could take advantage of the shores to sneak into the country. but they say agents target migrant workers. >> they park across the street from hispanic grocery stores and taco stands and watch and come who goes and follow them to find out where they live. >> the border patrol says the plans to bolster the plans on the border are going forward. the whistle-blower still works here but is seeking a transfer to guard the more active u.s. mexico border. if your choice did not win or if you want to check out the runners up i have links to them on my page at facebook.com/suzannecnn. ted is in for randi kaye. we begin this hour with the biggest fire in texas.

believe me, that is saying something. this has been the worst fire season in texas history, and this is the worst of more than 35 fires burning right now. it's southeast of austin in bass strup county. and 1,000 other homes are threaten threatened. firefighters are attacking on the ground and in the air. and chris welch is in the thick of it. are they making any headway at all? >> caller: not exactly. this is a very bad day for fighting a fire to put it lightly. officials here caution, you know, they asked everybody to evacuate yesterday in the hardest hit areas. this fire continues to move south, moving through neighborhoods. now, thankfully this is one thing i think we can be thankful for, moving into areas that are less populated. and they expect the number to grow today. i want to give aquick look at the plumes we have been looking at today. we have seen the smoke rise and

fall as it goes through the thicker woods, as it goes through grass. you see less smoke and more as it goes through the woods. we also got done watching a press conference a short time ago where officials are basically trying to encourage residents to keep their spirits high. >> as a community we have always come together, and i want to make sure that we are all praying for each other and continue to pray through this process, because this is something that goes beyond man. >> reporter: so there are residents that we have talked to at the shelter. there are five official shelters set up throughout the state. several others, maybe pop up unofficial shelters to house the people who have been forced out of their homes, and the people say we were forced out yesterday and we are waiting here and have no idea whether it's our house or belongings. and they don't know whether

their ranches or herds are still there. >> they did not have a lot of time to gather anything to get out because it was moving so quickly. >> i spoke to one woman yesterday and she said it kind of looks like the storm, and then they said it may not be a storm and they started to call 911, and the numbers were busy and they finally got through and said hang up and get out. they got their pets and in the car and got out of harm's way, and they are waiting now to see what happens. >> chris welch. thank you for joining us from texas. they got the wind and only if some of the folks in texas could have got the rain from tropical storm lee. it's not technically tropical storm anymore, but still a rain maker. it prompted a flash flood emergency in mississippi and flood watches as far as new england where it's very wet. and they could pick up six or

more inches of rain today or tomorrow, and that could mean more scenes like this. this is jefferson parish just south of new orleans after 11 inches of rain made worst by a title surge from the south. my colleague, ed lavanders is there. >> reporter: they are hoping in the coming hours the winds will begin to shift instead of pushing towards the north, and they will push back towards the south. what will it mean by the area that has seen floodwaters creep in through the last couple days. they will give the floodwaters a chance to recede and go back into the canals and waterways. for now the winds have been pushing the water out of the canals and into the communities. you see several hundred homes that have water on the doorstep and on the brink of going in and

having many homes take on water. there has been a handful of homes that have gotten water in them so far, but there's a frantic effort going on to battle back and push back the floodwaters as long as possible as they wait for the winds to shift. they are using sandbags and makeshift levees. of course folks around here are very much used to this, but they know it's a struggle and a fight every time this happens. it's also a costly fight. jefferson parish spending more than $200,000 to fight back the floodwaters. ted? >> thank you, ed. reynolds wolf is making his way through central mississippi at this hour. we have him on the phone. tell us what you expect to see. >> what we are seeing so far is we're making our way south of jackson, and there is one community where we had 28 families that were reportedly

evacuated by the local fire department due to a flash flood. flash flooding is plain and simple, the waters rise in a flash and move out quickly. there's a good chance by the time we show up the waters have receded but still leave a great deal of damage. the families have been evacuated. there's a chance they may be allowed back to their homes by this afternoon and perhaps later this evening or perhaps tomorrow. but still there has been the possibility of more rainfall and we may see more episodes of flash flooding. and perhaps into alabama and later today and tonight, perhaps into georgia and in tennessee and the carolinas. as you make your way north from the gulf coast up towards jackson, the rain is intermittent at best. and as the system pulls away, the rain should be less of a threat as well as the flash flooding. >> ted?

>> thank you, and jacqui jeras is watching the fires and the floods. let's start in the southeast. how much rain do you expect ahead for us? >> we're talking a about 4 to 8 inches out there, ted. the rain is pulling out of mississippi and now heavy across alabama and georgia. i think that's where the worst of it will be and also one of the great concerns is it moves into the southern appellations, you get the terrain and elevation. the rain comes down heavier and you worry about the threat of mudslides. we're tracking tornados, too. we have the outer bands moving through the panhandle. you can see the tornado watches in effect. the first one until 4:00 local time, and the second one which includes the metro atlanta area, and those could have weak spots. be aware that these things do happen with the tropical systems. now the flood watches and warnings are stretched all

through the southeast and through the appellations and through the mid-atlantic and even into the northeast. we have the cold front which is impacting the northeast, and we will see the remanence of lee up the coast. this will be with us all week long. how much rain? let's talk more specifically. our computer model forecast showing there's the heaviest of it. alabama into tennessee. pushing up into the virginias and then into the northeast, and the worst of it staying into the interior as well. this is a holiday. a lot of people trying to travel. we have problems as a result of that. detroit, 45 minute arrival delays, and san francisco, 50 minutes, and we are also keeping an eye on hurricane katia, a cat 2 storm right now. max winds around 110 miles per hour. the latest forecast keep it away from the u.s., so at least we can breathe a little bit easier at this point on that one. >> thank you for the good news.

see the podium there live, and we will take a closer look at rising unemployment among african-americans, and who is responsible for turning it around. introducing the schwab mobile app. it's schwab at your fingertips wherever, whenever you want. one log in lets you monitor all of your balances

