20:37] You buy that? Yeah, though there are

[20:39] there are ways in which McCain is

[20:41] opposite of Bush. I agree. Uh McCain is

[20:43] not a party person most of a lot of his

[20:44] friends are on the Democrats a lot of

[20:45] his enemies are on the Republicans.

[20:47] That's one distinction. The second is

[20:49] experience. And to me if he played on

[20:51] experience with safety and I mean

[20:54] foreign policy safety but also domestic

[20:56] safety uh fiscal discipline

[20:58] which is certainly in his nature. He

[21:00] could have played that up. He also could

[21:02] have played up and this would have been

[21:03] riskier but I think the right thing to

[21:04] do played off Bush's confidence, super

[21:08] self-confidence. That is something Bush

[21:10] and Obama share, extreme personal

[21:12] self-confidence. A feeling I can take

[21:15] care of the problems as they come at me,

[21:16] whatever comes at me. If you say, you

[21:18] know, I've seen enough of the world to

[21:20] know how wrong I can be, which is

[21:22] something McCain actually does pretty

[21:23] well, I think he would have played off

[21:25] that a little sense of humility. But

[21:27] again, that's an atypical campaign. The

[21:29] normal formula is super confidence, no

[21:32] doubt in the middle of the campaign. But

[21:33] you're you

[21:35] buy into part of what Martha is saying

[21:38] is that the time also fit Barack Obama's

[21:42] temperament.

[21:42] >> Yes, no,

[21:43] in a million different ways.

[21:45] Not only for the issues the Democrats

[21:47] are down and now they're rebounding, but

[21:50] just to the and I keep coming back to

[21:52] this. I was so impressed when the

[21:54] financial crisis hit and Obama doesn't

[21:55] know all that much, but he had a wall of

[21:57] people behind him, the Paul Volckers,

[21:59] the Warren Buffets, the Robert Rubins,

[22:01] the Larry Summers, the Gene Sperlings,

[22:02] all these people. You could trust those

[22:04] people.

[22:05] And and he not only has those people

[22:07] standing behind him, anybody can do

[22:08] that, but you really get a sense from

[22:10] him that he would know how to talk to

[22:12] them and learn from them.

[22:13] Yeah.

[22:14] I think I think John McCain's

[22:17] performance, I think you go back and you

[22:19] look at a couple of decisions that were

[22:20] made in this campaign and and obviously

[22:22] the economic crisis just changed the the

[22:25] entire dynamic. But the performance of

[22:27] the two men during that economic crisis,

[22:29] I think in a strange way McCain seemed

[22:32] more bushy. He seemed more

[22:35] to operate from the gut. And Obama did

[22:37] seem cool, detached, deliberative. And

[22:40] and sometimes that might be almost

[22:42] people say, I want someone who feels

[22:44] more as they did in 1992 when Bill

[22:46] Clinton when George W. Herbert Walker

[22:48] Bush didn't seem to understand the

[22:50] economic anxiety that voters were going

[22:52] through. He was too cool. He was too

[22:53] cool and detached and Bill Clinton said,

[22:55] I feel I feel your pain. But so I think

[22:58] I think the times

[22:59] you know, really do matter. And and and

[23:02] that

[23:02] in that case. Do you think you I would

[23:05] just say that the risk is and for Obama

[23:07] as we think forward if he is elected

[23:09] what

[23:10] what Paulson has done and what Bernanke

[23:12] and Bush has done is a huge step. It is

[23:14] a bold gesture. Now, is Barack Obama the

[23:17] kind of guy who would make that kind of

[23:19] bold gesture? He is a very cautious

[23:21] person and you could say would he would

[23:23] he do that? And I I think that's an open

[23:25] question. How How about How about the

[23:27] resistance to it? None. I mean you bring

[23:29] in the seven biggest banks and you say

[23:32] okay, sign this piece of paper. I mean

[23:34] if a Democrat tried to do that they'd

[23:37] say I mean the Wall Street Journal had a

[23:38] front page where they went and extra

[23:40] This is This is not creeping, this is

[23:41] galloping socialism, it's not communism.

[23:44] Instead was that it done by the proudly

[23:46] conservative president from Texas

[23:49] uh the man of the ownership society has

[23:52] just given us socializing of our

[23:54] national economy. It's It's a remarkable

[23:57] remarkable thing. The question is Bush

[23:59] is for or what is the master of the big

[24:01] gesture?

[24:02] Whether it's Barack or anything else.

[24:04] I'm not sure Obama has ever shown that

[24:05] in the history of his uh his life. Well,

[24:08] other than running for president. Right.

[24:10] Although probably Yeah, yeah. Which is

[24:12] rather rather a bold act for somebody

[24:14] with that kind of a background. Mark,

[24:16] David, thank you both very much.

[24:26] And now the last of our week of big

[24:28] picture reporting from the battleground

[24:30] state of New Mexico, it's about the

[24:31] voting itself. Correspondent Jean Grant

[24:34] of KME Albuquerque has the story.

