and once again, we are standing by waiting for the president's remarks from bagram air force base. making a surprise visit to afghanistan. he had hoped to meet face face-to-face with afghan president hamid karzai. that's not going to happen, because of technical problem, more important because of bad weather in the area. the two men had a conversation on the phone. as you know, there say full review of the afghanistan policy going on right now. that review to be completed in the next few weeks when the president begins his remarks, we will of course bring them to you in the cnn news room which continues right now with that man. on a friday. ali velshi. we are staying on the same toward the president in afghanistan. you heard the live picture, as soon as the president started speaking we'll get 0 it. i'm ali velshi next two hours,

here's what i got on the run down. you think the president is fired up on kick wi leeks, plus using social net working to share breast milk. and when the next disaster hits. a cool new robot may come to the rescue, today the little guy is our big eye and rolling into our studio. begin with the breaking news in afghanistan. surprise visit from president obama. we'll show you live pictures in a few moments. here's at bagram airplane. awarding four purple hearts. he's also planning on midding the president in kabul. that relationship is strained by the wikileaks cables depicting him as paranoid. weak, and insecure. talks about the two presidents won't be meeting today. we're told bad weather is

forcing president obama to stay in bagram. this is his second visit to afghanistan as commander in chief. expected to stay only three hours. let's go to ed henry at the white house on that surprise trip to afghanistan, on a day when there's so much else going on in washington. i guess that's the best time to make a surprise trip on a day you wouldn't be in afghanistan. ed. >> you know better than anyone out today. typically, the president will get remarks at the white house or nearby small business. this is very obviously unexpected that he would not be here and be here in afghanistan. what does make sense when you take a step back from day-to-day, the fact thanksgiving just passed, christmas and other holidays coming up. typically in the bush administration now in two wars, afghanistan and iraq. the second as commander in chief. it's been a while since he's

been in the country, big, big policy, a part of this. beyond just thanking the troops while being home -- being away from home for the holiday, which is obviously, very, very important to do. the policy back drop as early as next week, is expected to get a big year-end review. with what is going on in afghanistan. by most report, by nic robertson and others, the situation on the ground is not good in terms of security. the administration is picking out some signs of progress, we'll hear from that. there are still enormous security challenges and challenges of rebuilding afghanistan and making sure as the president recently laid out its time table. beginning to withdraw troops july 2011. wrapping things all up for the u.s. and allied mission by the end of 2014 based on conditions, of course, that is -- largely dependent upon president karzai and his government being able to stand up their own military and

security forces. as you noted from the wikileaks documents this administration has ruled out. ali. >> stay right there. first of all general pet just, has taken the stand in bagram air force base, he's preparing to introduce the president. let's listen. >> let's try that again. anybody out here want to say air power? >> air power. >> is everybody ready for the main event? >> you sure about that? >> okay. here's the deal. a couple years ago, my air assault buddy at the time, at the time. command sergeant major of the 101st airborne division, major marvin hill, told me what he looks for in a commander. he listed all of the usual qualities that you'd expect, you know, all the ones, then he

added, i also want a commander who is available to our trooper, who is accessible to our troopers and who is approachable. as i thought about it, i realized that in addition to all of the qualities we expect in leaders, i also look for those specific attributes. in this evening, it is my honor to introduce to you, a leader who has demonstrated his concern for each of you, who has already been to the hospital, to pin purple hearts on some of our wounded warriors. to meet with the platoon that suffered a framingic loss. and who has proven, above all, that he is available, accessible, and approachable by thr flying halfway around the world to be with us here tonight. fellow warriors, please join me in welcoming the leader that

made the tough decisions to provide the resources that enabled progress here in afghanistan. the president of the united states of america. our commander in chief. president barack obama. ♪ >> okay. but before the president starts, i think you all know the president was out on the basketball court a few days ago. now, he had beaten that team

four times already. he just scored on the guy, and elbows started threeing around. now, the only explanation we can come up with is that they forgot who they were playing with. so major hill, stay my minor assault buddy decided we'd give him a t-shirt. okay, i got it. it's not the biggest, baddest. it's an istaff t-shirt. but then, the commander, 43rd commander of the 101st airborne division, came up with a manly man t-shirt, and no one will mess with you, if you wear this, mr. president. >> hello, everybody! i'm sorry, bagram, i can't hear you. air assaults?

it is great to be back. let me first of all thank the 101st airborne division b.a.n. where is the b.a.n. give them a big round of applause. thank you. to chief thomas hager, and the commander and conductor. i gather, we had a couple of other bands playing manifest, destiny nutz. i don't know how they sounded. were they pretty good? it is great to be back. and i apologize for keeping you guys up late. coming on such short notice, but i want to make sure that i can spend a little time this holiday with the men and women of the finest fighting force that the world has ever known. and that's all of you.

i want to thank you general petraeus, not only for the introduction and the t-shirts, but for general petraeus' lifetime of service. this is somebody who has helped change the way we fight war, and win wars, in the 21st century. and i am very grateful that he agreed to take command of our efforts here in afghanistan. he has been an extraordinary warrior on behalf of the american people. thank you, david petraeus. i want to thank all your outstanding leaders who welcome me here, including general john campbell. admiral bill mccraven, from the 455th air expeditionary wing. i want to salute your great

senior enlisted leaders, including command sergeant major scott schroeder. command sergeant major christopher is, and command chief, craig adams. i also want to acknowledge the outstanding work that our civilians are doing each and every day. starting with karl ikeikenberry awful the civilens who are here, fighting alongside you, putting themselves at risk. they are away from their family, and we are very, very grateful to them as well. so give them a big round of applause. [ applause ] i think we got every service here tonight. we got army, we've got navy.