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august unemployment numbers by race among whites the rate actually dropped to 8% last month. hispanic unemployment didn't change at 11.3%, but for african-americans the jobless rate jumped up to 16.7%. and maxine waters has this message for the president and his jobs speech for later this week. >> the president must be bold. i agree that he must have a jobs program. he must create jobs. i am talking about a program of a trillion dollars or more. we have got to put americans to work. that's the only way to revitalize the economy. when people work and earn money they spend the money and that's what gets the economy up and going. i don't think it could shrink

from the threats of the right. i don't think you can have a program that simply gives more tax breaks to the people that got us to the trouble in the first place. >> the president has gotten a lot of criticism for the troubling job numbers, especially in the african-american community. let's bring in ryan mac, the president of optimum capital management. is this the president's fault? >> well, i definitely would not lay the blame at the foot of the president. the president cannot legislate activity. you found $36 billion for bell grants, but you can't make somebody go to college. you can't have somebody who is out of work to force them to go down to the community college and get training to go back to work. what i would ask individuals like maxine waters is,

essentially she has been in office for over 30 years, and unemployment has been a problem and what has she done on the local level that her constituents are getting back to work? this is not a obama phenomenon. and maybe obama should as an advocate, i am always trying to push a president and make sure he is more accountable, but never trying to hold the president more accountable than myself. and we have things we tried to force but we still spend money forcively. and we have job training programs, and lots of things in terms of stimulus funds. individuals complained about the lack of stimulus funds that go to various businesses. again, a lot of minority businesses were not in the

position to even receive various stimulus funds. you cannot put that on the blame of the field of the president when we have to get our own houses in order to make sure that he can assist us better. again, i am not against holding accountability, but what about ourselves and making sure we're being held accountable. >> were you surprised by the high unemployment numbers that just came out? >> i was a little bit shocked somewhat. look at black males. they have an unemployment of 18%. and black males essentially have six times the level of incarceration rate. if we look at the current recession rate, we have seen construction is at a low. and if they have a felony, they are not able to get other jobs, and they can get into construction. we do a lot of work in the community to try and get the construction jobs, and black youth right now, 39%, and it

ticked up almost five to 44%, so we have a lot of different areas where individuals are finding themselves in harder positions because inbread problems, under education, and other things, and we have to hold ourselves accountable as well. >> one quick thing you would do if you were in charge in terms of jobs? >> well, first of all we have to make sure that our businesses are reaching out to other communities more effectively and we improve our own credit scores and learn how to read, and foreclosure affected african-american communities, and make sure let's come together as a community, and sometimes we're so busy competing against each other instead of completing each other.

>> thank you for your time. jobs and the economy are the focus right now for president obama while vice president joe biden is in cincinnati. the president is about to deliver his annual labor day speech in detroit. this speech is expected to be a little bit of a preview of his jobs speech later this week. and let's go to downtown detroit to jessica. detroit, the location here obviously key on labor day. >> reporter: hi, ted. you were talking about the jobs numbers and this city suffering worst than most. unemployment here is at -- well, in michigan it's at 10.9%, but in detroit it's almost at 16%. over 50% are among the long-term unemployed. why does that matter in this is

a state that the president won by 17 points. and now his approval rating in the state is at 34%. those are bismol numbers, ted. he has to get the numbers up if he hopes to win re-election. we will see the president here not just today but a lot in the next year as he campaigns for re-election. >> any hint on what he will talk about today and specifically if there will be any sneak peek into what he will deliver on thursday in terms of his plan? >> in terms of the plan we will hear him talk about the fact that he will press for measures that had bipartisan support in the past. this is a big theme for the white house, the kinds of initiatives he is proposing to increase job employment in this country, and they have had the support of republicans previously so should again. i know that we will have him talk about the importance of having a strong middle class for economic growth. that's a message that will both

resonate with this strong union crowd, but also cannot be criticized by interest business more broadly. we will hear him call on congress to act. given the toxic environment in watches, there is frustration that not a lot is getting done, and we will hear the president push today and throughout the week for congress to take responsibility and act, and on the other side of the hill they will blame the white house, and it's a big back and forth that we are getting a lot of, ted. >> absolutely. thank you, jessica, live in detroit waiting for the president. we are waiting for president obama to deliver his annual day labor day speech. you look at the podium there where he is expected to take the stage at any moment. we will take you live to detroit to listen to the president. stay with us. he's here. nice wheels. oh, thanks. keeps me young.

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it is 21 minutes past the hour. here are some of the top stories we're keeping an eye on. we're lookinging at pictures from detroit where obama is expected to speak any moment now. he will address a local labor council on jobs. his address is seen as a precursor to his highly anticipated jobs speech on thursday. he will take the president's speech live in just a minute. united states postal service may be close to default. the agency will not be able to pay a $5.5 billion payment to a retirie health care trust fund due this month. the postal officials assure us,

if it defaults payroll and payments will not be disrupted. president obama is not the only one talking about jobs today. gop candidates are canvassing the country at a number of labor day events. a handful of the hopefuls are in columbia south carolina. mitt romney, michele bachmann and herman cain and newt gingrich is going head to head. and then rick perry is returning instead to texas to deal with the wildfires but may participate remotely. be sure and join our john king for coverage of the presidential freedom forum in south carolina. we will bring it to you live starting at 3:00 p.m. eastern. we are awaiting president

obama's annual labor day speech in detroit. this is a live picture from the podium in detroit where he is expected to speak any moment. we will take you there next when we come back. my name's jeff. i'm a dad, coach, and i was a longtime smoker. in my heart i knew for the longest time that did not want to be a smoker. and the fact that i failed before. i think i was discouraged for a very long time. ♪ knowing that i could smoke during the first week was really important to me. [ male announcer ] chantix is a non-nicotine pill proven to help people quit smoking.

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and we're waiting the president to take the stage in detroit, michigan. we just saw the labor secretary addressing the crowd there. and now we are hearing the announcement the president is about to take the stage. we're expecting the president to hint a little bit about what he will talk about on thursday in terms of his job proposal. likely we won't get any details, but clearly the issue of jobs, etc., will continue to be at the forefront of whatever he does talk about. now, we are getting another introduction there, but we will take the president as soon as he takes the stage. moving on to something else, and switching gears a little bit quickly while we wait for the president. adderall, a drug becoming more

and more popular against college students even though they don't have add. doctors warn the drugs can be dangerous. elizabeth cohen reports. >> reporter: jerry didn't have add but does take adderall, a prescription drug he gets from a friend. so what is going on in your head without adderall? >> on youtube, facebook, and -- >> how does it change you? >> driven. focused on nothing else. it will be out and will be good. >> reporter: jared is feeling good as he studies all night and into the morning right up until he leaves for class. >> i feel very prepared. i have a lot of formulas memorized and a lot of stuff that i crammed for, and i think that i am going to rock this test out. >> reporter: jared says lots of

his friends take adderall like he did. a study at the university of kentucky say half of seniors use stimulants, and it's popping up on mtv. >> i have been up all night reading. >> how much adderall you have had today? a lot. doesn't matter. >> reporter: this has the doctors worried. >> the short term, those kind of stimulant medications feel good, and the in the long run, there are significant problems, both in terms of thinking and mood problems. >> adderall can be addictive, and cause seizures and aggressive behavior, and jared said he has been taking it for two years and is fine and doesn't feel he is doing anything wrong. >> reporter: it appears you are breaking the law by doing this. >> the law is there, and i consider it an unwritten rule. it's just accepted. >> reporter: college students

don't think adderall is a big deal, and in a survey they said they considered adderall and amphetamine as dangerous as an energy drink. back to you. >> visit cnn.com/health for more stories. we're waiting for president obama to deliver his labor day speech in detroit. this is a live picture from detroit where he is spec expected to take the podium from detroit. [ woman ] jogging stroller. you've been stuck in the garage while i took refuge from the pollen that made me sneeze. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. so lily and i are back on the road again. with zyrtec® i can love the air®.