[24:39] 80 miles west of Albuquerque along

[24:41] historic Route 66

[24:44] sits the tiny community of Grants, the

[24:46] site of a lingering electoral

[24:48] controversy since June.

[24:50] At stake was the Democratic nomination

[24:52] for a state Senate seat.

[24:54] Evadulaberry was declared the winner by

[24:56] just five votes, despite the fact that

[24:59] 182 ballots went missing.

[25:02] Clemente Sanchez lost, and he's still

[25:04] frustrated that even a state

[25:06] investigation hasn't led to the missing

[25:08] ballots. The investigation has been

[25:10] going on for the last month and a half

[25:12] to two months. Maybe more than two

[25:13] months. And they have no idea what

[25:15] happened to these

[25:17] 182 ballots.

[25:19] Sanchez says he and many of his

[25:21] supporters have lost faith in the

[25:23] system. It was my name ballot lost,

[25:26] and I don't know was it mine?

[25:28] Was it my family? What happened to them?

[25:30] Dona Ana County Clerk Eileen Martinez

[25:32] oversaw the vote, and she's in the dark,

[25:34] too. I don't know what happened to those

[25:36] ballots.

[25:38] And the um

[25:41] Attorney General's office was here, and

[25:43] they investigated.

[25:45] And we got a letter from them that there

[25:48] was no um

[25:51] uh misconduct or anything like that. So,

[25:54] um we don't know where those ballots

[25:58] went.

[25:59] So,

[26:00] New Mexico has a history of razor-thin

[26:03] election margins, which means small

[26:05] problems have the potential to add up to

[26:07] larger troubles.

[26:08] And not just troubles over missing

[26:10] ballots, but counting them, too. It's

[26:12] taken weeks to certify elections here in

[26:14] recent years.

[26:16] Provisional ballots, ballots cast by

[26:18] voters whose eligibility was in

[26:19] question, or who went to the wrong

[26:21] polling place, are partly to blame

[26:24] because it takes a long time to verify

[26:25] all the information.

[26:27] Maggie Toulouse Oliveros is the clerk in

[26:29] New Mexico's most populous county,

[26:31] Bernalillo, which includes Albuquerque.

[26:33] It's so funny, I always get asked the

[26:35] question, why does it take so long in

[26:36] New Mexico? Well, it always takes that

[26:38] long. Uh no nobody's paying attention

[26:40] unless it's a close election. Uh if the

[26:42] provisional ballots are not going to

[26:44] determine the outcome of the election,

[26:45] uh the the process is largely ignored by

[26:47] the general public because the outcome

[26:49] has been decided.

[26:51] Technical troubles with voting equipment

[26:52] have vexed state officials, too.

[26:54] In 2004, more than 20,000 ballots were

[26:57] cast without a vote for president,

[26:59] leading some to charge that touchscreen

[27:01] machines hadn't properly counted the

[27:03] votes.

[27:04] George W. Bush won the state by less

[27:06] than 6,000 votes.

[27:09] That led to New Mexico to switch to

[27:10] optical scan machines that use paper

[27:12] ballots like many other states.

[27:15] Teresa Oliver believes that was a good

[27:16] decision by the state. If there's ever a

[27:18] question, if there's ever a doubt about

[27:20] the accuracy of the system, we can go

[27:22] back and look at those paper ballots, we

[27:24] can hand count them. If a machine fails

[27:26] in the course of an election, a voter

[27:28] can still vote, they don't have to stop

[27:30] or wait or be turned away from the

[27:31] polls. So, there are so many advantages

[27:33] to having a paper system over an

[27:35] electronic system.

[27:37] But, the return to paper ballots has

[27:39] come under fire, too.

[27:40] Republican state representative Justine

[27:42] Fox-Young. I fought really hard against

[27:45] the paper ballot system only because

[27:47] it's meant, and we knew it would mean

[27:49] terribly long lines um for voters on

[27:52] election day and and early voting, of

[27:54] course, as well as, you know, a much a

[27:57] greatly increased chance losing ballots

[28:00] um and hanky panky with ballots during

[28:04] during the counting process.

[28:06] Fox-Young also contends that county

[28:08] clerks have been forced to deal

[28:09] exclusively with one company to service

[28:11] the ballot machines, resulting in high

[28:13] costs to maintain voting equipment. We

[28:16] have not provided them with enough

[28:18] resources to cover that. Um and and

[28:20] frankly, I you know, I don't know that

[28:22] the state can. The company is now

[28:24] basically extorting the clerk

[28:26] for um you know, what what they're

[28:28] calling mechanical updates and

[28:31] and you know, other other services in

[28:33] the interim, and the clerks have no

[28:35] choice. call the regular

[28:37] >> Cibola County Clerk Martinez

[28:39] acknowledges she doesn't have the

[28:40] resources to cover all the costs

[28:42] associated with the machines. Do you

[28:44] have enough money

[28:46] to service these machines? No, we don't.

[28:49] The trouble with ballot machines are

[28:51] just part of the problem here.

