zain verjee, cnn, london. tony harris is back tomorrow. "cnn newsroom" continues right now with kyra phillips. kyra? >> drew, thanks. we're pushing forward. town hall meets talk radio. president obama hits the airwaves pitching health care reform to a conservative audience. it happens in minutes and you'll hear it live right here in the "cnn newsroom." nobody says democracy is easy. but don't complain to afghans about touch screens and butterfly ballots. a country at war holds a historic election. and the outrage begins over scotland's release of the only man convicted in the lockerbie bombing of 1988. he's gone home, to libya, to die. hello, everyone, i'm kyra phillips, live at the cnn world headquarters in atlanta. you're live in the "cnn you're live in the "cnn newsroom." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com all week long, president obama's kept a pretty low

profile in the health care fight, but that's been to change. minutes from now he'll join conservative radio talk show host, michael smerconish, for a call-in forum live from the white house. you'll see it right here in the "cnn newsroom." and later in the hour -- house speaker, nancy pelosi, speaks out from san francisco, as the president did yesterday by phone. pelosi is reaching out to religious leaders to try and push forward on reform. next hour, finds mr. obama at democratic party headquarters for a virtual town hall sponsored by party activists. you know it's a make-or-break month when the white house opens its doors to talk radio. cnn's suzanne malveaux sets the stage for us now. now, suzanne, how did this come about, and how unusual is this? >> reporter: well, it's interesting, because obviously president obama is really trying to reach out to the critics. he's gone to the town hall meetings. they've been very friendly. the questions have not really been all that provocative. he's even asked for some tough questions and he hasn't gotten it over the last couple of weeks, so what he's trying to do

essentially is he's throwing himself right in the lion's den if you well to take on these critics were, he'll be in the talk radio format, the host, michael smerconish, is going to open up the lines basically for his listeners to ask the president questions, some tough questions. it should be very fascinating to hear what they have to say. one reason, robert gibbs says, he is doing this is because this is a very popular talk show, and he wants to knock down what they believe is misinformation. the kinds of false stories that are coming out of the health care reform that he wants to talk about, and he wants to address. >> and suzanne -- suzanne, apparently right now, we're looking at live pictures. the president and smerconish just sat down at the mikes, we're being told that he's asking the president to autograph a picture for smerconish's daughter, i guess, 11-year-old daughter. oh, son. okay, 11-year-old son. so, all right, he's asking the president -- >> reporter: he's got one fan. he's got one fan in the group.

>> let's hope he's objective. if he's asking for autographed pictures, already, i want to make sure it's a well-balanced discussion. >> reporter: we do know smerconish is based out of philadelphia, and he did support and endorse obama as a candidate, so this is somebody who, yes, has been critical, but he is also supported him. so, it might not be necessarily the super critics, the kinds of people, quite frankly, that you see with the signs that compare him to hitler and some of the other things that we've seen on the far right and some of those other more extreme elements. but certainly this is somebody who's going to go ahead and try to ask some tough questions. >> well, we're going to go ahead and listen in. thanks, suzanne. >> reporter: sure. >> then we can focus on legitimate debate. >> sure. i'm all about having the dialogue. >> all right. >> i don't think if the earpiece is necessary, because i know they'll play in the room those calls. >> i know they'll play them. if i can't hear the first one well, i'll put the earpiece in,

okay? >> i'll ask you a question or two just to get things good. >> sounds good. my understanding is we'll do ten minutes on the front end -- >> mix it up a little bit. >> sounds fine. >> they've been awfully patient. >> this is your show. >> also it's sort of a surreal environment for a guy like me to be seated here -- >> me, too. >> -- in this room. understanding the history and what has taken place. >> i don't know if you guys have had a chance to take a tour, but you should after you get packed up. >> i think i'll need to put it all together later and sort of decompress what has gone on here. >> take a look at the west wing. you can go up on the first floor, you know, famous pictures of, you know, that painting of kennedy where he's looking down and, you know, it -- it gives you a real sense of history. we're doing a few repairs over on the walkway, the colonnade to the west wing, and you walk along the rose garden and you can see the ramp on the end built by fdr and -- >> have you settled in? has it finally hit you, the

gig's yours? >> you know, the truth is that you're moving so -- you basically have a lot of work in front of you. and so the good thing is the family settled in quicker than i expected. the staff here is wonderful. and they made michelle and the girls really feel at home. and the girls' adjustment to school was better than i expected. so, they're gone this week. but they seem to be doing great. >> my boys wanted me to ask you. they saw the movie "national treasure ii" and they know you've been provided the book of secrets. >> they have. >> and they wanted to know which of the secrets most impressed you. >> i know, but if i told you, i'd have to kill you. >> i get the impression you've seen the movie, too. >> absolutely. i don't want you messing with the resolute desk with all the gizmos and gadgets. >> a big show open coming in a few minutes. hopefully it won't be too loud for you. >> how are you? is this your producer?

>> yes, sir. >> how are you? nice to see you. >> thank you. nice to be here. ♪ >> broadcasting from the cradle of liberty, this is "the michael smerconish program!" . welcome back to the program, i'm michael smerconish, what an honor for me to say i'm live at the white house and i'm joined by the president of the united states. mr. president, what an honor for me, and thank you, sir, for this privilege, and thank you for coming back to my radio program. >> michael, it's great to be on the show again. every time we've been on, it's been a great time. so, i appreciate the opportunity. >> folks are stacked up, as you might imagine. they're anxious to pose questions about health care to the president of the united states, more than 5,000 e-mail suggestions have flowed through my website in just the last 24 hours alone. if it's all right, i'll start by posing a couple of questions, and some of the things that i continue to hear from folks, and

we'll welcome phone callers as well. allow me, sir, to begin with this -- did secretary sebelius misspeak last weekend? you know, a great deal's been made as to what she said about the so-called public option. >> she really didn't misspeak. the surprising thing is she'd been saying this all along. she said the same thing a month ago. and let me just describe what the issue is here. we have consistently talked about the need for health care reform, because family premiums are going up three times faster than inflation and wages. the costs of medicare and medicaid will bankrupt this country if we don't reduce the cost inflation of health care. you got families who can't get health care because of pre-existing conditions, or they bump up against some lifetime cap if a family member gets really ill. so, what we've said is there are a number of components of health care. one is for people who already have health insurance, they can keep their health insurance, but we're going to have some consumer protections to regulate

you on insurers operate, for example, they can't prohibit people from getting health insurance because of a pre-existing condition, they can't ha have lifetime caps or yearly caps that prevent people from getting the care that they need. we're also going for people who don't have health insurance to set up a system, similar to what congress has, where you can buy into a bigger pool, get better rates, have better protections around you. you would be buying that insurance from private insurers, but one of the options we talked about was a public option, where they wouldn't be a profit motive involved, it would be not for profit. and that public option would give you affordable health insurance. now, what we've said is we think that's a good idea. but we haven't said that that's the only aspect of health insurance. and what she essentially said is was that all these other insurance reforms are just as important as the public option. the press got a little excited, and some folks on the left got a little excited about this.