we've got air force, and i think we may have a few marines around too. and a whole lot of folks from the 101st airborne division, the screaming eagles. now, here in afghanistan, you are all coast guard. is that what i heard? here in afghanistan, all of you, are part of one team. serving together, succeeding together, accept maybe in next

week's army-navy game. as your commander in chief, i got to stay neutral on that. we also have some isap partners here as well. you know, when i was here in the spring, we had a coalition of 43 nations. now, we got a coalition of 49 nations. and this sends a powerful message, to the coalition of nations that supports afghanistan is strong, and has grown. now, i'm not here to give a long speech. i want to shake as many hands as i can. but let me say that, at this time of year, americans are giving thanks for all of the blegings that we have, and as we begin this holiday season, there's no place that i would rather be, than be here with you. i know it's not easy for all of

you to be away from home, especially during the holidays. i know, it's hard on your families, they've got an empty seat at the dinner table. sometimes, during the holiday season, that's when you feels absence of somebody you love most. but here's what i want you to know. as presidents of the united states, i have no greater responsibility than keeping the american people secure. i could not meet that responsibility. we could not protect the american people. we could not enjoy the blessings of our liberty. without the extraordinary service that each and every one of you perform. each and every day. so on behalf of me, on behalf of michelle, on behalf of malia and sasha, on behalf of more than

300 million americans, we are here to say thank you. we are hear to say thank you. for everything that you do. and i also want it say thank you to your families back home. so that when you talk to them, you know that they know -- they are serving here with you. in mind and spirit, if not in body. millions of americans give thanks this holiday season, just as generations have before, when they think about the armed services. you're part of an unbroken line of americans who have given up your comfort, your ease, your convenience for america's security. i was on another cold december,

more than 200 years ago. they had a band of patriots helped to find our nation, defeat an empire. from the icy river, fields of europe, to the islands in the pacific. to the jungles of very et nam. hills of korea, to the deserts of iraq. those who went before you, also found themselves in the season of peace, serving in war. they did it for the same reason all of you do. because the freedom, the liberty, that we treasure, that's not simply a birth right. it has to be earned by the sacrifices of patriots. generations of patriots. men and women who step forward and say, send me. somebody got to do it. are willing to serve. some willing to risk all, some

who gave all to keep us safe and keep us free. in our time, in this 21st century when so many other institutions seem to be circumstancing their responsibilities. you've embraced your responsibilities, showing why the united states military remains the most trusted institution in america. that's the legacy your generation has forged during this decade of trial. in iraq, and here in afghanistan. that's the legacy that you're carrying forward. as general petraeus mentioned one year ago, i ordered additional troops to serve in this country that was the staging ground for the 9/11 attacks. all of those troops now in place. and thanks to your service, we are making important progress. you are protecting your country. you're achieving your

objectives. you will succeed in your mission. we said we were going to break the taliban's momentum. that's what you're doing. you're going on the offense. tired of playing defend. targeting their leaders, pushing them out of their strongholds. today, we can be proud that there are fewer areas under taliban control. and more afghans, have a chance to build a more hopeful future. we said a year ago, that we're going to build the capacity of the afghan people, and that's what you're doing, meeting our recruitment targets. training afghan forces, partnering with those afghans who want to build a stronger and more stable and more prosperous afghanistan. now, i don't need to tell you this is a tough fight. i just came from the medical unit.

and saw our wounded warrior, pin some purple hearts, i just talked to the platoon that lost six of their buddies. in a senseless act of violence. it's a tough business. progress cops slow. they're going to be difficult dace ahead. progress comes at a high price. so many of you stood before the solid battle cross. display of boots, rifle, a helmet. and said gd bye to a fallen comrad. this year alone, nearly 100 members of the 101st have given their last full measure of devotion. there are few days i don't sign a letter to the military family expressing our nation's

gratitude 'grief at their profound sacrifice. today our thoughts are with those who have lost a brother, sister, friend, son or daughter who are not coming home. we know their memories are never hadded and their life is added to the life of our nation. because of service of the men and women. because of the progress we're making, you look forward to a new phase this year, beginning of transition to afghan responsibility. as we do, we continue to forge a partnership with the afghan people for the long term. and we will never let this country, serve as a safe haven for terrorists who would attack the united states of america again. that will never happen. this part of the world is a center of a global effort where

we are going to disrupt and dismantle and defeat al queda in its extremist allies and that's why weir ehere. that's why your mission matters so much. because this effort is about the safety of communities back home and dignity of the afghan people who don't want to live in tyranny. even though it is a hallmark of american democracy that we have our arguments back home. we have our debates, how elections, i can say without hesitation, there's no division, no hesitation on one thing. that is the uniformed support of men and women serving in the armed services. everybody. everybody is behind you. everybody back home is behind you. everybody.

there north to south to east to west. from sea to shining sea. american people are united in support of you and your families. as commander in chief i want you to know we will do whatever it takes to make sure we have the strategy, resources and equipment and leadership to get this done. you may have noticed during these tough budget types i took the step of freezing pay for our federal work force. but because of the service that you render, all who wear the uniform of the united states of america are exec from that action. we're going make -- we're going spare no effort to make sure that your families have the support that they deserve as well. that doesn't just matter to me. it's lieutenant top priority to michelle to make sure that americans under the sacrifices that your families are making. as she likes to say, 100% of

americans need to be right there supporting you and your family, 100%. only 1% are fighting these war, but 100% of us have to be behind it and your families. your generation, generation of afghanistan and iraq has met every mission that you've been given. you've served tour after tour. you've earned not just our admiration, you earned place in american history alongside those greatest general racials. and story of those who served are too numerous as well. one of the privileges, two months ago, i presented the metal to the parents of staff agent who gave his life here in afghanistan as member of the green berets. charging toward some 150 insurgents, saved the lives of

nearly 2 dozen american and afghan comrades. last month, we held another ceremony for the first time in nearly 40 years. the recipient of the meddle of honor, for ongoing conflict was able to accept it in american. he's name is staff sergeant salvator guinta. some may see his story, wasn't to tell it again because not what it says about the armed forces but about the country we love. three years ago, sal and his plato platoon their patrol was ambushed. two americans lay wounded up ahead. that's when sal and his his men counter attack again and again and again. they were being rained down with fire. they kept counter attacking because they wanted to get their

two buddies. when he saw one of his teammates wounded and being carried away by insurgents. sal rushed in to help his friends. despite the bullets, despite the danger, kept on pressing forward. by the time they finished every single member had shrapnel or bullet wounds in their gear. five were wounded two had given their lives. sal was a pretty humble guy. when he came to the white house, he said i didn't do anything special. he said he was just doing his job. that he didn't do anything that his brothers wouldn't have done for him. if i'm a hero, he said, then every man, who stands around me. every woman in the military,