[28:53] Soon after the deadline passed to

[28:54] register new voters, a familiar

[28:56] controversy resurfaced.

[28:58] Questions have been raised about whether

[28:59] some of those registrations are

[29:01] fraudulent.

[29:02] This year, a record number of new voters

[29:04] have been added to the rolls, many by

[29:06] so-called third-party organizations like

[29:09] the Association of Community

[29:10] Organizations for Reform Now, known as

[29:13] ACORN. The group's regional director,

[29:15] Matthew Henderson, takes pride in the

[29:17] number of voters his organization has

[29:19] registered in closely contested states.

[29:22] We shattered our previous record, a

[29:24] national record, registering 1.3 million

[29:26] people around the country.

[29:28] Uh 80,000 people here in New Mexico. But

[29:32] not all those registrations have passed

[29:34] muster with Burleigh County Clerk

[29:35] Toulouse Oliver.

[29:37] Her office has flagged close to 1,500

[29:39] potentially fraudulent cards. And they

[29:42] have been satisfied and every attempt

[29:43] has been made to try to contact the

[29:45] ostensible voter um that is on the card.

[29:48] And so, I think that um to the extent

[29:51] that this was attempted, it's true that

[29:54] the the the effort was to try to create

[29:56] um fraudulent voters who would appear at

[29:59] the polls on election day, well those so

[30:00] far are not going to have the

[30:01] opportunity. Nationally, Republicans are

[30:03] challenging ACORN in states across the

[30:05] country for allegedly processing

[30:07] thousands of faulty registration cards.

[30:10] And the FBI is investigating.

[30:12] GOP attorney Pat Rogers worries some

[30:14] questionable votes will be cast. I don't

[30:17] know how many

[30:18] and nor do I know nor can I tell you

[30:20] what the vote difference is going to be

[30:22] between uh uh Barack Obama and John

[30:25] McCain or uh our important uh

[30:28] federal election. I can't tell you if

[30:30] it's going to be close or not. I can't

[30:32] tell you that there's going to be enough

[30:33] fraudulent votes to make a difference.

[30:36] But I can tell you unequivocally, there

[30:38] are going to be fraudulent votes cast

[30:41] and if it's a close election, it could

[30:43] infect it.

[30:44] ACORN's Henderson doesn't buy that. It's

[30:47] just hysteria that they're trying to

[30:49] stir up in order to create concern about

[30:52] the election, and it's a real shame

[30:53] because the story here is that we should

[30:56] be encouraging all these new voters to

[30:57] vote, and instead, they're trying to

[30:59] cast a shadow on it. Yes, this is

[31:01] University of New Mexico election expert

[31:03] Lonna Atkeson says there's no firm

[31:05] evidence for widespread fraud. There's

[31:08] anecdotal stories, but when you chase

[31:10] those stories down, you often can't find

[31:13] strong evidence that those stories are

[31:15] real or even any evidence that those

[31:16] stories are real.

[31:18] Add to all that a perception that

[31:20] elections here can be quirky. Take for

[31:22] example a state law which mandates that

[31:24] ties be decided by a game of chance.

[31:28] In this case, a game of high card draw

[31:31] in a recent small town mayoral race. We

[31:33] have two uh

[31:35] booths right there and uh Across the

[31:37] state, county clerks say they are doing

[31:39] what they can to ensure a fair election.

[31:42] There's never an error-free election.

[31:46] All we can do is uh train our poll

[31:49] officials

[31:50] more intensely. But those efforts are

[31:53] lost on former state Senate candidate

[31:55] Clemente Sanchez, who still feels stung

[31:57] by the process. Do I have faith in the

[31:59] system? At the way it's run now, at the

[32:01] way it's done, no. Unfortunately, I was

[32:04] ended up being the the guinea pig on

[32:06] this my my election, and I never would

[32:09] have expected anything like that, but

[32:10] uh

[32:11] I have really

[32:12] I'm really nervous about the the general

[32:14] election, not only the local race, but

[32:17] also the the national race. When it

[32:19] comes to November's election, one thing

[32:21] is certain, the closer the vote, the

[32:23] greater the scrutiny will be.

[32:26] And New Mexico isn't the only state with

[32:28] potential voting problems. Judy Woodruff

[32:30] reports. For a broader look at voting

[32:33] issues around the country, we're We're

[32:35] by Rick Hasen. He's a professor at the

[32:38] Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and an

[32:40] expert on election law. Professor Hasen,

[32:43] thanks for talking with us. What are the

[32:45] main voting-related problems around the

[32:48] country right now?

[32:49] Well, there are different kinds of

[32:50] problems. Some of the problems relate to

[32:51] machines and you know, since 2000 when

[32:54] we learned that the punch card machines

[32:55] were a big problem, we switched over to

[32:57] other kinds of machines and in some

[32:59] places like in Palm Beach County,

[33:00] they're on the third set of machines in

[33:02] in three major elections. And so some of

[33:04] it relates to rolling out new equipment.