and the president is taking the stage in detroit. let's listen in. >> oh, this is -- this is a -- [ crowd chanting ] >> thank you. thank you. thank you, everybody. it is good to -- thank you, everybody.

thank you. thank you. thank you. [ crowd chanting ] >> thank you, everybody. all right. i can tell i kinds of got you fired up. thank you for that introduction. thank you all for having me. it is good to be back in detroit. i am glad that i was able to bring a friend, a proud daughter of the teamsters.

your secretary of labor, hilda solese in the house. we are thrilled to be joined by so many other friends. i want to acknowledge two of the finest senators in the country, carl levin and debby statten are in the house. outstanding members of the congressional delegation, john dingam, and john conners, and sandy levin and gary peters and hanson clark. the president of the metropolitan of detroit central labor counsel, and our host, shawn draw williams. and afl-cio president, rich trumka. and mark gaffney. and some proud sons and

daughters of michigan representing working people here and across the country, and sui president, mary kenny, and teamsters president, mr. hoffa, and bob king. utility workers president, mike langford. we are proud of them and we're proud of your congressional delegation who are working every single day with your state and local elected officials to create jobs and economic growth and prosperity here in michigan. i am honored. we are honored to spend this day with you and your families. the working men and women of america, this day belongs to you. you deserve a little r and r. a little barbecue.

a little grilling. because you have been working hard. you have been working hard to make ends meet. you have been working hard to build a better life for your kids. you have been working hard to build a better detroit. but that's not all i am going to talk to you about. i also want to talk about the work you have been doing for decades. work to make sure that folks get an honest day's pay for an honest day's work. work to make sure that families get a fair shake. the work you have done to help build the greatest middle class the world has ever known. i am talking about the work that got us a 40-hour workweek and weekends and paid leave and

pensions and the minimum wage and health insurance and social security and medicare, the cornerstones of middle class security. that's because of your work. if you want to know who helped lay these corner stones of an american little class, you just have to look for the union label. that's the bedrock this country is built on. hard work, responsibility, sacrifice, looking out for one another. giving everybody a shot, everybody a chance to share in america's prosperity, from the factory floor to the boardroom, that's what unions are all about. and that's something that is worth keeping in mind today. we have come through a difficult decade.

in which those values were all too often given a short trip. we have gone through a decade where wealth was volumed over work and greed was valued over responsibility and the decks were too often stacks against ordinary folks in favor of the special interests. everywhere i went while i was running for this office, i met folks who felt their economic security slipping away. men and women who were fighting harder and harder just to stay afloat. and that was even before the economic crisis hit. and that just made things even harder. so these are tough times for working americans. they are even tougher for americans who are looking for work. and a lot of them have been looking for work for a long time. a lot of folks have been looking for work for a long time here in detroit and all across michigan and across the midwest and all across the country.

so we have a lot more work to do to recover fully from this recession. but i am not satisfied just to get back to where we were before the recession. we have to fully restore the middle class in america. and america cannot have a strong growing economy without a strong growing middle class and without a strong labor movement. that's the central challenge that we face in our country today. that's at the core of why i ran for president. everything we have done, it has been thinking about you. we said working folks deserved a break. within one month much me taking office we signed into law the

biggest middle class tax cut putting more money into your pockets. we said working folks should not be taken advantage of so we passed tough financial reforms that ended the days of tax form bailout and stopped companies with ganlging you with unfair fees and fare hikes, and one responsibility, sticking up for you we set up that agency. we said if you are going to work hard all day to provide a better life for your kids, then we will make sure that those kids get the best education possible. so we helped keep teachers on the job, and we are reforming our schools and investing in community college and job training programs, and ended wasteful big aways that been the to the big banks and helped make college affordable for your

kids. we said that every family in america should have affordable, accessible health care. we said you shouldn't be discriminated against because you have a preexisting condition. we said young adults without insurance should be able to stay on their parents' plan, and we got that done for you. and here is what we also said, detroit, we said american auto workers could once again build the best cars in the world. so we stood by the auto industry. we made some tough choices that were necessary to make and succeed, and now the big three are turning a profit and hiring new workers and building the best cars in the world right here in detroit, and right here in the midwest and right here in the united states of america. i know it. i have seen it.

i have been to gm's plant, and i have been to chrysler's jefferson plant, and i have seen detroit prove the cynics and naysayers wrong. we did not just stop there. we said american workers could manufacture the best products in the world. we invested in high-tech manufacturing and invested in clean energy, and right now there's an advanced battery taking root here in michigan that barely existed before. half of the workers at one plan the in detroit were unemployed before a new battery company came to town. we're growing our exports so that more of the world buys products that are stamped with three simple words, "made in america."

so that's what we're fighting for, michigan. we're fighting for jobs with good wages and fighting for health care when you get sick and a secure retirement even if you are not rich and we are fighting for a chance to give your kids a better life than we had. that's what we're doing to restore middle class security, and rebuild the economy the american way, based on balance and fairness and the same set of rules from everybody from wall street to main street. and an economy where hard work pays off and gaming the system doesn't pay off and everybody has a shot at the american dream. that's what we're fighting for. on thursday we will layout a new way forward on jobs to grow the economy and put more americans

back to work right now. i don't want to give everything away right here, because i want you all to tune in on thursday. but i will give you just a little bit. we have got roads and bridges across this country that need rebuilding. we have private companies with the equipment and the manpower to do the building. we have more than one million unemployed construction workers ready to get dirty right now. there is work to be done and there are workers ready to do it. labors onboard and businesses onboard. we just need congress to get onboard. let's put america back to work. last year we worked together.

republicans and democrats, to pass a payroll tax cut. and because of that, this year the average family has an extra thousand dollars in their pocket because of it. but that's going to expire in a few months if we don't come together to extend it. and i think putting money back in the pockets of working families is the best way to get demand rising, because that means business is hiring and that means the government -- that means the economy is growing. so i am going to propose ways to put america back to work that both parties can agree to. because i still believe both parties can work together to solve our problems, and given the urgency of this moment, given the hardship that many people are facing, folks have got to get together. but i know we're fought going to

wait for them. we will see if congressional members will put country before party. we will give them a plan and then we will see if they want to create jobs, then put our construction workers back in america. if you want companies to succeed, open up new markets for them to sell their products. you say you are the party of tax cuts? then prove you will fight just as hard for tax cuts for middle class families as you do for oil companies and the most affluent americans. show us what you got. the time for washington games is over. the time for action is now.