every person, who defends this country is also a hero. and he's right. each of you have your own story. each of you is writing your own chapter with the story of american and story of american armed forces. each of you have losses. each of you have made sacrifices. you come from every conceivable background, from big cities and sma towns from every race and faith and station. you've come together to serve a greater cause, one that matters. to the citizens of your country back home. and to strangers who live a world away. so make no mistake, through your service, you demonstrate the content of the american character. sal is right. every single one of them is a hero. to some people ask whether america's best days lie ahead or

whether our greatness stretches back behind us. in the stories of those who have gone before. when i look out at all of you, i know the answer to that. you give me hope. you give me inspiration. your resolve shows that americans never succumb to fear. your selfless service shows who we are, who we always will be. and united in one nation, you embody and stand up for the body that maybe us what we are as a people. america is not defined by our borders. we are defined by a common creed. this holiday season, it's worth remembering that we hold these truths to be self-evident. that all men are created equal. that we are endowed by our

unalienable rights. among these, right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. that's what you're fighting for in afghanistan. that's why you're protecting at home. that belief is more powerful than any adversary. we may face a tough entity in afghanistan and have tough challenges back home. we do not become the nation that we are. because we do what's easy. as americans, we've endured and we've blown stronger, we remain land of the free also because we're home of the brave. because of you, once more we will prevail. so thank you, god bless you, and god bless the united states of america! all right. president obama. on a surprise visit to the bagram air force base in afghanistan where he's met with

perhaps, met with general petraeus. he awarded some purple hearts. a platoon lost six service members this week and intended to meet with president karzai. that didn't happen. here to tell us what was going on. this is not a day we expected to see the president. ed henry at the white house. quite specifically, commonly when the unemployment report comes out. we thought we would hear from him this morning out of washington. >> that was on a schedule he comes op the jobs report. i apologize, there's crux going on at the white house. bottom line. this is something that administration officials say, the president wanted to do for a time. planning it in secret. obviously for security reasons. he's at bagram air force base, basing all kinds of threats of late. he's trying to convey two messages. one, you heard the holiday message. right after thanksgiving, right after christmas. told some of the troops there.

for these rashes. some have been on multiple tours of dudi where they missed four holiday seasons in a row from their family, between serving in iraq. rotating in and out. this is not just a short time missing their family at the holiday. secondly he wants to underscore that he's committed to finish this mission. i thought it was interesting at the beginning, general david petraeus had an uneasy relationship to say the least. did give the president credit for providing resources with the surge of troops in order to try and finish that mission. that was interesting. >> he was very enthusiastic of his introduction of the president. ed, also a big economic day for us. looking at unemployment numbers. we know there's debates going on. about extending unemployment benefits or cutting tacks, extending tax cuts. you've got economic news you can break for us. >> new information we're hearing first, roger altman who was a

big clinton treasury department official was here at the white house, early this morning meeting with administration oh fists. i just confirmed that with officials who say rogeralityman was meeting with various members of the obama economic team. what's significant he's the candidate to replace larry summers as head of president national economic council and he's a real heavy hitter on wall street. doesn't mean he'll get the job but a couple weeks ago, he had a face-to-face meeting at the white house with president obama. they don't know each other very well. he's a clinton guy. a lot of people are high on him. some people in the administration, others think maybe he's a figure of the past and they need new blood. he's here at the white house, told a meeting with oh figures, second meeting, might mean they're edging closer to finally picking a replacement for larry summers. he signalled he was stepping down at the end of the year. that's a couple weeks away. admit the jobs numbers are bad which you've been noting amid

all of the other economic challenges they face. maybe they are edging closer to find a replacement for larry summers. >> we'll follow that news which you just brought us. ed henry on the stakeout at the white house. listen, you might have heard about greece's overwhelming economic woes threatening to take the world into another recession. we have a guy straight from the prime minister's cabinet and his take on the solution on greece. [ male announcer ] gout's root cause is high uric acid. ♪

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well, uf probably see greece all over the head line, a big eu bailout.

major belt tightening that cut benefits and raised taxes, causing big protests in may. basic will i greece was hit really hard by the function crisis now it's trying to recover. you see those countries behind me. greece, italy, ireland. you say greece, italy, ireland, spain, gives acronym. p.i.g.s. investors are hesitant to invest for three big reasons. remarkably big and complicate theed bureaucracy. complicated loss. lack of transparency in government. people' use the word transparency. his exlency, state minister of greece joins me from new york. minister, thank you for being with us. we were hoping in may. greece was a warning to the world, and to europe, that european countries have got to fix some of those problems we just talked about. and now, sadly, we're finding

for different reason, we are seeing problems in ireland. we're now hearing that portugal may get into trouble. what can we learn from what happened to greece in may, and hope that we can stop this c contageous across europe. >> thank you very much. ali. it's a pleasure to be here. greece, as know, already faced the crisis, was the first bottom feeder. so, we have, in fact, took unprecedented measures, reducing our deficit, our deficit by six points, which is unprecedented. and now, we are pursuing what we have tackled the problem, by having a plan, and a very solid team. and we all have the same goal. around five axis, first one was

big pension reform. second is to make the -- the public much more competitive. third is give advantages for investment. fourth was to have visibility, of law and taxes. and the fifth is to have consistent growth plan. we have exceptional human resources, and also, we have security, meaning that greece participant participants, we're a democratic country -- >> let me interrupt you, it was a good lesson. i'm glad greece is going down that road. is it different from the things we're seeing in other european countries. or see all of these countries thought as a mill molittle more

vulnerable to continue to endanger the world's economy? >> i think that each country participates to the same crisis. we are facing an unprecedented global crisis. each country has its own problems. they are the same. case of ireland are the same to the says of greece. same stands for italy. and portugal. and spain. all of us need to make a big effort to remain united. to have much more painful and difficult times. any other solution, the solutions are not really any options. >> let me ask you this. talk about european solution versus noneuropean solution, a lot of countries in the eu are