[33:06] Some of it as we just heard in that

[33:07] report relates to questions over voter

[33:10] registration and matching databases. And

[33:12] some of them is just a misinformation

[33:14] about who's entitled to vote and you

[33:16] know, what's the procedures are going to

[33:18] be on election day. Are the problems

[33:20] mainly concentrated in the the

[33:22] battleground states where we expect the

[33:24] vote to be the closest?

[33:26] Well, I think that certainly the most

[33:27] attention nationally has been paid

[33:29] there, but there are problems in you

[33:30] know, all over the country. I think we

[33:32] know that there'll be some problems on

[33:33] election day

[33:35] scattered in different places throughout

[33:36] the country, but we're obviously going

[33:37] to focus on places like Ohio or Florida

[33:40] or Colorado where

[33:42] in a very close election, those

[33:43] electoral votes could matter for the

[33:45] outcome of the presidency.

[33:46] Let's talk about the controversy

[33:48] surrounding ACORN, the group that was

[33:50] mentioned in that report, the

[33:51] Association of Community Organizations

[33:54] for Reform. Now, if you if you can take

[33:56] the partisanship out of that and help us

[33:58] understand, what's the problem alleged

[34:01] to be? Well, you know, the way that this

[34:03] country works unlike many other mature

[34:05] democracies is that we don't have the

[34:07] government in the business of doing

[34:09] voter registration. We have private

[34:10] third parties going out and doing it.

[34:12] And so ACORN has been very successful. I

[34:15] think the figures are around 1.3 million

[34:17] registrations they've turned in and

[34:19] turns out that some of those

[34:20] registration forms are either fraudulent

[34:22] or contain incorrect information or

[34:25] duplicate information. And so there's a

[34:26] question as to

[34:28] what's going to happen with those forms

[34:30] and there's a concern that some of those

[34:32] forms will lead to actual election fraud

[34:35] on election day. Turns out though that

[34:38] uh

[34:38] from all of our studies, there's almost

[34:40] no evidence that fraudulent registration

[34:42] leads to actual uh election fraud on

[34:45] election day with people pretending

[34:46] they're Mickey Mouse or Joe Montana and

[34:48] showing up at these polls on election

[34:49] day. So, potentially, you're saying how

[34:51] big disruption uh when it comes to

[34:54] counting votes?

[34:56] Well, you know, in terms of counting

[34:57] votes, I don't think that we're talking

[34:58] about a big disruption. It's the

[35:00] question is in terms of the bloated

[35:01] voter rolls and what it takes for

[35:03] election officials before election day

[35:05] to go through all those cards. And in a

[35:07] lot of states, by law, any cards that a

[35:09] third-party group like ACORN collects,

[35:10] they have to turn in. So, each of those

[35:12] cards have to be investigated, and that

[35:13] takes time. And so, that's the problem.

[35:16] Uh but uh it doesn't translate into uh

[35:18] any kind of concern about the integrity

[35:20] of the actual vote itself on election

[35:22] day. Now, there was a uh US Supreme

[35:24] Court ruling today that's getting some

[35:26] attention having to do with Ohio and its

[35:28] voter registration list. Help us

[35:30] understand what that's about. Yeah, we

[35:31] remember Ohio was very close last time

[35:33] between uh Kerry and Bush, and whoever

[35:35] won Ohio won won the outcome. So, it was

[35:37] a close closely fought uh contest.

[35:39] There's been a lot of registration, and

[35:41] what the Ohio Republican Party was

[35:42] trying to do was to force the uh

[35:45] Secretary of State uh there, who's the

[35:46] chief elections officer, to turn over

[35:49] lists to counties of mismatches between

[35:52] the voter registration database and the

[35:53] motor vehicles database. And reports are

[35:55] that there could have been up to 200,000

[35:57] mismatches, although lots of those are

[35:59] probably results of data entry error or

[36:01] uh

[36:02] uh different uses of a name like Joe and

[36:04] Joseph or senior and junior and those

[36:06] kinds of problems. Uh but those names

[36:08] now do not have to be produced by uh the

[36:10] secretary and passed on to the election

[36:12] board. So, what is that What's the

[36:14] upshot of that? What does that mean?

[36:16] Well, so the question is what uh the

[36:17] Ohio Republican Party wanted those names

[36:19] for, and one possibility is they wanted

[36:21] those names to mount voter challenges on

[36:23] election day, to have a list of people

[36:25] to look at probably be lookout for at

[36:27] the polling places on election day. And

[36:28] we don't know if that would have

[36:29] happened or not, and there still could

[36:31] be challenges, but we don't have this

[36:32] list

[36:33] from the Secretary of State that could

[36:34] provide the basis for this anymore. So,

[36:36] essentially less

[36:39] essentially we think though that's

[36:40] that's resolved, not expected to be any

[36:42] more legal action brought in Ohio on

[36:45] that on issues of voter registration

[36:47] list. Yeah, well on that particular

[36:50] issue I think we're done, but there's

[36:51] been other

[36:52] litigation. There was an order this

[36:54] morning from the Ohio Supreme Court

[36:56] that the Secretary has to allow

[36:58] observers in to see what's going on in

[37:00] early voting. There's been litigation

[37:03] over missed

[37:04] boxes that needed to be checked on

[37:06] registration forms. There's still other

[37:07] stuff going on. And what's happened

[37:08] since 2000 is election administration

[37:11] become more partisan, the parties are

[37:13] fighting more over these things, and so

[37:14] generally there's just been a big uptick

[37:16] in litigation since 2000 over these

[37:18] kinds of problems.