no more manufactured crisis and no more games. now is not the time for the people you sent to washington to worry about their jobs, and now is the time for you to worry about your jobs. now, let me say a word about labor in particular. i know this is not going to be an easy time. i know it's not easy when there are some folks that had their sights trained on you. after all the unions have done to build and protect the middle class, you have got people trying to claim that your responsible for the problems middle class folks are facing. you have got some republicans saying you are the ones exploiting working families. and imagine that!

now the fact is our economy is stronger when workers are getting paid good wages and good benefits. our economy is stronger when we have broad base growth and broad-based prosperity. that's what unions have always been about, shared prosperity. i was on the plane and flying over here and carl levin was with me and he showed me a speech harry truman gave on labor day 60 years ago right here in detroit. 63 years ago. and just to show that things have not changed much, he talked about how, you know, americans had voted in folks in congress who were not very friendly to labor. and he pointed out that some working folks and even some union members voted these folks in. and now they were learning their lesson.

and he pointed out that -- i am quoting here, the gains of labor were not accomplished at the expense of the rest of the nation. labor's gains contributed to the nation's general prosperity. what was true back in 1948 is true in 2011. when working families are doing well, when they are getting a decent wage and getting decent benefits, that means they are good customers for business. that means they can buy the cars that you build. that means that you can buy the food from the farmers. that means you can buy from silicon valley that you are creating prosperity when you share in prosperity.

so when i hear some of the folks trying to take collective bargaining rights away, trying to pass so-called right to work laws for private sector workers, they really mean the right to work for less and less and less. when i hear some of the talk, i know this is not about economics. this is about politics. and i want everybody here to know as long as i am in the white house, i am going to stand up for collective bargaining. [ crowd chanting ] that's why we reversed harmful decisions that were designed to undermined those rights and we

passed the fair pay act to stop discrimination, and people are fulfilling their responsibilities of those that clock in each day that they are actually safe on the job. and we're going to keep at it. because having a voice on the job and a chance to organize and a chance to negotiate for a fair day's pay after a hard day's work, that's the right of every man and woman in america, not just the ceo in the corner office, but also the janitor that cleans that office after the ceo goes home. everybody has got the same right. the same right. [ applause ] and that's true for public employees as well. look, the recession had a terrible effect on state and local budgets. we all understand that. unions have recognized that. they've already made tough

concessions. in the private sector. we live in a more competitive global economy. so unions like the uaw understand the workers have to work with management to innovate to sell our product around the world. we understand that the world is changing. unions understand that the world is changing. unions understand they need to help drive the change whether on the factory floor or in the classroom or in the government office. but what unions also know is that the values at the core of the union movement, those don't change. those are the values that have made this country great. that's what the folks trying to undermine your rights don't understand. when union workers agree to pay freezes and pay cuts, they're not doing it just to keep their job, they're doing it so that their fellow workers, their fellow americans can keep their jobs.

[ applause ] when teachers agree to reforms in how schools are run at the same time that they're digging into their pockets to buy school supplies for thas kids, they do so because they believe every child can learn. they do it because they know something that those who seek to divide us don't understand. we are all in this together. that's why those crowds came out to support you in madison and in columbus. we are one nation. we are one people. we will rise and we will fall together. [ applause ] anyone who doesn't believe it should come here to detroit. it's like the commercial says. this is a city that's been to heck and back. and while there are a lot of challenges here, i see a city that's coming back.

you ask somebody here if times are tough, they'll say yeah, it's tough, but we're tougher. look at what we're doing to overcome. we're going to rebuild and reinvent and redefine what it means to live in this great city. look at our parents who catch the first bus to work and our students who stay up late to earn a degree. look at our workers on the line in ham tram ak and jefferson. look at the artists revamping our city and our young people thinking up new ways to make a difference that we never dreamed of. look how we look out for one another. that's why we chose detroit as one of the cities that we're helping revitalize in our strong cities, strong communities initiative. [ applause ] we're teaming up with everybody, mayors, local officials, you name it.

boosting economic development, rebuilding your communities the best way, which is a way that involves you. because despite all that's changed here, and all the work that lies ahead, this is still a city where men clocked in the factories, this is the city that built the greatest middle class the world has ever known. this is the city where women rolled up their sleeves and helped build an arsenal for democracy to free the world. this is a city where the great american industry has come back to life and the industries of tomorrow are taking root. this is a city where people, brave and bold, courageous and clever, are dreaming up ways to prove the skeptics wrong and write the next proud chapter in our history. [ applause ] that's why i wanted to be here with you today. because for every cynic and every naysayer running around talking about how our best days are behind us, for everybody who keeps going around saying no, we

can't, for everybody who can always find a reason why we can't rebuild america, i need americans every day who, in the face of impossible odds, they've got a different belief. they believe we can. you believe we can. yes, times are tough. but we've been through tough times before. i don't know about you, but i'm not scared of tough times. i'm not scared of tough times because i know we're going to be all marching together and walking together and working together and rebuilding together and i know we don't quit. [ applause ] i know we don't give up our dreams and settle for something less. we roll up our sleeves and we remember a fundamental truth of our history. we are strong when we are

united. we're firing all cylinders. the union movement is going to be at the center of it. and if all of you are committed to making sure that the person standing nx to you and their kids and their grandkids, that everybody in the city and everybody in this country can unleash his or her potential, if you work hard and play by the rules, you will get a fair shake and get a fair shot. that's the country i want for my kids. that's the country you want for your kids. that's the country we're going to build together. thank you very much. detroit, god bless you. god bless the united states of america. [ applause ] the president of the united states finishing up his annual labor day address in detroit. he talked about his plan a little bit that he plans to unvam on thursday, saying that his ideas, proposals will contain things that both parties can agree to. then he went on to say, we're

not going to wait for them. he talked about construction jobs, roads and bridges need to be rebuilt. he also said the time for washington games is over. he wants the middle class tax cut extended and he was very pro-union during this speech. multiple times talking about strength of unions, talked about the crowds that came out in madison, wisconsin protesting the collective bargaining law there that restricted collective bargaining rights in wisconsin. he said at one point as long as i'm in the white house i'll stand up for collective bargaining. we'll get more on thursday and get specifics. when he unveils the plan in front of a joint session of congress. stay with cnn for our freedom forum in south carolina hosted by south carolina senator jim demint. we'll get a little bit of the other side. john king will bring it to you live 3:00 eastern time. we'll take a quick break. we'll be right back. the next i'm saying...