faced with the idea of austerity, belt tightening. we're seeing it all through these countries in europe. how are these plans which you laid out very effectively. how are they going to play, particularly when there's elections, voters who don't want changes to come through. like increasing retirement age or cutting back on pensions? >> in the case of greece, we have good news. we've gone through the test of elections. we all under it's not easy, or easy for everyone. the greek people have seen and participate participated to the national needs to recover the country. that is why, in recent election, that means we are still backed up. i think as long as the measures are treated in a fair way, i

think they have, and social coherentness will not be traumatized. >> thank you so much for coming and telling us about this. we wish you all of the best in greece's continued efforts to get back on track. we look forward to watching it happen. >> thank you very much. >> successal scoot begins at home. we're tracking one family as we go through an education makeover with dr. steve perry. his prognosis after the break. g about your medicare coverage. call now to find out how an aarp medicare plan from unitedhealthcare can help make your next step easier. medicare has two parts, parts a and b to help cover a lot of your expenses. like doctor visits, and hospital care. but they still won't cover all of your costs. now's the time to learn about plans that may be right for you. call now and tell us about your situation.

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[ male announcer ] turning 65? new to medicare? retiring, or losing your retiree health benefits? make sure you have the coverage you need. an aarp medicare plan from unitedhealthcare. call now to find the plan that may be right for you, or visit us on the web at answerstomedicare.com. body rested. stress gone. mind sharp. because unisom gave you deep restful sleep all night. morning early birds. unisom. good night. good morning. schools in america are falling behind those in the country. story after story that the public school system is broken

and in need of repair. what's going on after school? when kids get home? it's the other come point of the debate that we doesn't talk about. cnn education contributor and school principle steve perry is paying a visit to hopes across the country to help kids and parents do a little home work. >> the main help we need, home work and keeping our kids on track in school has become a source of a great deal of strife and disharmony. we're paying $40,000 a year to have them not do home wofrj and potentially drop out of school. . they are not alone. there are millions of families struggling with these same issues. >> there's a lot we can learn about a child by the way they

keep their room? >> what happened, david, are you moving out? >> it was a tornado. >> i see we have newspapers article, looks like notebook, national gee graph i, what is that, david? >> this is a percent miss slip. >> a permission slip? >> yeah. >> i needed this but i forgot it. >> types when you start like this. things happen. now things happen at 9:30. bedtime? >> eva and nathan will go off the computer. probably hustled them off around 10:00. >> kids are not staying in bed. they are getting up in the middle of the night for snacks. >> all of that middle school eating, cracker, that type of stuff. >> they go to bed, sometimes 1:00, 2:00? >> yes. >> the tough guy himself is here, dr. steve perry.

you have been a critic of things that go on in the public school system. you're saying stuff has to go on at home to create the right environment for these kids. what did you learn from them? >> well, in going to their home, what i was able to do is something i don't do very often is see what happens after school. >> right. >> and be a resource. it doesn't matter what income brackets you come from. what race you are. if you're a parent you have questions. >> we associate not having the right environment at home with poor urban schools. >> exactly. >> both parents are working, knowing is going on. >> they have a very nice home and a very good life and great kid, by the way. great to point out they had great kids. but we're all trying to figure this thing out with parents. trying to figure out what is successful. figure out what they need to do. expectations being as high as they are. but what we talked about was specifically what is happening in the home that is standing in the way of children's success.

you watched the special, see when they make just a few changes, they are the types of changes that any family can make at home. >> right. >> children's grades actually go up. >> steven, you know we do education every day on this show. we're very, very interested in it. what are the difficulties you run into with the kids. seem like nice kids. some of these kids hardened about the system. they don't think school is for them. they don't think it's really helping them. they don't have faith in their ability to do well. what are attitude problems parents can deal with with their kids? >> parents need to be parents. too many parents -- that's one of the challenges you can meet with. sometimes parents ask children opinions on things. especially when it relates to education. what they can do is set up structured environment which children did be successful. set bedtime, hour, one of the conversations we had was, where do your children study.

three children, two of whom are twins, what it shows, every single child is different. >> right. >> some of the kids can do fine studying in the library, one of the children, david, who is one of the twins, younger twin, david can't study in the library, david needs to study right in front of mom and dad with the book open, knee to knee getting it in. >> when things have gone permissive not in a bad way, but they are getting up eating snacks in the middle of the night. easy to say this is how it's got to be. how does a parent do that? . that's one of of the questions the parents ask. they want to know if it's too late. it's at that time when children need you the most. that's when they give you a stiff arm and push you away. that's when the stakes are the highest and that's what we talk about. we need a family at that critical stage. that's when real parenting starts to take place because they have an opinion when they are 3, 4, 5 years old.

put them somewhere and face the ball. when they have their own pin, they get bigger, that's why it's so important to have this conversation. >> we're going to watch this, this is good. catch the education makeover with dr. steve perry tomorrow at 2:30 p.m., again 4:30 p.m. eastern. right here on cnn. if you tune into this show, means you care about education, because we do a lot of it, watch that. >> now the survivor buddy, you'll meet him next in the big i.

all right. time now for the big i. talking about robots but care. these days robots are used for everything from building cars to

entertaining your kids. to saving lives. we love robots but they can be used on critical search and rescue operations, including mine disaster. people who design and build these lifesaving robots are trying something different. joining me is dr. engineering at texas a&m. great to have you here. you have had all kinds of examples where a robot could have been useful and helpful and had some opportunities to experiment. >> that's right. we've been at 11 disasters starting with the world trade center. and we think of them as the huge advances being made in military robots. those are going to get smaller and go into places that people can't go to. the smaller helicopters and airplanes so that the responders on their own don't have to ask -- >> when you talk small, let's show people. this robot folded up smaller than a shoe box. >> this is actually survivor buddy the next phase. what do you do when you find a person and when you find a