our position hasn't changed. we think that the key is cost control, competition, making sure that people have good, quality options. if we're able to achieve that, that's the end that we're seeking. and the means, you know, we can have some good arguments about what the best way to achieve it is, but we've got to change, because the status quo is unacceptable. >> mr. president, that's a mindset among many folks in my audience who say the end game is all about single payer. it's a public option or it's a cooperative. and, sir, you know that there's a perception out there that you want it all. you want to be in the banks. you want to be in the automotive industry, and now you want to be in health care. can you address that mindset? >> i absolutely can. first of all, look, the intervention in the banks wasn't started by me. it was started by a conservative republican administration, and rightly so, because our banks were on the verge of meltdown. the only thing that we've done is said, let's put in place some financial regulations to make sure this doesn't happen again. the auto interventions weren't

started by me. they were started by a conservative republican administration. the only thing that we did was rather than just write gm and chrysler a blank check, we said you know what, if you're going to get any more taxpayer money, you've got to be accountable. they went through a record bankruptcy, and now gm for the first time is actually hiring folks back. so, i know that there's this perception that somehow we have engaged in these extraordinary interventions. part of it had to do with the worst financial crisis in history, and the fact that both the auto bailout and the bank bailout were started under a previous, conservative republican administration, indicates the fact that this wasn't ideological. this was a matter of necessity. now, as far as health care goes, i've consistently said i would love the private marketplace to be handling this without any government intervention. the problem is it's not working. what we're seeing is about 14,000 folks lose their health insurance every single day. we are seeing health care

inflation go up about twice as fast as regular inflation. businesses are being crippled by it. small businesses, especially, have almost no access to the marketplace because they've got no leverage with insurance companies. so, all we've said is, let's keep the private system intact, but let's make sure that people who right now can't get health insurance -- about 46 million -- that they're able to buy into the market. and, number two, let's have some consumer protections to make sure that those of us who have health insurance don't end up getting a bad deal because we didn't read the fine print and we think that we have coverage when we finally get sick and we need it, it turns out that we're vulnerable because insurance companies aren't operating in the interests of their customers. >> i'd like to drive an mdx and an f-150. >> right. >> and i've communicated by e-mail in the last 24 hours with the woman that sold me the mdx and the guy that sold me the f-150, and each of them, mr. president, is saying that cash for clunkers is a great idea and

a wonderful initiative and they closed a lot of deals, but the payments are late. and i'm hearing from a number of folks who say, you know, come on, if the federal government can't get it together relative to cash for clunkers, i don't want to entrust my health care to the government. >> well, let me first address cash for clunkers. it has been successful beyond anybody's imagination. and we're now slightly victims of success, because the thing happened so quick, there was so much more demand than anybody expected, that dealers were overwhelmed with applications. now, this program's only been going on for a few weeks. and we have hired three times as many people to process this stuff as we originally had. there has not been extraordinary delays on the u.s. government's part. i understand dealers want to get their money back as soon as possible. but the fact of the matter is, this is a good-news story. they are seeing sales that they have not seen in years.

and they will get their money, but we've got to process it properly, because if we were careless about it, if we were just sending out checks where applications were incomplete and so on, first of all, we'd be breaking the law, because there are statutes set up in terms of how this is supposed to go. and, secondly, there would probably be some story you'd be asking be about scandals where there were a whole bunch of checks of taxpayer money being wasted from people who hadn't actually bought cars. so, i think this is actually a high-class problem to have where we're selling too many cars too quickly and there's some backlog in the application process. it is getting fixed. >> mr. president, ernie is a listener of mine, wttk in boston, and wishes to pose the following question. ernie, go ahead to the president of the united states. >> caller: thank you, michael. mr. president -- >> how are you, ernie? >> caller: i'm good. thank you for taking this call. >> great to talk to you. >> caller: i understand that you've said that the federal health care plan for government

employees is a pretty good plan. >> it is. >> caller: and congress has voted, to my understanding, not to join the public plan once it passes. because they want to keep their good federal plan. would you be willing to either urge congress to have the federal employees join the public plan, or would you be willing to urge congress to somehow open up the federal health plan to all americans? >> thank you, ernie. i hear this all the time, mr. president. >> well, it's a great question, ernie. first of all, understand that currently federal employees have a very good health care plan, because they're able to leverage the insurance companies. there's so many members of their -- of the federal workforce, that they can get the best rates possible. every insurance company wants to do business with the federal government. so, premiums are lower, and it's a better deal overall. the same concept is what we're

trying to do in setting up what's called a health insurance exchange, essentially it with be a marketplace where people who currently don't have health insurance, or small businesses, could pool their numbers, so they have leverage over the insurance companies, and they could go on a website and look at the various options, the types of various private health insurance plans that are being offered and choose the one that's best for their families. so, we're actually trying to duplicate what exists for federal employees. we want to make that available to everybody else. now, what we have said is, let's make a public option one choice of many choices that are available to people who are joining the exchange. and i see nothing wrong with potentially having that public option as one option for federal employees as well. but the important thing that i think i have to make absolutely clear, nobody would be obligated to choose the public option.

if you went on that website and you said, you know what, aetna or bluecross blueshield are offering a good deal and i would rather choose that plan than the public plan, you'd be perfectly free to do so. nobody would be saying, you are obligated to go into a public plan. >> i think what folks are saying is that they'd love it if you'd stand up and say, whatever it is that we're creating, be it a co-op, be it a public option, whatever name ultimately might be ascribed to it, we in the executive branch, we in the congress, we will live with exactly these parameters. >> i think -- i think there would be -- i think it would make perfect sense for us to make the public option available to federal employees as well. but keep in mind, it would just be a choice. >> understood. let me keep moving, if i may. tracy listens on wxnt in indianapolis. tracy, your question for the president? >> caller: hi, mr. president, thank you for taking my call. >> hi, tracy. >> caller: hi. until i heard you say that a private option is just a sliver

of your health care proposal recently, i think myself and many americans thought that pretty much was your ultimate goal. >> i know. >> caller: my question is, could you please quickly list five or six bullet points of what legislation must include for you be willing to sign it. for instance, employer mandates. >> right. >> caller: tort reform, illegal immigrants, what about them, must include a public option. >> i'd be happy to. first of all, you mentioned illegal immigrants. this has been an example of just pure misinformation out there. none of the bills that have been voted on in congress and none of the proposals coming out of the white house propose giving coverage to illegal immigrants. none of them. that has never been on the table. nobody has discussed it. so, everybody who's listening out there, when you start hearing that somehow this is all designed to provide health insurance to illegal immigrants, that is simply not true and has never been the case. >> what their fate, if i might ask, because there's a 1986 law on the book that says if show up

at an e.r., you have to be treated? >> that will continue, because we don't want a situation in which some child, even if they're an illegal immigrant, shows up in an emergency room with tuberculosis and nobody's giving them treatment and then they're going back to the playground and playing next to our kids. so, i think there is -- there is a basic standard of decency, where if somebody's in a death situation or a severe illness, that we're going to provide them emergency care. but nobody has talked about providing health insurance to illegal immigrants. i want to make that absolutely clear. now, tracy, you had a good point about what are the bullet points that i want. number one, it's got to be deficit neutral. this has to be paid for. because in the past some of the health care plans that we've put forward have not been paid for. a good example of this was the prescription drug benefit for seniors. that was an important thing to do, but we never actually figured out how to pay for it. that just went directly into the

deficit and the national debt. we can't afford to do that. so, that would be point number one. point number two, it has to bend the cost curve. what that means is that we've got to create a plan that experts credibly say will reduce health care inflation. because if all we're doing is adding more people but we're not controlling costs, that will blow up the deficit over the long term, and it will blow up the burdens on individual families and businesses. we've got to get control of our costs. we spend $6,000 more than any other advanced country per person on health care. that's number two. number three, we've got to have the insurance reforms i talked about for people who already have health insurance, and that means making sure you can get health insurance even if you've got a pre-existing condition, making sure that you're not burdened by lifetime caps, making sure that insurance companies can't drop you just because you get sick or because you're older or because you're not as healthy. so, making sure that there are

basic insurance protections, that's very important. number four is i want to make sure that we have a health exchange, as i just described, that is similar to what members of congress have, where you will have a set of options, if you're a small business, if you're an individual, self-employed, you have trouble getting health insurance right now, you can go and look at a bunch of options, and we've got to make it affordable for middle-class families. so, part of the plan has to be that if you can't afford a market-based premium, that we're giving you a little bit of help. you're able to get health insurance. choice, competition, reducing costs, those are the things that i want to see accomplished in this health reform bill. >> where, mr. president, does personal responsibility factor into all this? there was a front page story in "usa today" recently that talked about obesity being the single most significant factor? i mean, you're a fit guy. how about rewarding those that get on a stairmaster every day? >> well, the interesting thing,

you're already starting to see this happen among a lot of private companies. safeway, for example, is a company that has done a great job in helping encourage its employees to get fit, and they actually give them an incentive. they say, look, you're going to save "x" amount on your insurance premiums. you'll see that in your paycheck, if you are taking steps to take care of yourself. and i think that creating incentives like that for prevention, for wellness, you know, creating cash incentives for people who -- where it shows up, they're saving money on their health insurance because of it, i think that's something that should be part of this. >> mr. president, joe listens to me at home base which is the big talker 1210 in philadelphia. joseph, go ahead for the president of the united states. >> caller: thank you for taking my call, mr. president. >> hey, joe, how are you? >> caller: oh, i'm scared out of my mind talking to you here. i'm a supporter, i voted for you last year. >> i appreciate you. >> caller: i'm getting a little ticked off that it feels like the knees are buckling a little

bit. we have overwhelming majority in both house and the senate. and you own the whole shooting match, and i'm just getting -- very frustrating to watch you try and compromise with a lot of these people who aren't willing to compromise with you. >> are your knees buckling? that's his question. >> well, you know, look, i guarantee you, joe, we are going to get health care reform done. and i know that there are a lot of people out there who have been hand-wringing and folks in the press are following every little twist and turn of the legislative process. you know, passing a big bill like this is always messy. it's -- fdr was called a socialist when he passed social security. jfk and lyndon johnson, they were both accused of a government takeover health care when they passed medicare.