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we just heard the president in detroit talking about jobs. in app hour we'll hear from the other side. if you are running for the president, the election is barely 14 months away then labor day is not a day off. one hour from now, gop contenders, herman cain, michele bachmann and mitt romney will take in the palmetto freedom

forum hosted by senator demint. he rick perry decided to rush home to deal with the wildfires in his home state instead. you can see the forum on cnn. our deputy director paul steinhauser joins us from columbia, the palmetto state capital to set the stage. paul, duty trumps politics. obviously, people get that. we also heard the governor may take part via or broadband. what's the latest on his participation? >> reporter: the campaign was trying to see if he could take part in texas. we were told by organizers of the event that that won't be happening. governor perry was here in south carolina last night and he had an event this morning in conway, south carolina. a town hall that was also scheduled. but after that, he headed back to texas to deal with those raging wildfires. take a listen to what he said at the earlier event this morning. >> actually, we don't have that

sound. he was talking about praying for rain in texas. this is an important forum. but as you mentioned, ted, while this is very important, politics is trumped, of course, by conditions when residents in your home state could be in danger of catastrophe. a fire like that. >> absolutely. >> reporter: rick perry not taking part in this forum. >> and a forum and a debate, two different things. technically, they're not supposed to attack each other. what do you expect to hear today? >> reporter: i saw senator demint this morning at breakfast. he was telling me about the format. you'll see the five remaining candidates on stage at the top. but then one at a time. each candidates will give 20 minutes of questioning. one of the reasons this is important, two reasons, ted. first of all, this is south carolina, a very important state. let's talk about senator demint, the two-term republican from here in south carolina. ted, he is very influential, very popular among tea party --

>> looks like we lost paul there. you can look forward to the beginning of the forum at the top of the hour. you can see it live here. john king anchoring our coverage on cnn at the top of the hour. it is not a tropical storm anymore. it's not even technically tropical, but what's left of lee is not to be taken lightly. more than a day after coming ashore in louisiana, it's still a ferocious rainmaker and flash flood watches and warnings are in effect from mississippi to maine. parts of the southeast could pick up six or more inches of rain tomorrow and today, which could mean more scenes like these. this is jefferson pair rish south of new orleans after 11 inches of rain made worse by a tidal surge from the south. one person was killed in mississippi when floodwaters washed away a vehicle. a texas wildfire claimed the lives of a mother and her 18 mond old child. flames engulfed their mobile home in the eastern part of the

state. that blaze was one of 35 fires burning across texas. the biggest one is near austin. it has destroyed 300 homes and threatened about a thousand others. about 5,000 people have been evacuated. this has been the worst fire season in texas history, three and a half million acres have burned since november. newly released 9/11 video surfaced nearly ten years after the attacks took place. this video shows smoke from united airlines flight 93, which crashed near shanksville, pennsylvania. it was made by a man who lived about two and a half miles away. stay with cnn all week for special coverage leading up to the tenth anniversary of 9/11. just moments ago, president obama wrapped up his annual labor day speech in detroit. in remarks you saw on cnn a few moments ago, he talked about economic policies. he told the crowd his controversial decision to bail out gm and chrysler worked.

>> got roads and bridges across this country that need rebuilding. we've got private companies with the equipment and the manpower to do the building. we've got more than one million unemployed construction workers ready to get dirty right now. there is work to be done and there are workers ready to do it. laborers on board, business on board. we just need to get congress on board. let's put america back to work. >> today's speech was a bit of a preview for the jobs speech before congress on thursday. up next, why one police chief is slamming the brakes on traffic tickets. that's right. he's cut citations by 84%. stay with us. we'll have that coming up. exclusive to the military. and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military

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-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com be honest. if you ever got a speeding ticket, you couldn't believe maybe you were driving just over the speed limit on a sunny day. the only person on the road. well, one small city just north of sacramento california hears you. roseville police think traffic citations are overused. they have cut the number of traffic citations by 84%. to focus on what they call. common sense to ensure long-term public safety. traffic accidents have dropped 8% in the last seven months. thank you for your time, chief. the first question, do you have

time to talk to my local police chief? this sounds great. >> yeah, thank you for having me. >> what are you trying to accomplish here? >> well, i mean, our job is to improve the quality of life in our city. and traffic one of those issues. so our officers and staff are tasked with problem solving. the only solution to the problem of traffic is not just traffic citations. we have many ways to solve that working with traffic engineers doing safety campaigns in the schools and with parents. so any number of things that officers have the opportunity to be innovative with. >> have you changed any of the actual rules of traffic and are you letting things go? officers see some speed by, are they still pulling them over? >> no. we still write ticket. when you deserve a ticket, you get a ticket. you know, when you are innovative, that takes you away from just writing tickets. for example, if there's illegal

u-turns being done, can we work with traffic engineers to raise center medians say that permanently solves the problem without having an officer sitting on an intersection or stretch of street to solve that. we're focused on solving the actual problem which is people being injured, cars being damaged, property being damaged as opposed to how many traffic citation an officer writes every day. >> this is freeing up your fers to go and do other things. what are they doing now that they weren't able to do because they were writing tickets. they do all sorts of things. they've been giving more school present tases. we just had a traffic issue where semi trucks were driving down the other day. one of the things besides enforcement, we go to the businesses that the semi trucks might be going to and start talking to them to solve the problem, get them better routes to that business that are legal routes and also smaller trucks. so we don't have cars run into

or people injured by driving down a small residential street. >> it seems to me that you guys set up speed traps to try to catch people speeding so you can make money to offset what's happening across the country, in terms of municipalities. are you getting heat from city council? you're not getting cash from writing citations. >> i don't want the officers thinking about money. their focus has to be on problem solving. our city council is their concern also. they're concerned about the safety in our city and the city manager, the same thing. i haven't received one single bit of heat about finances. i don't know how much money we will have not brought in that we would have brought in last year either. that's not our concern. >> are you getting any interest from other cities, people interested in doing the same thing? a lot of the members of the public would be very interested in other cities doing this. any feedback in. >> well, since the story has

been running, i've been getting a little bit of feedback. most of it is positive. especially in our town. people like the fact that the traffic accidents have gone down 8%, that the officers are able to be innovative and find new and better and long-term ways to solving the traffic issues we have in our city. it's been pretty positive all the way around. all right. police chief daniel hahn. lead foots make your way out west. you may not get a ticket. thanks, chief, appreciate it. smoking on public property is legal, but that's not the case for a growing number of college kids at public skoomcho. we'll explain in a couple of minutes why. stay with us.

it's a growing movement. catching on around public universities. smoke-free campuses. the university of kentucky is just one of more than 500 college campuses that have gone 100% tobacco-free. that's pretty significant when you consider these numbers. according to the cdc, cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventible deaths in the united states. we're talking about one in five deaths each year. take a look at this map from the cdc. you can see kentucky had one of the highest smoking rates at 25.6%. these rates are based on the most current numbers from 2009. that was the same year the university of kentucky turned smoke-free. since then an increasing number of students and faculty have reached out for help. ellen hahn is the director of the university of kentucky tobacco-free policy.