[37:19] Professor Hasen, we've also seen issues

[37:21] raised around college students. How much

[37:23] of an obstacle do college students face

[37:26] around the country? What what's the

[37:28] problem potentially there? Well, you

[37:30] know, you're allowed to vote where you

[37:32] are

[37:33] basically domiciled, where you expect

[37:35] that you're going to be living for the

[37:36] foreseeable future, and so college

[37:37] students do have the right to register

[37:39] and vote in their college town. But

[37:42] sometimes they get local resistance, and

[37:43] sometimes there's misinformation. So, we

[37:45] saw a report last month of some of the

[37:48] Virginia county election officials

[37:50] giving wrong information such as saying

[37:52] that if a college student voted in a

[37:54] college town that the parents of the

[37:56] student wouldn't be able to claim that

[37:57] student as a dependent on income taxes.

[37:59] There's a lot of misinformation out

[38:00] there about when college students can

[38:02] vote and where they can vote.

[38:04] Bottom line,

[38:06] we're going to hear more about that?

[38:08] Well, you know, I don't know if that was

[38:09] going to be

[38:11] a big one on election day. You know, the

[38:13] best thing in terms of election

[38:14] administration is if the election just

[38:15] isn't close, because if we look really

[38:17] closely at things, there are still

[38:18] problems. In fact, Uh, I I think

[38:20] measures I think we're in worse shape

[38:22] than we were in 2000.

[38:23] So, uh

[38:25] Again, I mean, you're saying we should

[38:27] brace ourselves for more of uh to hear

[38:29] much more about this between now and

[38:30] November 4th. Yeah, I think so. And I

[38:32] think also because the parties are, you

[38:34] know, playing this up. You're hearing a

[38:35] lot from Republicans about voter fraud.

[38:37] You're hearing a lot from Democrats

[38:38] about voter suppression. Uh, you know,

[38:40] until we move to a system where we have

[38:42] uh non-partisan election officials that

[38:44] administer our federal elections on a

[38:45] national scale, it's hard to see how we

[38:47] get out of this cycle where we see this

[38:49] flurry of litigation in the months

[38:51] coming up to election day.

[38:53] Rick Hasen from Loyola Law School in Los

[38:55] Angeles, thanks very much. Thank you.

[38:59] On our website, you can learn about

[39:01] video your vote, which is an election

[39:03] day experiment we're conducting with

[39:05] YouTube. We're asking people to film

[39:07] their voting experience and document any

[39:09] problems they may encounter. To learn

[39:12] more about that, just go to pbs.org and

[39:14] then scroll down to NewsHour reports.

[39:24] Next tonight, fixing New Orleans public

[39:27] schools, year two. The NewsHour special

[39:30] correspondent for education, John

[39:32] Merrow, has been chronicling those

[39:34] efforts. And tonight, how rookie

[39:36] teachers are faring in the new school

[39:38] year.

[39:45] Superintendent Paul Vallas is feeling

[39:48] good.

[39:53] He's beginning his second year leading

[39:55] the Recovery School District, the lowest

[39:57] performing schools in New Orleans. At a

[39:59] rally, he praised his teachers for a

[40:01] year of progress. You did it. You did

[40:05] it. The increase in academic performance

[40:07] across the board,

[40:09] every grade, virtually every subject.

[40:12] And you know, high school test scores

[40:14] don't increase anywhere in the country

[40:16] except in New Orleans. High school

[40:18] teachers, stand up.

[40:20] Take a round of applause.

[40:22] Although test scores did go up last

[40:24] year, Vallas has his work cut out for

[40:26] him. 80% of students are still below

[40:29] grade level. This is the great

[40:31] experiment here. We are rebuilding a

[40:34] public school system from the ground up.

[40:36] No one

[40:36] >> In the crowd are veteran teachers and

[40:38] first-time educators from organizations

[40:40] like Teach for America, who are

[40:42] fast-tracked into teaching for a 2-year

[40:45] commitment. I need the legend.

[40:47] I need the superstar. There is no

[40:49] greater calling than education. No

[40:52] greater calling.

[40:54] Paul Vallas has already made a lot of

[40:56] changes. Laptop computers for high

[40:58] school students, regular testing, a

[41:00] standardized curriculum, an extended

[41:02] school day and school year.

[41:05] But in truth, the backbone of his plan

[41:07] is new teachers. Young, idealistic, but

[41:09] inexperienced graduates of the nation's

[41:12] top colleges.