this is the process that we go through. because understandably, the american people, have a long tradition of being suspicious of government, until the government actually does something that helps them, and then they don't want anybody messing with whatever gets set up. and i'm confident we're going to get it done. and as far as negotiations with republicans, my attitude has always been, let's see if we can get this done with some consensus. i would love to have more republicans engaged and involved in this process. i think early on a decision was made by the republican leadership that said, look, let's not give them a victory. maybe we can have a replay of 1993-'94 when clinton came in. he failed on health care, and then we won in the midterm elections and we got a majority. and i think there are some folks who are taking a page out of that playbook. but this shouldn't be a political issue. this is an issue for the american people. there are a bunch of republicans out there who have been working

very constructively. one of them, olympia snowe, in maine, she's been dedicated on this. chuck grassley, mike enzi, others, they've been meeting in the senate finance committee. i want to give them a chance to work through these processes. we're happy to make sensible compromises. what we're not willing to do is give up on the core principle that americans who don't have health insurance should get it, that americans who do have health insurance should get a better deal from insurance companies and have consumer protections. we've got to reduce health care inflation so that everybody can keep the health care that they have. that's going to be my priorities. and i think we can get it done. >> a bit off message. today the scots released the lockerbie bomber due to -- i -- actually maybe it is health care related. he's got terminal cancer. your take on this? a lot of folks very upset about a perceived lack of justice. >> we have been in contact with the scottish government, indicating that we objected to this. and we thought it was a mistake.

we're now in contact with the libyan government and want to make sure that if, in fact, this transfer has taken place, that he's not welcomed back in some way, but instead, should be under house arrest. we've also obviously been in contact with the families of the pan am victims. and indicated to them that we don't think this was appropriate. >> mr. president, in each of our prior three conversations, i spoke with you extensively about the need for closure, and we agreed, relative to bin laden and ayman al zawahiri and as a matter of fact, it's well documented, i've written and spoken about it extensively, things that you said during the course of the campaign played a critical role in my personal decision making to the election, and i felt i would be derelict in my duty if i couldn't come here and say, where are we? i know we recently had a recent victory with the number one

taliban man, but pertaining to bin laden and ayman al zawahiri, where are? >> well, here's where we're at. we're continuing to ramp up the pressure in afghanistan. and we had what appeared to be successful election in afghanistan, despite the taliban's efforts to disrupt it. you've got general mcchrystal over there and more troops who are putting pressure on the eastern and southern portions of afghanistan. on the other hand, you've got the pakistani army for the first time actually fighting in a very aggressive way. and that's how we took out baitullah mehsud, the top taliban leader in pakistan, who was also one of bin laden's key allies. so, the goal here is essentially to have a pincer where we are squeezing them on both sides. we're eliminating their allies. it's making it more difficult for them to communicate, making it more difficult for them to operate safe havens. and over time, what we hope to do is flush them out. we are going to keep on putting pressure on them. and i know that it's at great

cost. i mean, you know, i have to sign letters to family members who have fallen, and a lot more are falling in afghanistan than in iraq. and as a consequence, we've got to make sure that we are really focused on finishing the job in afghanistan, but it's going to take some time. >> mr. president, susan listens to wor news radio 710 in new york city. susan, go ahead for the president of the united states. >> caller: yes. thank you very much, mr. president, for talking to us directly about this important issue. >> thank you, susan. >> caller: we all want reform. i guess it's really a matter of what the best solution is, and a lot of us feel that the federal government is just not equipped or it's their role to be getting involved in delivering health care services. and we're very concerned that most of the money will actually go instead of taking care of people, it will go to, you know,

the costs of administering a huge government bureaucracy. why not do something more like giving incentives to the states, like here in new york, we already have free health care for people who can't afford it. and, you know, it should only be for people who can't afford it, not for the 20 and 30-somethings that choose to spend their money on suvs and the latest electronics gadgets. and it's not free, because we all know that we're going to be paying for it, and it should be only for the people who can't really afford it. and we want to have our own health care decisions locally, and we don't want the federal government making those decisions for us. >> do you have a state solution here, mr. president? >> well, look, first of all, susan, i think that it's important to understand that part of the health reform proposal that we've put forward would involve the states. the states in some cases would be empowered to expand medicaid

to cover more people. the same way that they've been able to cover more children under the children's health insurance program. so, a sizable portion of the people who are currently uninsured would, in fact, be getting their insurance through the states. that's how the current medicaid program is able to allow states to cover more people. keep in mind that nobody's talking about the government administering all of health care. what we're talking about here is a public option that people could sign up for, but in that situation, they'd have to operate like any private insurer. they'd have to be collecting premiums and so forth. the track record for government administering health care actually is surprisingly good. medicare, for example, a government program, has much lower administrative costs than private insurers do. now, part of it is, is because they don't have -- either somebody's qualified or they're not. and so signing them up is a lot

more automatic. but that points to one of the big problems that we have. in private insurance, huge amounts of insurance companies are spending a lot of money and a lot of effort and a lot of staff just trying to cherry pick people who are healthy and sign them up and then eliminate people who are sick. and part of what we want to do here is just reform the system so that insurance companies are operating more fairly, to all people. if you're young, actually, it's easier to get health insurance these days. the really tough population are folks who are from 50 to 64, maybe they just got laid off. maybe they're self-employed. they have a whale of a time trying to buy health insurance, and we want to make sure that there is a market for them. last point that i would make is that you mention the fact that a lot of young people opt out. one of the things that we would do under reform is to say if you -- if you want, you can stay our health insurance or your parents' health insurance up to

the age of 26. that would cover a lot of young people who fall in that gap. their first job does not necessarily offer them insurance. it gives them a way of having coverage until they get that job that has a little bit more security. >> you're needed across town. i appreciate very much the privilege of coming to the white house, mr. president. thank you so much for being on "the michael smerconish program." >> thank you, michael. i want to thank your listeners, terrific questions. there's a great dialogue that takes place on this show, and i just hope that we can continue the dialogue in the same spirit to solve some of america's big problems. >> thank you, sir. i'll be back in just a moment for the white house. ♪ >> pretty historic moment there. not only for us, but obviously for talk radio, and also for events at the white house. the first time we've seen something like this. we actually were expecting all the questions to mostly be about health care. but as you heard the president

of the united states there, with radio talk show host michael smerconish, it was a mixture of questions, not only about health care, but also afghanistan elections, the lockerbie bombing, and the release of the one individual held accountable for that being released today because he is terminally ill and he's ed headed back to libya. and also cash for clunkers and the questions about the economy. but that leads us to the question, of course, this was produced by the smerconish show, so our guess is that they wanted to get a variety of topics there on that program with the president. but we'll talk about it -- we'll talk about that with suzanne malveaux in just a second there, live from the white house. meanwhile, josh levs been checking the facts. working the truth squad for us today. josh, what do you have for us? you listened also to the past 30 minutes. >> yeah. >> and what was a pretty unique event there at the white house.