she joins us via skype. since your university went smoke-free, a lot of college campuses have jumped on the bandwagon. how successful has the program been? >> good afternoon ted. it's been actually really successful. it's been a journey and it's certainly a process and we're continuing to work hard. it's been really successful. we've had buy-ins from all across campus. our board of trustees voted to be tobacco-free prior to the time that we went in november of 2008. the medical center went and then the whole campus went in november of 2009. >> so there's not a spot that you can smoke every 100 yards or so? you have just eliminated smoking from the entire campus. how do you police it? >> well, it's a great question. we've created a climate, an environment in which compliance is just accepted. we still have hotspots where

people smoke and use tobacco products. but by and large, we've really had amazing success. what we've learned is if you go tobacco-free, you need to have a comprehensive policy that covers all parts of your campus. otherwise, it's too confusing for people. so we don't have smoking areas. you have to go off campus to use tobacco. >> what about people that just are visiting the campus? >> same applies. everybody on our campus, whether they're faculty, staff, student, vendors, contractors, visitors, parents, they're all expected to comply with our policy. >> people would say maybe, this is a public university, there should be some area some public area for me to smoke. i'm a smoker. and you're discriminating against my right to smoke if i attend your university or even work at your university. >> well, look, ted, this is a public health problem. as you said earlier, kentucky leads the nation in tobacco use.

so we have an incredible health and economic burden. we spend over $1.7 billion a year treating sick smokers in our state. the board of trustees decided to do something courageous to change business as usual in our university and say, look, this is a public health problem, we're not discriminating against tobacco users. in fact, our whole attitude is let's help tobacco users quit as well as when you're on our campus, we provide nicotine replacement at low cost so you can maintain your cravings and feel comfortable while on the campus. >> all right. ellen hahn from the university of kentucky leading the way smoke-free campus. has been since 2009. many campuses across the country joining kentucky. thanks, ellen. appreciate your time. >> thank you. this is the worst wildfire season in texas history. what's left of tropical storm lee just made things worse. we'll have a live report coming

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president obama just wrapped up his annual labor day speech in detroit in remarks you saw here on cnn a short time ago. he gave the crowd a preview of the jobs address he'll give later this week. >> i don't want to give everything away right here. i want you all to tune in on thursday.

but i'll give you just a little bit. we've got roads and bridges across this country that need rebuilding. we've got private companies with the equipment and the manpower to do the building. we've got more than one million unemployed construction workers ready to get dirty right now. there is work to be done and there are workers ready to do it. laborers on board, business is on board. we just need congress to get on board. >> the president talks to a joint session of congress about jobs and the economy, of course, on thursday night. the president isn't the only one out talking jobs today. gop candidates are canvassing the country at a number of labor day events. a handful of the republican presidential hopeful rs in columbia, south carolina for the palmetto freedom forum being hosted by south carolina senator jim demint. mitt romney, michele bachmann,

newt gingrich and ron paul are all expected to go head to head in less than an hour. texas governor rick perry backed out of the forum this morning after appearing at a town hall in south carolina. perry is returning instead to texas to deal with the wildfires. but he may participate remotely. be sure to join our john king for live coverage of the forum in south carolina. we'll bring it to you all starting at 3:00 eastern time. honda is recalling nearly a million cars worldwide to fix an electrical problem and a software glitch. this affects 936,000 cars to be exact. honda says it will have to replace the master switch for the power windows to cars in its fit and cr-v lines. it's recalling cars from the cr-z software line. a bug could cause the car to if in the opposite direction. so the car may roll backwards when the transmission is in forward gear.

no injuries have been recorded because of either of these problems as of yet. two deaths are reported in texas because of the wildfires. a mother and her 18-month-old child were killed when flames overtook their mobile home in eastern texas. the biggest fire is near austin. that's where our chris welch is in the thick of it. give us the latest here. i can see the wind is still blowing. that's the major problem here pause it's pushing these fires everywhere. >> reporter: oh, absolutely. it's still blowing. it's picking up. we've got pretty strong gusts once in a while. i had to hold on to my hat a few times. we've been looking at this all day. this sky continues to look ominous. we've been seeing, this would be to the east. we're between austin and bastrop. the fires are just to the east of us. we're starting to see plumes to the west of us now. we're kind of in the middle of

several fires here. officials say there's a handful here. more than a dozen across the state right now. the two deaths that you referred to, those came from the eastern part of the state in a completely separate area of fires. this is a very, very severe drought that the state has been in. this dry season, the fire season has been going on since last november. usually it tones down in the spring when the rains come. they've been having -- they've been going through a very severe drought. conditions did not improve as they were hoping, as they were expecting. now residents are dealing with this. we've got 300 homes destroyed. we've got 5,000 people evacuated. they expect that number to go up. both of those numbers to go up after today. we're waiting more information. we'll actually be -- hope to be getting new individual crow from inside the fire zone as well this afternoon. press conference earlier today. officials urging residents to basically try and keep their hopes up and do what they can to not at the time totally give up. >> that huge plume of smoke

behind you looks like it's right on you. how far away are you right now from that fire that we see in the background? >> reporter: we're about three miles from what you're seeing there. that's really about as close as they're letting the majority of the media get. they're not letting media in or residents in. but they have let a pool crew, pool video camera, one of the networks go in, get some video. they've been going in with emergency crews. they're obviously accompanied and protected. we hope to be getting that video back this afternoon within a short period of time. but we don't know exactly when that will be back. that will be, i imagine, the best pictures that we've seen all day from the inside of the fire. >> and pictures, obviously, a lot of the folks that have been evacuated will be eager to see because 300-plus homes have been destroyed. but a lot of the people evacuated don't know whether or not their homes are still standing. >> reporter: exactly. that's what people here are

worried about. they're kind of sitting here putting their heads in their hands thinking, what are we going do? they've got their pets, they picked up their computers, the things that they could remember to grab, important documents. put it in their car and got out. they really had no time to prepare for this. some of them looked in the sky, saw a dark cloud. thought this is not necessarily a storm. i don't think this is a storm. they started to call around. after they got through to 911. 911 told them, you got to get out now. you don't have any time to waste. >> all right. chris welch, thanks for joining us live from texas where the fires continue to burn. well, every month a group of co-workers pitched in $5 for the lotto. but one man was out sick and boy, did he ever miss out. now he is suing. it is an incredible story. we'll have it for you up next. we even reward you for the time you spent there. genius. yeah, genius. you guys must have your own loyalty program, right?

well, we have something. show her, tom. huh? you should see november! oh, yeah? giving you more. now that's progressive. call or click today.