[41:13] He's really betting the farm that a

[41:15] steady stream of these young people can

[41:17] rebuild the New Orleans public schools.

[41:20] So, right now we're driving to Carver

[41:22] High School in the upper ninth ward.

[41:25] It's one of the lowest income areas in

[41:27] New Orleans.

[41:29] Daniel Hoffman just graduated from Yale.

[41:33] You know, I come from the suburbs.

[41:34] Everyone has a backyard, picket line

[41:36] fences, and the sense of having the

[41:38] ability to do anything. Here, it's it's

[41:41] just sort of a totally different place.

[41:47] I think if we want to create a better

[41:49] New Orleans, education is the way to do

[41:51] it.

[41:54] This is how it's done, guys.

[41:56] Also new to town is Princeton graduate

[41:59] Jayla Monroe. She's made a home with

[42:01] three other first-time teachers. You can

[42:04] mix it. It doesn't matter how you eat

[42:05] it. It will taste the same.

[42:07] Behold, our other city is all about

[42:09] change, It's about reform.

[42:11] I never really believed that there that

[42:13] there could be such a energy and and and

[42:15] excitement for change until I came here.

[42:18] Uh this is my class three one. Teach for

[42:20] America is a graduate of the University

[42:22] of Chicago. For me, it was a phenomenal

[42:25] opportunity to start fresh and to do

[42:27] something right and to show everyone

[42:29] else that you would you could fix an

[42:31] institutional system. Welcome back to

[42:33] base

[42:33] >> After six weeks of training elsewhere,

[42:35] the Teach for America corps members

[42:37] arrived in New Orleans for more

[42:39] instruction.

[42:40] It's this very high stakes test that if

[42:42] they don't pass it, they're not going to

[42:43] move on. A lot is riding on this.

[42:47] One clear message, it won't be easy.

[42:51] They know you're going to fail and you

[42:53] you have to have that idealism to bounce

[42:54] back from the failure and learn from it.

[42:57] I think it's vital for me to succeed in

[43:00] my ordinary life. If I fail,

[43:03] I'm the only one failing.

[43:04] If I fail in this classroom,

[43:07] all my kids fail.

[43:09] That's

[43:10] what motivates me to succeed.

[43:12] It's that drive that Superintendent Paul

[43:15] Vallas is counting on.

[43:17] These young people come with so much

[43:18] energy and so much it's so much dynamism

[43:21] and they're so optimistic. They have

[43:23] such high expectations and high hopes

[43:25] and

[43:26] I want to seize on that.

[43:30] After just eight weeks of training,

[43:32] it's time to teach.

[43:35] Everyone have a seat. Start working on

[43:37] your worksheet.

[43:39] Everyone let me know if you're with a

[43:40] leader.

[43:43] Raise your hand Raise your hand.

[43:45] Give me a thumbs up if you're familiar

[43:46] with with a leader, thumbs down if

[43:48] you're not.

[43:49] I just want to have a sense of where we

[43:50] are. I need everyone to give me either a

[43:51] thumbs up or a thumbs down.

[43:54] I had a lot of trouble keeping kids on

[43:55] task, keeping them focused. You need to

[43:58] be working on this stuff. You're not

[43:59] going to You're not going to get it if

[44:00] unless you keep on trying.

[44:04] I got to be that much more on my game. I

[44:06] got to get the kids up, moving around. I

[44:08] can't try and do one thing for more than

[44:09] a certain amount of time, or else the

[44:11] kids will not be able to focus.

[44:15] So, good afternoon, class.

[44:18] Good afternoon. You say good afternoon.

[44:21] You respond. Good afternoon. All right,

[44:24] nice tall with energy. So, good

[44:26] afternoon.

[44:28] Okay, and hopefully eventually I can

[44:29] teach you how to say that in another

[44:31] language. So, you

[44:32] All right, sit up a little from day to

[44:34] day, all right?

[44:37] We're going to explore the benefits

[44:39] of a college education. I have a little

[44:41] activity with 30 minutes

[44:43] into the class, students are looking

[44:45] left or right, and it's it's obvious

[44:47] that

[44:48] um things are getting pretty tiring. So,

[44:50] what happens to average earnings as

[44:52] one's level of education increases? What

[44:54] happens?

[44:56] Um it increases, right? I'm going to

[44:58] have to work harder on doing more

[45:00] engaging activities. If I'm going to If

[45:02] I'm going to talk for a bit, I have to

[45:03] balance it with activities where

[45:05] students are also um talking amongst

[45:08] themselves.

[45:10] Good morning. My name is Alida Barrera,

[45:11] and it's spelled A L I D A Barrera, and

[45:13] you can get started on it. Good morning.

[45:16] What I want to do now is take about 10

[45:19] minutes to go over all of the

[45:21] expectations we have. You can't be late

[45:23] to class, so be here before the tardy

[45:25] bell rings, because when the bell rings,

[45:26] the door is shut, and we're going to get

[45:27] started. And that's another one of our

[45:30] classroom expectations here, gentlemen

[45:32] in the back. Right.