>> it was very interesting. what i want to encourage people to do is follow-up and read the two bills for yourself that are readable right now and also see some of the fact checking that's going on out there. let's zoom into the screen in behind me. it's a one-stop shop for all of this, cnn.com/healthcare. and click on the fact check link that is there and it brings you to the truth squad. what we're doing is following all sorts of topics here. you can see the latest from the truth squad. we'll remind everyone the bills are not in any kind of final form, but there is one from the house and one from the senate that you can look at yourself if you want to go exploring and check out what's there. there's also something else i've done here at cnn.com/josh which is part of our "newsroom" blog. i posted a bunch of links for you where you can get fact checks and reality checks, if you go to the one link, cnn.com/josh, you can see all of the lirns that do fact checking. we have ours from the truth squad which are important, i encourage you to check those out. other groups we'll point out, factcheck.org and politifact.com and, kyra, what they are doing

is taking a look at some of the things that president obama is saying about how this will ultimate play out and medicare and between us and the truth squad and factcheck and politifact you have a lot of truth checking go on. anytime you hear someone tauing about it, stop by here and you'll get the facts. >> josh, thank you very much. let's take you back to the white house, suzanne malveaux is listening in as well. a pretty unique town hall forum there at the white house, suzanne. i guess all of us, we were thinking it would be pretty much health care based, but this was produced by michael smerconish and his team, so it looks like they -- and i'm assuming here, you got to kind of let me know how this all worked out and how it played out and how they selected the calls and the questions, but there were a number of items they got in there, not just about health care, but afghanistan and lockerbie bombing and the release of the suspect today. >> reporter: absolutely. this is really kind of nationally based, broad based. this is something the host

wanted to expand beyond health care. we asked whether or not it would just be health care, and robert gibbs, the spokesman, said it really was the prerogative of the host, the talk show host. he used that prerogative. it was interesting, because he had make news. because we'd been asking about the white house reaction, the white house's reactions to the lockerbie bombing release, and the president made it clear that they are not only reaching out to the scotland authorities but reaching out to libya as well, that this individual is under house arrest. that he's not welcomed in any kind of warm way. so, we'll see how that plays out and develops in the administration as well as the state department. he was asked as well about national security issues. osama bin laden, zawahiri, where they are, what is the status when it comes to the war on terror, from the bush administration. so, the president, what he really wanted to do, was to focus on health care. and i noticed that he was able to knock down at least one misconception when he talked about the fact that illegal immigrants, that there is this

notion that they would be able to -- to get health care, free health care, and that others would lose their health care benefits as a result. he said that that wasn't true. but he also said that we're not going to deny people who go to the emergency rooms health care and the kinds of things that they actually need. and then he went on to go ahead and outline what the main thrust of his health care reform plan is, to lower costs and to insure that more people have health care insurance and that people don't lose their health care, which is what so many people are concerned about, what we heard from some of these questioners earlier. >> and we should probably just quickly point out for those who might just be tuning in before we go, suzanne, that michael smerconish is a conservative voice, but he did back obama. we had received a number of e-mails wondering why smerconish, why was he picked to do this town hall format via the radio. >> reporter: well, certainly. for, on the president's side, on the white house side, it was a

chance to get some critical questions in before a very popular audience, a very popular show and audience that is not particularly very friendly to president obama. on the host side, it really was a chance to kind of expand his own base, if you will. he's based out of the philadelphia area, but he also, too, knowing that he's got the president on the line, he's got this national show, and he wants to -- to also gain some more listeners there. and so it worked out for both of them. >> suzanne malveaux, live from the white house. suzanne, thanks. >> reporter: sure. and as you heard there in the conversation there with michael smerconish, a number of subjects were brought up with the president, including the only man convicted in the 1988 lockerbie bombing. he's now a free man. a compassionate release? well, it depends on whom you ask.

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this is the only man convicted in the 1988 lockerbie bombing. responsible for killing 270 people. many of them americans headed home for christmas. well, he's now a free man. >> that was a plane full of young kids, a family with three little girls, young students, the average age of the plane was 27. it sent ripples of horror and pain and grief, which have continued and will continue as long as i am alive and the other family members are alive. >> and today, that convicted killer is heading home to libya. terminally ill with cancer at the age of 57. the scottish justice secretary says, he made the decision to release him out of compassion. >> it is absolutely sickening when you say "compassion," i

feel ill, i feel physically ill. that is the most misplaced compassion i can imagine. i mean, we couldn't weep for poor old adolf hitler and maybe muse lean mussolini. we should feel sorry for these people, i guess. >> president obama also commented on the release. here's what he said. >> we thought it was a mistake. we're now in contact with the libyan government and want to make sure that if, in fact, this transfer has taken place, that he's not welcomed back in some way, but, instead, should be under house arrest. we've also obviously been in contact with the families of the pan am victims, and indicated to them that we don't think this was appropriate. so, now, cnn's diana magnay is covering this for isin scotland. what is your take? is he being released based on compassion and his terminal illness, or do you think there's something else going on behind

the scenes? >> reporter: no, kyra, i do think that that is exactly why he is being released. kenny mccaskill, the justice minister, went through all the various options that he had in front of him, and he justified releasing al megrahi on compassionate grounds, saying as a society we base our values and our morals on treating people with compassion, even if they do not show that kind of compassion and mercy towards others. and he said, not to do so would be to debase our society. but he did say that this was done according to judicial guidelines, that al megrahi's case met the criteria of compassionate release, which are that you have only three months to live. and he said, he consulted al megrahi's doctors. he'd actually been to see him here at the beginning of august to check for himself his condition. and he said consistently in the press conference that we heard earlier, which initiated that

release, that al megrahi was going home to die, kyra? >> diana, is there anything for scotland to gain here? i mean, victims have come forward and said oil has a lot to do with this. >> reporter: well, kyra, the uk, which, of course, incorporates scotland, has business interests in libya. but it has been pushing those business interests since tony blair started thawing diplomatic relations between the two countries in 2004. bp now is investing something like $1 billion in a big exploration project in libya. libya has a lot of oil, more so than any other african country. but that said, this isn't necessarily something that wasn't happening in any case before al megrahi's release. also, scotland is a devolved government, and it's also been discussed as scotland's problem that comes under scottish jurisdiction. now, scotland's edadministratio and that of the uk are quite

politically diametric icalally opposed. to say that they are connected, is a tricky one, kyra? >> appreciate it. here are the tweets that you've sent us on the release of the lockerbie bomber. compassionate is a word that should not be used. we should be outraged. ice queen said i'm scottish and proud of mcs mccaskill, the lo r lockerbie bomber will die son. the victims and families of pan am 103 and the people of lockerbie never got a chance to say good-bye to their loves ones. not right. nobody said democracy was easy, but don't complain to afghans about touch screens and butterfly ballots. a country at war holds a historic election. there's no way to hide it. sir, have you been drinking tonight?

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now, let me take you to a place where america has invested lives, money, and hope for nearly a decade, afghanistan. it's the first front of the war on terror and currently a growing war zone. it just held its second presidential and parliamentary election. polls closed more than four

hours ago. now the vote counting is under way. and you can bet u.s. officials are watching. people did turn out despite taliban threats and allegations vote tampering. there were scattered rocket attacks, and afghan officials now report more than two dozen deaths among civilians and security forces on election day. women are among the candidates, too. and they have been seen as a crucial voting bloc especially since equal rights are still in their infancy in afghanistan. there are about 15 million registered voters in afghanistan, and the country used all its resources to make sure that their votes count, including 3,000-plus donkeys, which along with cars and choppers, delivered ballots to polling places. about 165,000 polling and counting staffers are helping out, and they're not letting nightfall keep them from their work. apparently some are counting the ballots by lantern light. more on the four main contenders and why you should care about who wins, coming up,

in the 2:00 hour. barring adults from the streets of paterson, new jersey, from midnight to early morning. that city is thinking of thinki just that to battle a surge in deadly shootings. critics are blasting the plan. we're going to find out what the mayor has to say in a live interview. i think i'll go with the preferred package.