checking the headlines in other news. you may have missed. remnants of tropical storm lee are still making trouble. more than a day after coming ashore in louisiana. it has prompted a flash flood emergency in mississippi and flood watches as far north as new england where it's already very wet. president obama visited the town of patterson and wayne, new jersey yesterday where he met with residents hit by flooding spawned by last week's hurricane irene. the physician accused in michael jackson's death is seeking a delay in the upcoming trial and asking for an appeals

court to consider is he quest erg the jury or get cameras out of the courtroom. a judge denied conrad murray's initial request to is he questionster jurors. they're comparing this to the casey anthony trial and argue he won't get a fair trial if the jury is not isolated. opening statements are set for september 27th. now for the latest in the hacking scandal surrounding rupert murdoch's news international. the media mogul is selling his flagship building in london's district as investigators continue to look over their work in terms of the eavesdropping with police. the move also follows the closure of the tabloid newspaper, news of the world, staff for the sun-times and sunday times will move to another location in east london. the postal service may be close to default. the agency will not be able to pay a $5.5 billion payment to a

retiree healthcare trust fund due this month. postal officials assure us if the agency defaults, mail, payroll or statements and suppliers will not be disrupted. a congressional committee will hold a hearing about the situation tomorrow. get this. not having 15 bucks cost an ohio man $2 million. edward harriston is suing his co-workers at kraft made for allegedly denying him a share of the $99 million mega millions jackpot they won on august 5th. he claims he contributed five bucks a month to the lottery pool with his 22 co-workers, but they claimed he failed to pay up in june, july and august. harriston is suing for $2 million. in sports, college football got back in the swing of things this weekend in the pac 10 s.e.c. showdown. oregon struggled against lsu's defense most of the night and the 40-27 lsu victory has fans

wondering if the poor display by the ducks will be a recurring theme over the next few weeks. the big 12, oklahoma charged out of the gate with an impressive 47-14 victory over tulsa. another game making headlines, a high scoring battle between baylor and tcu. 50-48 upset win for baylor in the final moments of saturday's game. did china sell arms to libya during the final days of the gadhafi regime? we'll tell you about some documents that have surfaced in tripoli right after the break. stay with us. now to globe t

some intriguing documents that turned up in libya. they suggest that china may have sold arms to libya during the waning days of moammar gadhafi's rule despite a u.n. ban. ben weeder man is in tripoli. ben, you've seen the documents. what do they say? >> yes. here are the documents found by a reporter for the daily globe and mail of canada in the trash in tripoli. what it is is a trip report by a retired colonel of the libyan army who was dispatched to beijing with a long shopping list of weapons and ammunition, including 150 million bullets that the libyans wanted to buy from chinese state arms manufacturers. now, this trip took place in the middle of the july. it is not clear and the chinese are saying they did not sign any

contracts, even though they acknowledge the visit did take place. the idea was for libya to pay the chinese and the chinese would transfer the weapons to alger algeria. but as long as the money was paid, the algerians would transfer those identical weapons and types, though not the ones -- specific ones the libyans were buying from algeria to libya thereby getting around the sea embargo placed by the u.n. on libya several months ago. libyan officials, the new officials that are now in charge in tripoli say that this is going to make a big difference when it comes to handing out reconstruction contracts. they say they're not going out for chinese. ted? >> is there any indication, ben, that these documents would not be authentic? you're looking at them. is it your gut that these are the real deal? >> reporter: yes. the ntc, the transitional

national council officials have seen these documents an they say they are, in fact, the real deal. and it has sort of details that you can trace. flights from tune is to frankfort to beijing, dates and times and what not. it does appear by all accounts that this is, as they say here, the real deal. >> no indication that any weapons were actually sold by china at this point? >> reporter: relating to this specific deal, no. however, officials here in tripoli are saying that throughout the fighting, they were surprised at all the weapons that gadhafi seemed to have. the ammunition and all of its -- much of it that they were able to get their hand on, they say was brand new. still in the boxes and clearly coming from china. now, we don't know for sure whether those weapons were legitimately bought by libya before the beginning of this uprising or they were smuggled

into the country after the start of hostilities. ted? >> all right, thanks, ben weed man live for us in tripoli. checking top stories nowment there were clashes outside the trial of ousted egyptian president hosni mubarak in cairo. at least 22 people were arrested, 26 people injured, including 14 police officers. the trial resumed today after a recess of nearly three weeks. mubarak was wheeled into court on a gurney. american college student amanda knox was in court. they're trying to get an italian court to overturn her 2007 murder conviction. they said the dna evidence used to reach that verdict was inconclusive. prosecutors today asked that the judge consider admitting new evidence that could strengthen the case against knox. there's word that a senior al qaeda leader may have been arrested in pakistan. the leader is said to have been close to osama bin laden. he's suspected of directing attacks against the u.s.,europe

and australia. pakistani authorities say they made the arrest with the help of the united states. or at least with the united states' cooperation. gop hopefuls are gathering in south carolina right now getting ready for the presidential forum at the top of the hour. we'll go there live from our preview with john king after the break. stay with us. my doctor told me calcium

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candidates or most of them will begin a presidential forum in south carolina. you can watch it here live and hosting our coverage for that is john king who joins us from south carolina. and gives us a bit of a preview here.

john, as we know, rick perry no longer going to be there. good decision by him to get back to texas? >> reporter: well, you know, ted it could hurt him a bit in the sense that he's a front-runner status in south carolina. they like to say in south carolina, iowa, new hampshire, win in the field in the south carolina public primary picks republican nominees. look, he's the governor of texas. his state has a severe wildfire problem right now. it is the right call if you're the chief executive of your home state to get back in south carolina primary still more than five months away. he could have bolstered his standing here today, but his staff says your state is in trouble. you got to go home. mitt romney originally said no thank you to the invitation here. he's changed his mind. is this part of a new strategy for the campaign? >> reporter: it is part of a new strategy. in part, it's because of governor perry's energy in the field. his emergence as mitt romney's competition if not already the man ahead of romney is the

front-runner. governor romney wanted to run as a centrist candidate to avoid the ideological right, excuse the breezy necessary in south carolina this afternoon. governor perry making a big impression already in iowa, a big impression in south carolina. the romney campaign realized the dynamics had chained. they want to say, hey, we might not be a tea party favorite but we can appeal to tea party voters. romney know he has the money and the organization. it will come down to romney and one or two candidates. maybe rick perry, one or two other candidates. governor romney realizing he need to broaden his appeal. not to win all of the tea party votes. but to prove ted, he can get enough if necessary in a state like south carolina. >> all right. before we let you go quickly, sarah palin not attending there because of course she hasn't announced at all. how does her nondecision enter into this conversation? >> reporter: well, she is the subject of conversation. whether it's in iowa, where she

was over the weekend or new hampshire. she's not here for this event. anybody you talk to says if she runs, she would have a big impact. she has a secure base. if you talk to people like huntsman. he's not invited to this forum. romney's campaign strategist to a lesser degree. they would welcome sarah palin because they think it would divide the right. not a far right candidate. but everybody knows sarah palin has a active base of support. she would have an immediate impact on the race. as we talk about three debates in the next month, this big event here today, palin's decision a big factor. by the end of september, a clearer sense of who is in and who is out. because of the debates who has the momentum in the republican race. >> we'll see you at the top of the hour. join john at 3:00 eastern for live coverage of the freedom forum in south carolina hosted by south carolina senator jim did he mint. we'll bring it to you all starting at 3 p.m.