person you're probably with a robotd going to find them and be with them for a minimum of ten hours. if you're the chilean miners that's months. what are we going to do with you? we realize the robots would be very rude. that they were actually creepy. have you ever been to a doctor's appointment and the doctor didn't make eye contact? after 15 minutes you find it annoying. but after hours, we know from all the psychology and communications research that you will find it beyond annoying. you will start doing the wrong thing. so if you're stressed, we want to make this easier. and so if you start having a robot with a little bit more natural motions, we can do two-way video conferencing. while you're waiting you can play music. >> basically, this comes to keep somebody company or establish communication with them. you send it down if they're in a tight space and until rescue is able to get to them you can communicate and interact. >> that's right. for about the ten-hour period it's all you, what you want to

do. >> why? is that the average? >> that's the average. like the mexico earthquake, we started keeping statistics. that's about how long it takes, four to ten hours. all of these robots are used for telepresence and videoconferencing. we're doing research with stanford university at looking at, well, if i am on the screen going up and down, should my head be going up and down on this or is that just making it more annoying? >> what do we know? >> we don't know yet. but that's why we're researching it. >> so you're going to make this thing as easy to -- as comfortable for the person who is trapped? >> absolutely. because you're already in shock. you're already there. we want it to be calming. like in an mri they give you the music you get to play. also we know that we can give you have certain music and it will calm your heartbeat down. we have a doctor that's done physiological work showing that's a very big thing. the miners themselves, the tasmanian miners went down and requested the foo fighters. >> we'll keep a close eye on

this as it develops. when do you think it will be ready to deploy? >> this is prototype two. we're thinking in another eight months we'll have prototype three which will be more hardened. black things are very bad to have in the night. you want to see it. we're working literally with the theater department to make this pull out, pixars helping and hanson robotics. >> when you come back we'll follow this. >> we can talk over the internet. >> good to see you. thank you so much for bringing this. good luck and thanks for doing this. for more information check my page out, cnn.com/ali. okay. hillary clinton makes her intentions clear for 2012. will she make another run for the white house? that's next. re card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to 80% of your part b expenses.

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our chief national correspondent john king joins me now from washington. >> after that last segment how can you be sure i'm not a robot? >> you dmef nitly are not. i see the whole of you. >> that's the big story on capitol hill. should the congress vote to repeal "don't ask, don't tell," the policy since the clinton administration that prevents homosexuals from serving openly in the military. the service chiefs are split. the army chief, marine commandant and air force chief say they're opposed because they think it would disrupt the morale and disrupt the livelihood of the servicemen and women. the vice chairman of the joint chiefs, head of the navy and coast guard are in favor of the switch. all this as congress decides to vote this year in the lame duck session to repeal. john mccain saying he thinks there are 4 had 1 votes, enough to block the procedural vote to keep that policy from changing but massachusetts senator scott brown, a republican, said he would vote to repeal. two democrats talking about running for the presidency or not. one forever and one in 2012. let's start with the forever first. the secretary of state hillary

clinton on a trip right now. she was in bagram and asked a question yesterday and said her current job as secretary of state would be her last in public service. she said i'll serve this as my last public commission. the debt committee gets 11 votes. needed 14 to get the congress to vote on that. >> good to see you as always. not a robot ever. the next political update an hour away.

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is being tracked but the federal government is proposing new rules to protect your privacy. if you need a job, maybe you need to move. we have a list of hot cities for hiring. president obama turned up today at bagram air force base in afghanistan, bringing holiday greetings to u.s. troops and personally awarding four purple hearts. he was planning to also visit kabul, the president, and president hamid karzai. that relationship is delicate at best and likely strained by the wikileaks cables depicting karzai as, quote, paranoid and weak, shrewd but insecure. that meeting never happened. bad weather forced mr. obama to stay at the bagram air base. you heard the president's live remarks to a force he built up substantially over the last year. >> we may face a tough enemy in afghanistan and we're in a period of tough challenges back home, but we did not become the nation that we are because we do

what's easy. as americans, we've endured and we've grown stronger and we remain the land of the free only because we're also home of the brave. and because of you, i know that once more, we will prevail. so thank you. god bless you. and god bless the united states of america. >> this is president obama's second visit to afghanistan as commander in chief. and this has been the deadliest year of the war so far. he's expected to start the long trip home any minute now. rich or poor, employed or not, republican or democrat or neither, every american has a direct financial stake in what's happening in washington right now. let me start with just about everybody was a little taken off course by this. everyone who watch the labor market stunned by the job numbers for november. the smart money was looking for 150,000 jobs to be created. what we got was 39,000 jobs.

now, growth is growth. but that's pretty weak. the unemployment rate rose, too, from 9.6% to 9.8%. that could boost the push to extend unemployment benefits which the president wants to do in exchange for tax cuts for everybody including the rich. that would add trillions to the national debt which took another blow by the way when the independent panel charged with restoring fiscal responsibility failed to fully endorse its own plan. 11 of the 18 members voted yes. yes, of course, that is a majority. but under the rules, 14 yes votes were needed to send the plan for a vote at congress. so where does that leave us? the senate plans a couple of votes tomorrow on the tax cuts. but the real action we think is happening in closed-door talks with the white house. and its own vote notwithstanding the debt panel said it laid the ground work for huge changes in taxes and spending that lawmakers cannot ignore.

i turn to my ur "money" co-host christine romans. a gain of 39,000 jobs when we expected 150,000. >> clearly a disappointment. i don't know how anybody can spin this any other way. you have positive jobs growth two months in a row. last month revised upward to 172,000 jobs created in october but in november only 39,000 jobs created and a,000 overall private sector jobs created. that is the right direction as you point out, but it's not enough. and that continues to be a problem. when you look at the whole year for jobs growth overall, i mean, the trend is improving and the trend is what's important here. but improving very cautiously, ali, and not improving as much as some of the other indicators in the economy would suggest. also, when you look at that private -- again, you want the private sector creating jobs. we know that small businesses -- businesses that employ less than 500 people or 100 people have

been adding jobs but the private sector jobs growth, 11 months of positive growth but has been slow and cautious and it's not enough to keep the unemployment rate from rising. >> i want to ask you about this president's debt commission. they have come out with some very broad ranging proposals -- cutting the mortgage interest deduction, increasing retirement age, increasing some taxes. putting an increase in tax on gasoline. what is likely to happen with this? >> well, here's what's interesting. yes, it got a majority -- the president's commission. but it's not enough to send those recommendations to congress. but it's more than budget watchers had expected. it's more successful in terms of the agreement there than people who watched this very closely had expected. i think that's kind of a surprise. so we'll see what kind of mission this gives the new congress in january. but david gergen on our weekend show which people can watch tomorrow at 1:00 on the east