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policing out of control or a city just trying to control crime? residents in paterson, new jersey, may be forced to comply with a curfew, a curfew not just for teens out on the town. we're talking about every man, woman and child. all 147,000 residents between midnight and 7:00 a.m. for 60 days. bottom line, it's dividing the city. >> don't punish everybody. just fix what you've got to fix. it's to serve and protect, not to keep everybody locked in their house. >> i want the young boys inside, you know what i mean, inside

early, because there's nothing out there. all they're doing is killing each other. >> pushing the curfew, paterson mayor joey torres joining me live now from hackensack. so, mayor, why are you -- can you hear me okay, mayor? >> yes, i can, kyra. >> no problem. just wanted to make sure everything's okay. tell me why you're proposing this curfew, why you think this is the answer, and what's fueling the cream? >> kiran, two things, last year in the general election, overwhelmingly voted in favor in a referendum for us establishing a curfew. just recently, six homicides in five months, seven shootings in the month of august, two being fatal. the rampant increase in violent crime was a reason why i posed the question to the governing body to support imposing a 60-day temporary curfew. >> what's fueling this crime? is it gang activity, a bad economy? what is it? >> yes, our intelligence, our

intelligence is telling us that it's rival gang activities, and that's the reason why. most of it, 53% of all the calls on these crimes, on all crimes, are happening between the time period of late evening and early morning. >> okay, but by this time last year, you had 13 homicides and 37 shootings, and this year you have pretty much half of the number of homicides. so, why the curfew now? >> well, we believe that -- i believe that the curfew is just to give law enforcement another tool to continue to decrease the number of homicides and the number of incidents or victims by gun violence. this tool would allow us to enforce a city ordinance that is against gang loitering, and therefore, that ordinance, combined with the new jersey statute permits municipalities for enacting laws that will allow us to protect its citizens and its inhabitants. the question comes if this is going to violate individuals' constitutional rights.

we are targeting to impose this curfew in 12 areas which the chief and the director of the police department has identified of high criminal gang activity. and therefore, these are public places, not private places. and we have also provisions that allow folks, whether they're walking or they're traveling through town, that is permitted. it's not martial law. it's just a way for us to be able to enforce gang activity, gang loitering activity. >> let me ask you this, then, mayor, because you mentioned glen brown, the city's acting police director. and according to the northjersey.com article that i found today, he says that the city's crime rate is actually the lowest it's ever been. in addition, i was reading that you just got $3.2 million to hire more cops as part of the stimulus program. so, why not just build up the police forces in these high-threat areas, bring in more cops and do it that way, versus putting this curfew on? i mean, a lot of people work overnight and they may suffer

the consequences here. >> well, we have provisions for those who are working overnight. again, this is establishing curfew, particularly gang-related loitering that's taking place in 12 areas that have been identified as high criminal activity between the late evening and early hours in the morning. we just received $3.2 million cops grant to hire more police officers. those police officers, we won't see them hitting the ground at least until about six-months period because they have to be processed and then go into the academy. we have done things that surveillance cameras and spotters and also increased the number of police patrolmen through those late-hour evenings. again, this temporary curfew will allow us another tool to provide the safety we want to provide, the public safety that we want to in order to, again, be proactive and not reactive to continuing gun violence. >> well, we'll follow it.

mayor joey torres, appreciate your time today. >> in closing, i would say help can't wait, and the window of opportunity may just pass because this is 60-day curfew we're looking to install. >> we'll follow up. mayor, thanks. we're less than two minutes away from the white house briefing. as you know, there's been a lot going on in the "cnn newsroom" today. obviously, we want to see if robert gibbs has anything to say with regard to the 30-minute town hall via the radio today that we saw there live at the white house. i'm sure reporters have a lot of questions about that. we'll take it live as soon as it happens. quick break. we'll be right back. u want to so with a flick, there's an app for that. if you want to share contact info with a bump, there's an app for that. or if you just want to share some downtime, well, there's an app for that too. because there's an app for just about anything. only on the iphone.

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live pictures from the white house. we're waiting for the briefing to start any minute now. we will take that live as soon as it begins. meanwhile, phone calls, e-mails, the web and talk radio, questions and gripes from conservatives, moderates and liberals, all aimed at president obama and all about health care. it's a multimedia, multifactional push in a make-or-break month. last hour we saw the president's

guest appearance in a call-in radio show where he talked about his preference for bipartisan reform. >> and i'm confident we're going to get it done. and as far as negotiations with republicans, my attitude has always been, let's see if we can get this done with some consensus. i would love to have more republicans engaged and involved in this process. i think early on, a decision was made by the republican leadership that said, look, let's not give them a victory. maybe we can have a replay of 1993-'94 when clinton came in. he failed on health care and then we won in the midterm elections and we got the majority. >> this hour the president tends to his base, the democratic group that got him elected, now called organizing for america. cnn's suzanne malveaux will have that for us in just a second. meanwhile, robert gibbs stepping up to the mike. let's go ahead and listen in to the briefing. reporters obviously have a lot of questions today.

>> just one quick announcement to read before we get started. the president spoke today with king abdullah of jordan. they discussed efforts to advance middle east peace and how the u.s. and jordan could work together to achieve this goal. the president and the king agreed on the need to launch israeli/palestinian negotiations as soon as possible. they also agreed that all parties, israel, the palestines and arab states should take steps simultaneously to create a context in which these negotiations can succeed. the president underscored his strong support for jordan's efforts to work with other arab states to reach out to israel and undertake gestures that would demonstrate the meaning of the arab peace initiative. the president said that special envoy mitchell would follow up with the parties in the next few weeks to finalize the steps they

would take and lay the groundwork for the resumption of negotiations. >> now that you've brought it up, did king abdullah agree in any way with the president's call for the wider arab world to show some goodwill? >> well, look, i think in many ways, that's the role king abdullah has played in helping to foster an environment where peace is possible. i hesitate to characterize their side of a conversation. we're always a little leery to do that. but the president is hopeful that the meetings that he's had here this week and the phone call, the meeting and the abdullah phone call today, that we continue to make progress on the path to middle east peace.

>> does that optimism rise or fall after this call? >> i think the optimism continues to rise. we're hopeful and understand that the road ahead will not be easy. it's a complex and emotional set of issues that we look forward to working through. yes, sir? >> two questions on the budget. >> yes, sir. >> first of all, what does the administration's decision to remove $250 billion place-holder from the budget say about your take on the banks' health? >> well, look, i think when we met in this room months ago at the introduction of the budget, i think there was some concern based on the health and stability of our financial system that more money might be required, and the president of the administration felt in order

to be transparent about our budgeting process that we should include that marker in there. the moving it, i think, underscores the efforts that have been taken to rescue and rebuild the economy through financial stabilization. another conversation we had as part of this was at the introduction of the bank stress tests. there was a lot of consternation at the end of these we would likely need hundreds of billions of extra dollars, that we now realize that banks were able to take steps and actions to raise almost all of that money from private capital, which i think is obviously a good thing. we've discussed pulling the

economy back from the brink, and particularly, the financial sector, back from that brink in order to restore some confidence. we've even seen banks pay back with interest the money that taxpayers used to stabilize the system. and one of the -- i think one of the results of this is the midsession review we would expect the deficit to be $1.58 trillion rather than the $1.8 trillion that the administration and the congressional budget office believed would be the case just a few months ago. part of that is the $250 billion that is not needed because of the stability as a result of the actions taken on the financial system and outlays that are $78 billion lower for fdic.

>> taking those out, that makes sense that it would show some confidence in the financial industry, but how would you describe the budget situation itself? is it improving or is the budget situation -- >> i think the budget situation continues to be a great challenge. obviously, i've talked in here about one of the best ways to bring down our budget deficit is to get fiscal responsibility is to get our economic house in order and get the economy back on track. i think it's no surprise if you look back over the course of the last six or seven months, for a great period of that time, we have seen the economy in a very, very steep decline, in some ways in a sdwreerp decline than anybody had predicted. and i think the budget picture in many ways will demonstrate that resulting deterioration. >> that it's continuing, that -- >> it continues to be a hefty

challenge. hefty challenge, yeah. >> the budget. >> yes. yes, sir? >> the spokesman for senator harry reid said that while they intend to -- their hope is that it will be a bipartisan health care reform efforts, they will get health care reform accomplished "by any legislative means necessary," and i'm wondering if you could walk us through -- obviously, people in the white house have been talking to each other, strategizing about different ways that this can be done. first of all, could you comment on today's "wall street journal" story about the discussions about possibly splitting up the bill, but also, what are the thoughts? obviously, we all know that your intention is that it be a bipartisan bill, but beyond that, what are you planning for? >> well, and i said this this morning, i read the story in the "journal." i've tried to get guidance from people. i have not been able to, largely because many people i get that from are on vacation.