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it's labor day. one of the best times of the year to find big summer ending sales on-line at and at your local stores. where are the best places to save money today? it is today's taking the lead. according to cnn money, now is the time when retailers are stocking up on new appliances and slashing prices on older models. if you've been eyeing a refrigerator or a dishwasher, check out the sales at big box stores like home depot and sears. the holiday is known for a good time to buy gas and propane

grills for next year. there are, being, less people barbecuing in the snow. cnn money recommends logging on to retail me not.com and ace hardware.com for good deals there. seasonal items like lawnmowers, patio furniture and bathing suits are about to be taken off the store shelves. check out hay needle.com and target.com to stock up for next year or your next beach vacation. finally, you can even save money on wine with the new fall harvest. good buying opportunities on older bottles of reds, whites and roses. not up to speeds on that, brands deals.com showcases some of the best deals on the web. for the full list, including car deals, visit cnn.com/money. sonic, the first sub compact car to be built in america in decades will be competing against models from low-cost

labor market. to make that competition a reality, gm has built the most efficient and automated plant in the company's history. cnn's casey wine um reports. >> brad lende was working at a gm plant in wisconsin that was go to close in 200. so he moved his family to michigan and transferred to gm's orion plant. before he knew it, that plant shut down too and he was out of work for six months. there was a lot of uncertainty at that point. so i just had to keep my fingers crossed and hoped the leadership was making the right decision. >> one big decision, investing more than $500 million to completely retool the orion plant to do something gm hasn't done in more than two decades. produce a sub compact car in the united states. >> hatchback. sport i and aggressive design. on the exterior and interior.

fuel efficient vehicle. >> 1500 orion employees are back building the chevrolet sonic set to hit show rooms this fall. >> it's an opportunity to show off that our manufacturing system can build everything, we can make it cheap and good. >> the plant was gutted and redesigned to save half a million square feet of floor space. allowing suppliers to operate closer to the assembly line. >> just think about going in and taking out everything except for the concrete floor and the roof and then just starting over. that's essentially what we did a year and a half ago. >> energy efficiencies will also help loosen the tight profit margin among cars selling for less than $15,000. >> i think it's a calculated risk in the sense that because there's more demands for smaller vehicles. and chevrolet, in tradition never had the part foal yoe extending that far down. looking at the future, diversification away from trucks, it's an important step for them.

>> another cost savings, a controversial agreement with the united auto workers tied to the federal government's massive bailout of gm and chrysler. it's a two-tiered labor agreement permitting workers to be paid $14 to $16 an hour. about half of what gm veterans make. >> i think we all had to go through a cultural change between union and the management. >> it's a bold gamble by both the uaw and general motors. it's going to be successful. that's going to be really important for creating more jobs in america. >> but that two-tiered wage system remains controversial among some in the uaw. that very issue is on the table right now in negotiations over a new uaw contract. those talks are expected to wrap up later this month. casey wian, michigan. george w. bush granted one interview about the moments around september 11th. you don't want to miss this story. it's up next. stay with us. [ barks ]

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september 11th was a monumental day in our nation's history. it was a significant day. it was obviously, it changed my presidency. >> two planes flew into the two towers. a small plane into the north tower. >> i went from being a president that was primarily focused on domestic issues to a wartime president. something i never anticipated nor something i ever wanted to be. >> we have seen many times george w. bush's reaction in a florida classroom to news that america was under attack. but only now, ten years later, as a former u.s. president revealed in intimate detail how

events unfolded that day. he knew before entering the school that a plane had hit the world trade center. >> first i thought it was a light aircraft. and my reaction was, man, either the weather was bad or something extraordinary happened to the pilot. >> but then the second plane hit. >> in the back of the classroom there's a full press corps and staffers and some adults. i'm intently listening to the lesson. >> these words that fascinate. get ready. >> and i felt a presence behind me. andy carr's massachusetts accent was whispering in my ear, a second plane has hit the second

tower. america is under attack. >> the unprecedented interview was secured by journalists and documentarian. >> we wanted to give the president a chance to speak to those horrific days in september. you know, days that changed his presidencies and we wanted him to do it in a manner that was personal, that was in-depth and that would speak to those events perhaps in a way we haven't heard before. they agreed to the format, they agreed to the manner in which we would conduct the interview. that would be just one-on-one. the president sitting right across from me and we would talk for almost five hours over the course of two days. >> what struck you most about what he said? >> what struck me the most was that during those hours, the days of 9/11, the president was overwhelmed by the events, overwhelmed in the sense that, certainly in the first few hours

of september 11th. they didn't really know who the enemy was. they didn't know if there were more attacks about to happen. he spoke about the fact that he was journeying through the fog of war. which i thought was a very interesting and powerful thing for a president to speak about. >> do you think he remains troubled by that period? >> we could see in the interview that the president was very taken by the events of that day. obviously, it was a day that will forever be the center from which his presidency changed. he was very emotional. he talked a few times about decisions that he had to make. remember, now, he's not in washington. he's literally flying across the country. they are literally running from an unknown enemy and they are having to make decisions at 40,000 feet and in air force one. he talked about some of the decisions he had to make, for example, ordering the air force to shoot down commercial planes that had not responded to the

faa demand to land. those were decisions that he had to make and they troubled him then and i think they still trouble him now. he talked about the fact that when flight 93 went down in the fields of pennsylvania. remember, now, he's still on air force one and the communication was not as good as it was supposed to have been. he talked about that they weren't sure if that plane had gone down because of his order to shoot down commercial planes. >> the other key decision that day amounted to what has been a lingering war on terror. >> make no mistake. the united states will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts. >> that culminated on may 2nd this year with the death of osama bin laden. coincidentally, it came as schnall was coming to interview

the president who has never commented on the assassination. >> he was sitting at a restaurant in dallas when the secret service told him that president obama wanted to speak to him. he then learned about the assassination. he said to us, certainly that there was no sense of jubilation, certainly no sense of happiness. if anything, he felt that finally there was a sense of closure. >> do you get the sense that the former president, george w. bush,has any regrets? >> you know, it's an interesting question. we often ask the people that we're interviewing, you know, is there anything you would do again? is there anything that you regret? he kind of looked at me and said, i hate that dam n question. he did not ever use the word regret. he did not ever say that he would have done anything differently. he did s i