[45:35] Please, please, please be respectful of

[45:37] each other, of me, and I think part of

[45:39] that is paying attention and looking up

[45:41] here while I'm speaking.

[45:43] One of the reasons why I'm having

[45:44] trouble getting control of my classroom

[45:47] is because this is the first time I've

[45:49] been in front of the lights with the

[45:50] students. Later on, I met with seven of

[45:52] the new teachers. Would you characterize

[45:54] your first 2 days as successful?

[45:57] Um I mean, they were they were they

[45:59] weren't easy. They were very difficult.

[46:01] Um

[46:03] physically draining,

[46:05] um emotionally draining.

[46:08] Um

[46:10] but I love I love this.

[46:13] I

[46:14] haven't have not had as much success as

[46:16] I'd like to have in the first two days.

[46:18] When I talk to them, when I'm in the

[46:20] classroom, I'm thinking, "Oh my god,

[46:23] what am I doing?" I told my kids today

[46:25] that when going over the rules,

[46:27] I don't like being a disciplinary.

[46:29] But if I have to, I will. And I'm I'm

[46:32] waiting internally in my mind when can I

[46:34] start being nice cuz I barely smile. I'm

[46:36] there to help them, but they I can't

[46:39] engage them. They tell them how to be

[46:40] engaged.

[46:42] I'm being for a lot of these so-called

[46:45] problem behaviors will go away as long

[46:48] as they're engaged and interested.

[46:50] Actually, put that on the fact first.

[46:51] So, who is

[46:52] >> The struggling rookies can take heart

[46:54] from this man, Harvard graduate Kaleston

[46:56] Morgan.

[46:57] Everybody knows who this guy is.

[46:59] Don Bush, who is he?

[47:03] President Barack Obama.

[47:05] Hold on.

[47:06] You said he's not our President Barack,

[47:07] our president. He's Barack, president.

[47:11] Beginning his second year in Teach for

[47:13] America, Morgan says experience,

[47:15] momentum, and a connection with students

[47:17] seem to be paying off. It's half the the

[47:19] sort of taxing things where you have to

[47:22] sort of build relationships with the

[47:24] students. I think they know what I'm I'm

[47:26] in here for and that I'm here for them.

[47:28] But even with his success, Morgan is

[47:30] skeptical of Alice's reliance on

[47:32] inexperienced teachers. I don't think

[47:37] the answer is constantly bringing in

[47:41] 22-year-olds who are starting

[47:42] starting at the very beginning of the

[47:44] learning curve. And unfortunately, too

[47:46] many of us by the time we actually get

[47:47] it right,

[47:48] uh we back out the door to something

[47:50] else. Morgan's criticism is shared by

[47:53] others in the education field.

[47:56] The rap

[47:57] against Teach for America is that you

[48:00] guys can

[48:02] spend two years and put on your resume

[48:04] and

[48:04] go to some fancy law school.

[48:07] I've heard it called Teach for America

[48:09] instead of Teach for America. Even if it

[48:11] is two years, we're still at our age, I

[48:14] think we're doing

[48:15] the most we can to affect the most

[48:17] lives.

[48:18] This is what I'm here for. I don't need

[48:20] to go home to a family for these two

[48:22] years.

[48:23] These kids are all that I'm here for

[48:25] now.

[48:26] Their boss believes that this dedication

[48:28] is bound to pay off. I expect double

[48:31] digit growth this year. Now, I'll go out

[48:32] on a limb now and say that I expect big

[48:35] gains both in uh

[48:37] in overall test scores and in graduation

[48:38] rates. I expect it. Hopefully, it'll be

[48:40] a double digit starting with a two.

[48:43] Hopefully, a three.

[48:45] Paul Vallas has a lot riding on the

[48:47] results. With this likely to be his last

[48:50] year in New Orleans, they will be an

[48:52] important measure of his success.

[49:02] Finally tonight, essayist Richard

[49:03] Rodriguez on the American dream.

[49:07] For more than six decades,

[49:09] we Americans imagined ourselves to be

[49:11] free of class envy.

[49:14] Other countries might be bound by caste

[49:17] or by class.

[49:19] Our vanity in post-war America was to

[49:20] assume that the world envied us.

[49:23] Envied our social mobility and our

[49:25] optimism.

[49:27] In a country that afforded so much

[49:28] opportunity, why should we envy the

[49:30] rich?

[49:32] We regarded wealth with adoration.

[49:34] We gazed from the road at the great

[49:36] houses of Greenwich or Beverly Hills.

[49:39] The symbols of wealth reassured us.

[49:41] Someday, we too might be rich.

[49:43] Or our children might.

[49:46] There was wealth enough to go around.

[49:49] The financial of of the last few weeks,

[49:52] The collapse of banks and mortgage

[49:53] houses and insurance companies has

[49:55] changed the way Americans speak about

[49:57] money

[49:58] and social class.