we'll try to get you better guidance on that in terms of splitting up bills. >> the numbers. that be good. >> the story also had in there that the president is going to meet next week with advisers on this. and i said unless that's a meeting that includes marvin on a golf course, that's -- could someone go get -- >> beyond the budget. that was supposed to be on the budget. >> maybe. maybe jonathan could clear it up for the both of us. >> are you going to take questions? >> look -- sounds like he needs to. no, let me discuss, discuss a little bit. obviously, our focus, as i said yesterday, is on continuing this process in a bipartisan fashion. you heard the president say that again today. he's reached out and spoken with members of congress, including members of the finance committee

over the past several days. >> republicans? >> yes. he talked with senator olympia snowe yesterday, talked with senator conrad yesterday, and as we've discussed, talked with sena senat senator bachus on friday. that's our focus is continuing to work this in a bipartisan way. i know the six senators on the finance committee have a conference call slated, according, i think, even to jonathan's report and others, that they have a conference call tonight. >> we'll continue to follow robert gibbs there at the white house briefing, in particular when he talks more about health care. but later this hour, the president intends to meet with the base that got him elected, now called organizing for america, will be holding a live event. we'll have live coverage of that. it should happen about 2:45

eastern time. meantime, check out the health care in america website on cnn.com. find the fact-checks, i-reports and health care news on demand. just go to cnn.com/healthcare. this is the only man convicted in the 1988 lockerbie bombing, responsible for killing 270 people, many of them americans headed home for christmas. well, now he's a free man. >> that was a plane full of young kids, a family with three little girls, young students, the average age of the plane was 27. it sent ripples of horror and pain and grief which have continued and will continue as long as i am alive and the other family members are alive. >> and today that convicted killer is heading home to libya, terminally ill with cancer at the age of 57. the scottish justice secretary says he made the decision to release him out of compassion. >> it is absolutely sickening when you say compassion, i feel

ill, i feel physically ill. that is the most misplaced compassion i can imagine. i mean, we could weep, couldn't we, for poor old adolf hitler there, maybe mussolini. we should feel sorry for these people, i guess. >> and just a short time ago in a national radio talk show, president obama had this to say about the release. >> we thought it was a mistake. we're now in contact with the libyan government and want to make sure that if, in fact, this transfer has taken place, that he is not welcomed back in some way, but instead should be under house arrest. we've also, obviously, been in contact with the families of the pan-am victims and indicated to them that we don't think this was appropriate. >> well, here are some of the tweets that you sent us on the release of the lockerbie bomber. "the lockerbie bomber should die in prison. the fact that he only served

eight years of a life sentence is sad." and "they should have showed the same compassion that he showed when bombing the plane." "i think every person deserves to see their family and say their last words before they pass on." keep your comments coming. you can find me on twitter, kyracnn. they voted for ten straight hours and now they're being counted deep into the night. afghan holds its second ever presidential and parliamentary election and you can bet american officials are watching closely. after all, american lives, american money and american hope have all been invested and sometimes lost in afghanistan, a country that's still very much at war today. we're joined now live from ka l kabul, atia abawi. >> reporter: kyra, the afghan people held their second ever presidential election today, and we saw actually a smaller turnout than many would have wanted at the polling station here in the capital of kabul.

we saw people trickling in, some civilians, primarily government officials and candidates themselves for the presidency as well as provincial seats in northern afghanistan where we've seen less and less taliban control there were lines. but in the south and east, the pashtun belt where the fighting is going on, people still in fear, not wanting to come out because of taliban threats. kyra? >> and atia, just to put it in perspective, this is -- we go back to 9/11, and this was a country that created the osama bin laden and the likes that came here to our country and killed thousands of innocent people. so, everybody's paying close attention to see who is going to win this election and who's going to be leading this country. very important for whoever that is to get along well with the u.s. so, is the pressure really on u.s. troops? or who's the pressure building upon in order to make sure that these allegations of corruption

don't turn this into a complete nightmare for the people there in afghanistan? >> reporter: well, if we look at the low turnout here, we have to also see this as a cry for help. many of these people stayed behind because of fear, fear of violence. in the end, 26 people did die due to election-related deaths because of threats, because of the taliban, because of bombings. and also, we have to look at another reason why the afghan people stayed behind. they didn't feel like it was a risk that they wanted to take to go out and vote because they don't have very much faith in their government right now. they have been disappointed by democracy right now. the way they have seen it, they have not seen it the way that america sees it or the way that europe sees it. when we speak to the average afghan, they see a government -- some people in the government, i should say, that have had the donor money coming in and they have pocketed it. that's what the afghan people say. and when you talk to them, that really upset them, because security is not their main

concern. it is a huge concern, but their biggest concern is poverty. and they're crying for help at the moment. these are people who are afraid to head to the polls and these are people who died because of the elections as well. kyra? >> atia, we'll continue to follow it. hamid karzai has led afghanistan since the taliban regime was ousted, but corruption now is plaguing his government. among those making the allegations, abdullah abdullah. he was also a spokesperson for the northern alliance, which helped the u.s. topple the taliban. also in the running, ashraf ghani, who broke were w karzai in 2004. he is western educated and james carville is among his campaign advisers, by the way. and the last contender, lawmaker and former cabinet member

bashardost. his campaign office is a tent pitched outside parliament. the voice of the afghan people is being heard louder than ever here in the u.s., especially with the build-up of u.s. forces in afghanistan. we're hoping for election results by early september. officials results might not come until mid-september or later. dozens of needy kids depending on a scholarship program to get through school, but now they're still in need and their parents want to know why. we're going to talk to one mom who took her case to some washington big wigs. cient choic. well, this chevy cobalt xfe has better highway mileage than a comparable honda civic. this chevy traverse has better mileage than honda pilot. the all-new chevy equinox has better mileage than honda cr-v. and chevy malibu has better mileage than accord. however, honda does make something that we just can't compete with. it's self-propelled. there's never been more reasons to look at chevy.

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afghanistan very much a war zone but also a budding democracy. we're about five hours into the vote-counting in afghanistan's second ever presidential and parliamentary election. we're hearing more than two dozen civilians and security forces were killed in election-day violence, but nato calls the vote a success. the first results probably not until early next month. one of our other top stories -- a week after feds toured the local prison, a michigan town still torn about hosting guantanamo detainees. folks in stannish meeting today and kind of making a pro-and-con list -- pro, the 229 terror suspects would have 300 jobs at the maximum security prison. con? well, they are terror suspects.

and canadian police join the search for a person of interest in a model's murder. ryan jenkins apparently slipped across the border from washington state yesterday. he is the ex-husband of the victim whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase over the weekend in california. and organizing for america, pushing for reform, health care reform, that is. a grassroots movement that helped president-elect obama host an internet forum and guess who will be there? live coverage later this hour. this morning, parents and kids protested outside the u.s. department of education. they say that their children were cut out of a program critical to their future. latasha bennett was among those protestors. she's a single mom with two kids. she makes $12,200 a year and has been working since she was 14. and because of her situation, both of her kids qualify for a special voucher program educati that latasha never had.

it's called the d.c. opportunity scholarship program, and her 8-year-old son niko loves it. latasha thought her 4-year-old daughter nia was also going to get one, until she got a letter from education secretary arne duncan. nia is 1 of the 216 washington, d.c., kids now who got the same letter saying, sorry, no scholarship and no private school for you. the reason? funding. so, no new kids are allowed in. secretary duncan did release a statement, though, saying "vouchers are not the solution to america's educational challenges. taking a tiny percentage of the kids out of the public school system and putting them in private schools is not the answer. we need to be more ambitious. we need to fix all of our schools." he did say, however, the kids who are currently getting vouchers will still get them through high school, but that means little nia is out of luck. she and her mom latasha join me now live from washington. and latasha, your son is a prime example of how important this

is. i mean, the secretary may say it only affects a small percentage of kids, but this is your kid and he's excelling, correct? >> yes, he is excelling. he gets all as. he loves his school. he loves his teachers. he loves the security of the school. this shows that low-income children can excel. >> and he is such a little fireball, too. i wish he would have joined us today. we understand he's with his dad, and that's great. we can still brag about him. but latasha, you know, if he didn't have this scholarship and couldn't go to this private school, what other option would he have and why does that scare you so much? >> well, the option he had, which i had put him in pre-k, a public school, and the public school that i had chosen to put him in, he wasn't learning anything in a pre-k. and i say that because nia was little and i could often visit the class. and i would just often walk in

the school at different times of day and they would be playing all day long. and i talked to several of the teachers and used to be like, well, when is school time going on, and they would give me different answers. but if he didn't get this opportunity that he has now, he wouldn't be as productive and as excelling as he is. >> well, i understand, now, nia, you're not going to be able to go to this school with your brother now, and i know you were really excited about kindergarten. tell me why you were so excited about going to this private school also with your brother. >> because it -- it would be cool to go with my brother and because, because -- >> well, you told me you were excited about learning some things. what was it you were excited about learning in kindergarten?