coast, 3:00 on sunday, he actually thinks they didn't go far enough in the first place, they were bold enough. he talks about in terms of saving our country, ali, that this is really -- this is going to be the story that history books will be telling someday what we do with our deficit and debts. i think that's remarkable. >> you're right. we have great discussions about this on our weekend show "your money." saturdays at 1:00 p.m., sundays at 3:00 p.m. eastern. christine the author of "smart is the new rich" on book shelves now. the man who outraged several u.s. lawmakers and plenty of other americans is speaking out again. wikileaks founder julian assange today conducted an online interview with the guardian newspaper defending the leaks. many here in the united states have denounced the leaks and believe he should be jailed. senator john mccain says they are an incredible breach of national security but his

opinion is by no means universal. to get a handle what those outside the u.s. are saying we turn to senior correspondent nic robertson in london and atika shubert. nic, start with you. >> the big word is silence. president karzai was supposed to speak with president obama and it didn't happen. i talked to his spokesman and he said he's not going to make comments. every afghan official simply shutting up talk and not talking about it. it is very sensitive and so many people are implicated here, they just seem to want to shrug their shoulders and pretend it didn't happen. i guess the same way they pretend the corruption is not really happening. >> is there some sense, though, among people in these countries that they like the openness that julian assange and wikileaks has produced by offering up all these documents?

>> reporter: you know, i think for a lot of afghans and for many others who watch afghanistan, there is not a huge the amount of surprise. i guess what's surprising is we're getting to hear it through sort of semi-quasi official channels, the official word on these things. but afghans here know their government is corrupt. that's what's been laid out in these leaks. they know the people who are corrupt. they know the former warlords are back in government. they know if you want to be a governor in a province you can get it by paying hundreds of thousands of dollars and top officials have been walking out of the country with money. i think the reality here is it's no big surprise. that's probably really the home truth. >> let's go to london and atika shubert is there. what's the feedback, atika, on the street and diplomatic chance in great britain? >> reporter: in diplomatic chance certainly the british government is not happy with the leaks but on the street is a different matter.

julian assange and wikileaks have tremendous online support which may not be a surprise considering that's where a lot of wikileaks operates of course. he had an online question and answer session with the guardian british newspaper and had a few questions there. he was able to answer some of them basically addressing some of the threats not only to wikileaks at the site but also to him personally. he also said this is a matter for freedom of speech. and he also said for those who are trying to stop wikileaks putting out this kind of information that it's simply not going to happen. to quote him directly he said the cablegate archive has been spread along with significant material from the u.s. and other countries to over 100,000 people in encrypted form. this is something we've known wikileaks has done. all they have to do is send out the password key and all the informing in its archives will pop up in mirror sites all around the world. basically assange is saying wikileaks is here to stay. >> thanks very much. atika and nic with world

reaction to wikileaks. it's considered sacred ground where the nation's heroes are buried with honor. so the latest problems at arlington are appalling. eight sets of ashes have been found in a single grave met for an unknown service member saying it's most likely not a mistake. the army launched an investigation, the fourth cemetery probe in the last few years. shuttle "discovery's" final mission has to wait longer. originally set for liftoff last month. weather and technical issues scuttled that. the next window two weeks away but the nasa officials just said that's not going to happen. the technical issues are fixed but nasa doesn't know what caused them and they want to do more tests. the new tentative window is around february the 3rd. a son remembers his assassinated father. julian lennon's heartfelt comments about john lennon next.

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♪ let it be ♪ let it be let it be ♪ he's john lennon's first son and a musician in his own right. julian lennon's mother was john lennon's first wife. in a revealing interview with john roberts julian lennon talks about his famous father and how he's lived with his death for the past 30 years. >> beatle john lennon has been shot at his manhattan apartment. police say he was taken to roosevelt hospital -- >> hard to imagine it was re-atlanta. still to this day in so many ways it still feels like a dream. >> reporter: john lennon's first son julian was in liverpool when he got the news. >> i came downstairs.

all the curtains were closed. found out what had happened. and then of course when mum arrived, we were -- >> reporter: he immediately flew to new york. >> every person on that plane had the newspaper of dad's picture and john lennon slain, murdered. and that was a toughy. that was a toughy. >> reporter: he went right to the dakota for a tearful reunion with his 5-year-old brother shawn. >> you had a sense of responsibility, duty as a big brother? >> yeah. reminded me of something. >> reporter: what did it remind you of? >> my life. we were of similar age when he was sort of -- when he left us. i mean, the first time around that it happened to me, at least he didn't pass away. but this was going to be tough on a little boy that had a great deal of love coming from his father. >> reporter: love that julian never received from his father as a child. >> to a degree, i was abandoned

as a kid twice, if not three times in many respects. >> reporter: it was the height of beatle-mania and john was on the road constantly. eventually he divorced jultian's mother cynthia, moved to new york and started a new family with yoko ono. julian only saw his father a handful of times before his death. >> he obviously was trying to reach out later in life. no question about it. and he knew that i still was looking -- longing for that relationship with him. >> reporter: do you feel cheated that you were denied that opportunity? >> of course i do. i mean, no question about it. it's beyond sadness that he's not around, obviously. but there's nothing anybody can do about that. >> reporter: december 8th marks the 30th anniversary of lennon's murder. his killer, mark david chapman, was just denied parole for the sixth time.