[50:01] Economists point out that Americans have

[50:03] grown careless with money.

[50:05] There were even some of us who bought

[50:06] houses with no money down.

[50:09] They bought on credit and they bought on

[50:11] faith.

[50:12] A characteristic American faith that

[50:14] there will be money in the future to pay

[50:16] for what you can't afford today.

[50:19] No sooner had Americans noticed that

[50:21] entire neighborhoods of new houses were

[50:22] in foreclosure

[50:24] than we learned that lenders had sold

[50:25] mortgages to banks

[50:27] that bundled them up and resold them.

[50:30] The three-bedroom, two-car American

[50:32] dream

[50:33] was digitized into billions of

[50:35] intangible zeros

[50:37] of profit

[50:39] and then loss.

[50:41] Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson

[50:43] came up with what he hoped would be a

[50:44] fix. What we are working on now

[50:48] is a

[50:50] an approach

[50:51] to The fix too resembled a bubble

[50:53] machine. A series of zeros, 700 billion

[50:57] dollars.

[50:58] Middle-class Americans whose dream of

[50:59] the future had long been inspired by the

[51:02] success of the rich

[51:04] found themselves in a position of having

[51:05] to bail out the rich. Looks like we're

[51:07] going to have to bite the bullet.

[51:09] Secretary Paulson's plan had initially

[51:11] been called a bailout.

[51:13] But when taxpayers objected to the

[51:14] concept

[51:16] Congress and the White House changed the

[51:17] term to rescue plan.

[51:19] Not that we were bailing out the wealthy

[51:22] but that we were rescuing the economy.

[51:24] The people who feel the pain are not the

[51:26] top bankers and the top corporate

[51:28] executives, but average Americans. But

[51:30] whether it was a bailout or a rescue

[51:32] plan, there were demands from

[51:33] middle-class Americans. We call

[51:35] ourselves taxpayers when we are angry.

[51:37] Demands to cut the strings of the golden

[51:38] parachutes.

[51:40] The lavish bonuses that corporate

[51:42] officers give their own kind regardless

[51:44] of performance.

[51:45] Last month the taxpayers bought out AIG

[51:48] in an $85 billion bailout.

[51:51] This was a direct result of the mistakes

[51:53] made by Mr. Cassano.

[51:56] Yet even today he remains on the company

[52:00] payroll receiving $1 million a

[52:03] month. This business began 27 years ago.

[52:07] Overnight we began to speak of two

[52:09] Americas of separate purpose.

[52:11] We began to speak of lenders as

[52:13] predators.

[52:14] Which made borrowers victims.

[52:17] Overnight we began to distinguish Wall

[52:18] Street

[52:19] from Main Street.

[52:22] In fact, what we soon discovered was

[52:24] that when a bank fails in America,

[52:26] another bank fails in England.

[52:28] And then the drug distributor can't meet

[52:30] his payroll.

[52:31] But that's economics.

[52:33] And what I'm talking about here is our

[52:35] dream life.

[52:36] The American dream has been devalued in

[52:39] the last few turbulent weeks.

[52:42] Within a year, 3 million Americans are

[52:45] ex-wage earners. Not since the 1930s

[52:48] have we heard bankers and CEOs described

[52:50] by politicians left and right

[52:53] by middle-class and working-class voices

[52:55] as greedy.

[52:57] The measure of how much has changed is

[52:59] the way we speak now.

[53:01] We have veered into a moral vocabulary

[53:03] to express a class tension.

[53:06] The symbols of great wealth that we used

[53:08] to admire

[53:09] the touring limousine, the mansion in

[53:11] Greenwich with its own ice rink,

[53:13] the polished yacht

[53:15] have been reappraised as symbols of

[53:16] greed.

[53:18] Just so.

[53:20] The middle-class use of the word greed

[53:22] has brought us to envy.

[53:24] Class envy.

[53:26] Of the sort from which we thought as

[53:28] Americans

[53:29] we were immune.

[53:32] I'm Richard Rodriguez.

[53:42] Again, the major developments of this

[53:44] day, Wall Street finished a furious week

[53:46] of highs and lows with more losses, but

[53:48] for the week, the Dow Jones Industrial

[53:51] Average actually gained more than 4 and

[53:53] 1/2%. And in the presidential race,

[53:55] Democrat Barack Obama charged Republican

[53:57] John McCain would cut Medicare. McCain's

[54:00] campaign said Obama was lying.

[54:03] Washington Week can be seen later this

[54:04] evening on most PBS stations. We'll see

[54:06] you online and again here Monday

[54:09] evening. Have a nice weekend. I'm Jim

[54:11] Lehrer. Thank you and good night.

[54:19] Major funding for the NewsHour with Jim

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[55:14] And with the ongoing support of these

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[55:23] This program was made possible by the

[55:25] Corporation for Public Broadcasting

[55:28] and by contributions to your PBS station

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[55:33] Thank you.

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[56:05] That's the same job I'll have if you

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