>> spanish. >> spanish. >> and english. and -- >> well, that's quite a challenge right there, my dear, spanish and english. i don't think i ever remember in kindergarten learning spanish and english, latasha. but you know, i know you're concerned about the public versus private from a disciplinary aspect and what the kids are learning and how they're held accountable, and you've been so thrilled with what your son has been able to do, but i also understand you're concerned about the safety of your children as well. you had a personal experience that was pretty heartbreaking in the public school system, right? >> yes. i had a nephew, february 4th, 2004. my nephew james richardson was gunned down in the school, my sister's son. and i thought back and a lot of times wondered if he had the opportunity to get a

scholarship, because he was a star football player, would he still be here and not gone? and i just feel like someone needs to say, the 216.com program, we need to save our children. and i have a fear of the unsafetiness of the d.c. public schools. and the school i elected is so secure. and i just know my children will get what they need. >> well, your son naniko has sure been getting what he needed and i'm sure glad he'll be able to finish out high school. and latasha, i read your letter to arne duncan. it was pretty impressive. nia, you listen to your mom and do well. >> can i say one more thing? >> sure, go ahead. >> i want to tell everyone, even president obama, have a heart. save the 216. go to the website. >> i'm going to take them right now. latasha, perfect timing. robert, let's shoot the website

right now. latasha, i'm glad you led me there. saveschoolchoice.com is the website. here it is. i'm glad latasha took me there. you can actually plug onto the website and you can go down to the bottom here, as you can see. and all you've got to do is tap on "contact president obama," "contact secretary duncan," "contact mayor," and it helps kids who need money, helps latasha's kids, you can see, get an opportunity to private school and do well. the u.s. out-sources a whole lot of things, even assassins. we told you earlier about a top-secret program to hunt down al qaeda. now we found out who was supposed to pull the trigger. more after the break. vo: why spend $5 per person at the drive-thru,

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remember the cia's al qaeda assassination program we found out about last month? well, here's why it was a big deal. turns out, the agency secretly hired some help to go after the terrorists in 2004. blackwater, the controversial

contractor, later booted out of iraq -- turns out, the program never got off the ground, and current cia chief leon panetta scrapped it. baghdad is under tighter security today and you're see why. the iraqi government is cracking down a day after a string of bombings killed 100 people and wounded at least 100 more. today there are more checkpoints, vehicle searches and security stops. also, iraqi authorities are investigating 11 high-ranking army and police officials in charge of two of the areas targeted in yesterday's bombings. and a little bit of a thaw. new mexico governor bill richardson sizes up north korea after meeting with two diplomats in santa fe. he says the communist country is hired of the six-party talks aimed at clearing up the global dispute over its nuke program. >> they don't like the six-party talks. they felt that it's produced sanctions on them. they want a new format, and the format they want is direct talks with the united states. now, maybe a compromise might be

some kind of direct talks within the six-party format. but again, this is something that diplomats should negotiate. i'm not negotiating on behalf of the obama administration. they called me. >> the white house confirms it had nothing to do with the meetings and it's still rejecting one-on-one direct talks with north korea. outrage in the u.s. after the release of the only man convicted in the bombing of pan-am flight 103 over lockerbie, scotland. the bombing happened in 1988. 270 people killed, many of them americans heading home for christmas. today, scotland's justice minister released the convicted bomber, allowing him to return home to libya. he suffers from prostate cancer and apparently has only a short time to live. the u.s. government, many of the victims' families are blasting the decision to release him. here's a look now at that deadly day in 1988 in lockerbie, scotland. >> reporter: 259 died on the

plane, 11 more on the ground. >> there's dead bodies falling everywhere. i thought the roof was going to cave in on us at the time. >> first it sounded like thunder, then it started to shoot and i seen the engine coming down. >> the fields and houses and everything were all on fire. the whole place, you couldn't tell what was what. >> i think the air, the noise. he went to the door and i go, shut it. it's too frightening. oh, my god, it's terrible. then sparks and then the whole thing went down. >> all we saw of the plane was just bits, holes, that's all. i wouldn't think there would be anybody left from the plane. i wouldn't think so, anyway. to say there's a crater, maybe, 15 foot deep and maybe 100 yards long. there's nothing in there. it's just burning. >> out of my way. >> excuse me. >> reporter: about 25 people came to greet pan-am flight 103 at kennedy airport unaware it

had crashed six hours earlier. it would have landed after 8:00 p.m. local time. an information manager advise thaemd to see an agent. shocked relatives and friends were met by airline personnel and taken into a private room. at least three priests comforted them. >> the people are very -- they're hartened, and they just need to vent their pain and their suffering. each one is comforting each other. >> there's always somebody. you have to go see it to believe it. >> reporter: within a week, it was clear this was no accident. >> it has been established that two parts of the metal luggage frame work show conclusive evidence of a detonating, high explosive. >> coming up this afternoon on "the situation room" with wolf blitzer, scottish justice secretary kenny mccaskill. we're in between presidential health care reforms, and last hour, the president sat down with radio host michael scraconish for a

live show broadcast from the white house. minutes from now, he'll take part in an online forum at democratic party headquarters. the group organizing for america is soliciting e-mails and tweets right now and you'll see it live right here on cnn. a layoff can be tough, it can be infuriating, and it can also be embarrassing, so much so that some people try to hide it. our upcoming guest did, but now he's out in the open and he's our "30-second pitch." (announcer) what are you going to miss when you have an allergy attack? achoo! (announcer) benadryl is more effective than claritin at relieving your worst symptoms. and works when you need it most. benadryl. you can't pause life. there's no way to hide it. sir, have you been drinking tonight? if you ride drunk, you will get caught... and you will get arrested.

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losing a job is tough. the layoff notice comes and suddenly your world is turned upside down. it happened to dave butaki. he and his wife live in an upscale neighborhood in suburban washington, d.c. they decided to keep the layoff a secret from friends and neighbors, pretending everything was okay for two months, but

dave has certainly opened up about his layoff, because he's joining us today to do this "30 second pitch." dave, tell me why you wanted to keep it a secret. >> well, it was just a matter of privacy and not wanting to cause undue concern among family and friends. we've been through it before and we knew we would come through it okay. >> but that's the time that, you know, your friends should be there for you. and so, was there something else that just made it tough for you to come forward and say, well, this is the deal? >> no, nothing in particular. the circumstances under which i lost my job were certainly typical of what's happening today, a massive layoff with my company. so, there really wasn't anything particular about the circumstances that should have made us keep it secret. >> so, how did you get over it?

how did you finally decide, this is it, i've got to face this, i've got to move forward? >> well, a next door neighbor, in fact, asked me rather innocently, how's work? and when she did that, i realized that it was silly to any longer keep it under wraps, so i said, well, i'm unemployed, as a matter of fact, and looking for my next opportunity. and from that point on, my wife and i just simply reached out to a lot of other people. >> well, there's probably a lot of people that are feeling like you did, and so, maybe they'll be encouraged now to come forward and know they just have to do something about it, and maybe they'll call us and give a 30-second pitch. are you ready for it? >> i am. >> okay, here we go. i'm going to start the clock. dave, it's all yours. >> good afternoon, everyone, i'm dave lotocki. i have a broad background in human resources but specialize in employee benefits, including

design, vendor management and wellness programs that can lower costs and improve the quality of life for both employees and their dependents. benefits are a significant cost to most employers, so they have to be managed carefully, yet still deliver value to employees. i approach my work with a sense of urgency, integrity and a focus on quality and customer service. i'm available immediately to work in the washington area. >> boom, and the e-mail, dave.lotocki@gmail.com. and we have decided you have a fabulous radio or tv voice. would you be open to that? >> absolutely. >> okay. i would love to wake up and listen to you as i'm driving in to work in the morning. >> well, thank you so much. >> well, dave, you keep us posted. >> i will. >> sure appreciate it. >> bye-bye. >> want to create jobs? well, one north carolina restaurant owner says he'd create 35 jobs within three months if you send some stimulus money his way. he just needs a loan. but as cnn's christine romans reports, it's a new, tougher world out there.