should he ever be released? >> i can't answer that. you know, there's supposed to be room in our hearts, in all of our hearts for forgiveness. my own thoughts are personal on that and are my own and will remain that way. that's for me and my own thoughts in my own quiet time. >> and john roberts joins us now. john, he said he was abandoned a couple of times. how much do you know about how much time they spent together? >> they didn't spend a lot of time together when he was a little boy. the beatles were always on the road. as a matter of fact when he was born, john and his wife cynthia kept his birth a secret, not knowing how beatle fans would take to a beatle who was both married and had a child. then over the years, it was very sporadic once in a while. then when he was 8 john picked

up and left and went to new york city. it was may pang who was his girlfriend after he and yoko broke up. was instrumental breaking the two back together. john was making an effort in the early part of 1980 toward having that relationship with julian that he never, ever had. just when it looked like it was going to come from fruition he was taken away from his son. >> you mentioned his first wife who we don't know a lot about. >> cynthia lennon, the two met at an early age in england. after john divorced her, she got remarried. julian in our talks -- he talks about his stepfather with whom he's not particularly great friends but remained very close to his mother and julian lennon was in new york -- the reason we interviewed him is because he's now into photography and he had a photography exhibit that was at one of the hotels down in soho and on his opening night it brought together for the first

time julian and shawn lennon, yoko ono and his mother cynthia who came to the exhibit as well. the entire family got together for the first time. >> i'm going to ask you based on what you just said, what is his relationship with his younger brother and with yoko ono? >> the two of them have a very good relationship. this is julian and shawn. in fact, the photography exhibit, most of the photographs were of shawn lennon who is also a musician on tour in europe. julian told us that when john was killed, he really felt the responsibility to go over to new york immediately and to be with shawn, because even though they were half-brothers, he said, we're blood. and when you're a blood relative, you have to be there for each other. the two have a tight relationship. his relationship with yoko is not certainly as tight as that, but the two of them have affection for each other and they see each other once in a while. but certainly it's a little more removed than the relationship --

quite a bit more removed than the relationship he has with shawn. >> you have great storytelling and great reporting. you can see john's documentary on losing lennon including exclusive recordings and rare interviews this saturday and sunday starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern only on cnn. this week the federal trade commission proposed a do not track option to protect your privacy on the internet. is it an idea that's long overdue, one that's incredibly obvious? or could it kill the internet as we know it? i'm off to the post office... ok. uh, a little help... oh! you know shipping is a lot easier with priority mail flat rate boxes. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. plus, you can print and pay for postage online.

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♪ i always feel like somebody's watching me ♪

excellent. love to hear some '80s music here. the federal trade commission proposed a do not track option for the internet to protect our privacy when shopping or browsing online. with security lapses constantly popping up in the headlines, the idea of choosing to take yourself off the radar might sounds very appealing but the ftc proposal faces opposition from others who think it could open a pandora's box of unintended consequences. joining me is shelley palmer, good friend and host of nbc's universal live digital. i have to say when i saw this, i thought great. i signed up for the do not call list for marketers. i would love to sign up for this. i thought it was a no-brainer and why has it taken so long to do it in the first place. then i started to see there was opposition for this. someone said to me if they put in the do not track law it could

end the internet as we know it or at least the free internet as we know it. >> well, first of all, this is fudd, fear uncertainty and doubt. it doesn't make sense because somebody calls you and there is a physical act which is unfortunate and annoying. here do not track makes no sense whatsoever. first of all, you cannot finds an instance of any human being anywhere who has ever had anything bad happen to them because their data was tracked. remember this data goes into files that are terabytes. for those not technical that's a frighteningly large amount of data. machines determine not who you are or what you're doing but more likely to look at. to have a good robust saturdays fike experience online it looks at your behaviors and how you do what you do online and then serves you content relevant to your interests. if you have take that away, everybody is going to be in a terribly worse situation. >> i hear you. but in the world where we're

talking about wikileaks all of a sudden, i'm not sure i want other people knowing where i shop, what i look at, who i communicate with. >> and in fact, ali, you're absolutely right. you don't want other people knowing that. but if you and i decided right now to look at the behaviors that happened at the ali velshi computer terminal, it would take us days and a ton of computer power to finds which key strokes are yours. it would require such an effort. that's not what this is about. this is strictly people fearmongering. you are not going to have a better situation. you're going to have a worse situation. here's why. the unintended consequences get crazy. data is important to advertisers and your web experience. what's going to happen if you put together a do not track list and make it that people have to opt into that, the only people who are going to comply with the people who do a good job right now policing themselves and still everyone who does a bad job and the untoward and underclassed, the people you want out will still put the cookies on your computer because there's no way to enforce this.

there is no good that can come of this, none. >> if i want some degree of security or some comfort -- i may want comfort what i'm doing is private -- what are my options? what are my options and what if anything should the ftc do? should there be some law if you don't like this one they're proposing? >> actually it's easy. turn off cookies and turn off beacons in your browser. every browser has the option to do that. if you don't know how you shouldn't be online. if you are not tech savvy enough to understand that your car needs a key and you have to fill it with gas, you shouldn't drive a car. if you don't know where the security settings are stop browsing the internet if you're that worried about it. opt out and then see how your web experience changes. and if you like it when you have no cookies -- >> you can't get anything. if you don't put the cookies on you can't get to any websites that are of any value. >> no one should be this arrogant. nobody cares who you are or what you're doing. they're looking at behaviors you

exhibit and that's important. you like bmws so you click on those ads. they don't sends you ads for volkswagens or tampons. i think this is crazy and fudmongering. there should be guidelines and policies which by the way the industry follows. go to the internet advertising bureau and look at the guidelines. every real live advertiser is already following them. by the way, you can't find anybody who has been harmed on the other side of this. there is no person that has been harmed by this. i know the second you put do not track -- i'd click it. >> i am going back to my computer and there will be tweets because people will say they're harmed because they had identity theft. >> i can't wait! this is about the behaviors you exhibit and data helping to form the decisions that the advertisers and web creators send pu. >> shelley palmer.

i want to get the name of your show. host of live digital with shelley palmer on nbc universal. checking now latest developments in some stories we're following at cnn. president obama today making an unannounced visit to afghanistan delivering his personal holiday greetings to u.s. troops. he also presented purple hearts to four wounded service members. in washington, the top brass of the u.s. military are expressing widely different views on gays serving openly in uniform. but the leaders told senators they did agree on one point. a repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" would be better handled by congress rather than by the courts. in upstate new york, folks are digging out of a monster snowstorm. buffalo was especially hard hit, receiving up to three feet of snow over two days. some motorists were stranded on the interstate 90 for about 20 hours. it's common to share ideas, pictures, stories, things like that on facebook but breast milk? gaining popularity and stirring up controversy.