>> reporter: dinner time in lumberton, north carolina. >> everything's good. >> reporter: restaurant owner rob redfern. >> we did $1.2 million in 2005. it's not bad for a small town and small restaurant. >> reporter: he's got 35 employees, a crowded bar on weekends, a dependable banquet business. five years ago, he turned a century-old mule stable into this. he's confident he's got the ingredients to open another restaurant here, 35 miles north on i-95 in fayetteville. >> i'll hire 50 people in three months if i get the money. >> reporter: $150,000, to be exact. >> my issue is that stimulus money that everybody's talking about needs to flow through to small businesses like this one. i don't want a bailout. just open the door, i'll walk through it myself. >> reporter: but so far, that door is shut. we called bb&t bank, the area's biggest small business lender, and asked them why. turns out, redfern's credit score doesn't match his

confidence. a spokeswoman for bb&t who recently paid back its own $3 billion bailout said "we would have turned him down based on his credit history." redfern admits to bumps in the road that have dinged his credit. this is the new world of lending. >> lenders are returning to the old-fashioned lending standards. you know, they're making loans with the expectation that all of them are going to be repaid. >> reporter: that means making fewer loans to only the best applicants. even small business owners like redfern, who have had no trouble borrowing money in the past, are being turned away. >> we have sort of ended up in the chicken and egg situation where the banks don't want to make the loans because the small business sector as a whole has had so much trouble, but then small business owners can't get the financing to run their businesses normally to expand. >> reporter: the number of new small business loans is less than half of what it was before the recession, but the stimulus has helped. the amount of money loaned through sba's program has risen 50% since february. ever the entrepreneur, redfern

doesn't have the loan, but he still has the vision. and you look at this parking lot and you see cars? >> i see a pole. >> you see a successful restaurant. christine romans, cnn, lumberton, north carolina. >> and watch for more "money & main street" reports, tonight 8:00 p.m. eastern here on cnn. and we're just getting word that the sole man convicted in the lockerbie bombing of 1988 has arrived on libyan soil now. we've been talking about this since this morning. the 57-year-old man found guilty of this bombing is terminally ill with prostate cancer. as you know, there was a lot of controversy on whether he should be freed from jail or not. the judge did decide to release him on signs of compassion. that, of course, infuriated a lot of victims' families when his release was made public and they actually saw him for the first time walking out of jail

free, as he is now, we are told, landed on libyan soil, his home where he will spend the rest of his life, as he is terminally ill with prostate cancer at the age of 57. organizing for america, pushing for reform. minutes from now, president obama is going to talk health care with that group that got him elected and we will take it live. i would say convenience is something that the bank of america really has the market cornered on. let me make it easier for you. let me show you how i can make it easier for you. we have the number one rated online banking website. it has an alert system that can text message you, so you're mobile banking, your bank's telling you what your current balance is. it's telling you if a certain check is cleared. customers that use the internet, use online banking. it all kind of falls in with what you're doing,

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quick look at top stories before the president starts speaking. the only terrorist convicted in the bombing of pan-am 103 is home-free. even though abdul basset al megrahi was sentenced to life in prison, scotland has released him because of terminal cancer. he just arrived in libya. afghanistan much a war zone and also a budding democracy. we are six hours into the vote-counting in afghanistan's second ever presidential and parliamentary election. we're hearing more than two dozen civilians and security forces were killed in election-day violence, but nato calls the vote a success. first results probably not until early next month. hurricane bill's chilled a little, down to category 3. even so, cape cod bracing for a rough weekend. right now the storm's off bermuda. where it will track after that, still not clear, but massachusetts falls within the cone of uncertainty. always ready to talk about that. a world-champion runner

faces a new hurdle. the sports-ruling body wants to know if she is really a he. there's no way to hide it. sir, have you been drinking tonight? if you ride drunk, you will get caught... and you will get arrested.

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and save 50% on pads and shoes. meineke. we're getting word now that the man you're seeing here, the freed lockerbie bomber who has just returned home to libya to die, apparently right now -- this is tape, obviously, as he was getting onto the plane earlier today to head to libya. he has now touched down in libya, and we're being told, apparently, thousands of people are there at the airport to greet him. you know, this was the only terrorist that was convicted in the bombing of the pan-am 103 flight. he's home now. he's free. and as you can imagine, that created quite a stir among the victims' families. 270 people died in that bombing, a number of them americans who were heading home for christmas

back in 1988. he is dying of prostate cancer. he's 57 years old. and he was freed earlier today, released from jail by what the judge says on compassion. as you can imagine, that outraged a number of the family members, and they have spoken out about this. and rick sanchez is going to be talking a lot about that coming up in the next hour. he's joining us now. rick, this is all developing. thousands of people there in libya at the airport greeting this terrorist. >> president of the united states says he wants him under house arrest. the state department is saying that they have contacted the libans and have told them in no uncertain terms exactly what their expectations are. the state department of the united states is also saying at this point that this could affect u.s. relations with libya if they don't respond to what the united states is asking them to do. so, look, this thing could have some real geopolitical and international implications. we're going to be following that story as well. it was during that interview, by the way, with that radio

reporter, whose name i could never pronounce in a million years, can you? >> you're saying -- pronounce whose name? i'm sorry, rick. >> say it again? >> smirconish. >> it's michael smirconish. >> well done. anyway, it was the interview the president did with him where he said he is telling the libyans he wants him under house arrest. he doesn't want him just -- i mean, this guy's a terrorist! this guy killed 270 people. and the idea that he would just be allowed to go to his home. and then there is the question of prostate cancer. i mean, rudy giuliani dropped out of a race four years ago because of prostate cancer. maybe it was more than that. he seems fine to me these days. so, when they say two months, is it really two months? not that i'm denying the guy may actually die in two months, i'm just questioning it, as any good reporter would, whether he should be let out because he's on the, you know, on the brink of death or whether he's really getting a pass here. >> bottom line, you know what,

there is something to talk about. you know what we should be talking about is why anybody would feel compassion for a convicted terrorist. and that's what -- that's the bottom line here. that's why there are innocent people dying on a regular basis. that's why there is terrorist training camps. that's why it is still a problem because there are people that are still compassionate about terrorism. >> you raise a great point. the only thing that could possibly counter that, which becomes a part of the discussion, is as americans, we have a different way of viewing this than europeans do. this is a long-standing tradition in europe that in cases like this, when they are convinced that the person has a month left to live or weeks or days left to live, that they let them out for that reason, something we don't see here in the united states. again, not to go one way or another, but it's an important part of the discussion. one other thing i've got to tell you before i let you go, because i know we could talk about these things forever because we enjoy each other's conversation. i know you're a big fan of john madden's. we've contacted john madden, and john madden will be live with us

on our show today at 3:00. is that cool or what? >> that is pretty cool, and you're right, i am a big fan of john madden. i'll be watching, rick. see you in a minute. >> see you, kyra. a world champion runner faces a hurdle now. the sports ruling body wants to know if she is really a he. t cor can cost you some money. that's why you should consider... an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan... insured by united healthcare insurance company. it can help cover some pd what medicare doesn't... so you could save up to thousands of dollars... in out-of-pocket expenses. call now for this free information kit... and medicare guide. if you're turning 65 or you're already on medicare, you should know about this card; it's the only one of its kind... that carries the aarp name -- see if it's right for you. you choose your doctor. choose your hospital. and no referrals needed. there are no networks help protect yourself from some of what medicare doesn't cover. save up to thousands of dollars...

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she's got a deep voice and muscular build, and now that's gotten this south african runner in the middle of a controversy. she won the women's 800 meters gold medal yesterday at the world athletics championships in berlin. now the sport's governing body is running tests to see if she is actually a woman. her