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we found this great site called only the breast.com. i love that. only the breast. that's all they're going to do. women are on there and buying and selling breast milk and it's crossing state lines. this is clearly not the only site. if you do a google site there are tons of them. >> the fda now getting involved p. there's some concern? >> they don't like this idea. i suppose it's one thing if you have your sister nurse your baby but getting it from someone you

don't know, they say how do you know the woman you're buying from doesn't have hiv? then your baby could get hiv? how do you know the woman pumped the milk and let it sit on the counter two days and then shipped it to you. >> do they want to standardize or don't want it happening? >> they're not threatening to arrest anyone or anything like that but putting out suggestions that women instead should use breast mill. now breast milk 102. there is about a dozen, 10 or 12 banks in the country where women send the milk to the banks. the banks pasteurize it and do all this other stuff to it and sell it to mommies that need it. here's the problem. an eight ounce bottle of milk, what do you think that would cost? >> i have no idea. >> $36. >> wow! >> that's more than a drink in a fancy new york city bar. >> if you forced me i would have said five bucks about. >> no, $36. your kid is drinking a bottle and three hours later another bottle. >> there's a market for this?

this is happening at 36 bucks a bottle? >> but a lot of women say forget it, i'm not spending 36 bucks a bottle. i'm going to get it from someone off the internet. >> lots i didn't know and lots i didn't know and i'm getting the problem. the fda will say more? >> they'll have more to say about it. we contacted women doing this buying and selling. do you care that the fda is saying they don't think it's a good idea? they say no. we know these moms and get to know them via e-mail and talk to them on the phone. the women they're buying the milk from are nursing their own babies. they wouldn't sell us bad milk. they're nursing at the same time. some women try to pasteurize at home just in case. so the women we talked to said we're going to keep on doing it. >> if the price of the milk bank is 36 bucks for that there will be a market for it. the international community is rushing to israel's aid right

now to help fight the worst wildfire in that nation's history. now there's new information on what caused it.

all right. here are the latest developments in today's big stories. president obama surprised us and the troops today showing up in afghanistan for an unannounced visit to rally the troops and meet with commanders. back home, the u.s. economy added 39,000 jobs in november, well below the 150,000 jobs analysts had predicted. the unemployment rate rose 0.2% to 9.8% partly because people resumed looking for work amid encouraging numbers the previous month. a big vote on the plan to

attack the federal deficit failed. the controversial package of program cuts and tax hikes needed the approval of 14 of 18 in order to make it to congress for consideration. they only got 11 votes. "globetrekking" now. we start in israel where a massive wildfire is threatening more lives. it's happening mere haifa, israel's third largest city. more than 40 people are dead. as many as 15,000 fled the area. we're hearing more from kevin flower about the possible cause of the deadly blaze. >> reporter: as firefighters battle one of the worst blazes in israeli history disturbing news this fire may have been caused as a result of arson. the israeli police spokesman telling us a short time ago they found suspicious objects at the location where this fire was started, leading them to believe that it was the result of arson and it was intentionally started. there are aircraft from greece, cyprus, the united kingdom

helping to put water on the fire trying to put it out. even turkey provided two planes to help fight this fire. of course israel and turkey recently having a falling-out over a nurm mber of diplomatic issues, this at least for the time being bringing the two together. now to south korea where they are taking the glove off so to speak with respect to their northern neighbor. the man nominated to take over as defense minister is promising air strikes if north korea attacks again. check out this quote. i will use force to punish the enemy to make sure it doesn't dare think about it again. north korea lobbed dozens of artillery shells at a island killing several people. the south korean military response was to fire a few howitzers back at the north but experts say half of the shells fell harmlessly into the sea. it's a long road to recovery as chicago works to fix its schools. what's going on right now an

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all right. over the past decade chicago's public schools have been some of the lowest performing when it comes to test scores but there's light at the end of the tunnel. currently one in every three schools -- that's about 47 out of 155 -- have managed to make it off the worst of the worst list. test scores have gone up. attendance is up slightly in elementary schools and the dropout rate has improved across the entire school district by about 10%. so now 59% of students graduate

in four years. well, what's going right, what's going wrong as chicago tries to fix its public schools? joining me is elaine allensworth, the senior director and chief research officer with the consortium of chicago school research at the university of chicago. that is a 50 cent title. but elaine, thank you for being with us. boy, we were so focused on this some time ago. not just the failure of the school system but violence that seemed to be bred in part because of the failure of the school system. you've been studying this. what is going right and wrong in chicago? >> you mentioned the graduation rates. the graduation rates have definitely been going right. we have more students getting through high school, more students taking the steps they need to succeed in college. i think chicago has really been leading the country in terms of focusing on the indicators that matter for high school graduation and getting kids to succeed in college. they have gone beyond test

scores to give schools information on early indicators of dropout, letting them know when students are falling off track, how they're doing, who's going to college, how they're doing in college. who's filling out their financial aid forms so schools can really reach out to the kids that need the help they need and give it to them when they need it. >> to what degree is that information flow, which sounds fantastic, a big solution to the problem? in other words, we heard about schools where the information is there. the resources just aren't. >> well, right. you need the resources to actually have solutions. but you need the data to know where to put that money. we've seen time and time again resources being used with no improvements in students' outcomes. so having the data, knowing where the issues are, knowing which students need the help, that's the first step. and chicago has really been on top of figuring out what those indicators are, what they should be tracking and giving schools that kind of information. >> let's talk about where we

still can use a lot of improvement. what are some of the bigger areas that you haven't seen any improvement in the chicago schools? >> well, you mentioned that many schools have gotten off the watch list. unfortunately, the public statistics that are used for those lists are not very accurate. they're based on tests that are not necessarily consistently scored over the years. they have changing groups of students are included in the statistics. they are given in different ways at different times of the year. and so following those kinds of statistics really can lead to a misconception about what's happening in the schools. when we look at the elementary and middle schools, we don't see the same kind of progress at the high school level. >> a lot of the things you did where they had made progress seemed to be around and supportive of the actual core education that the kids get. so information about whether they're potentially dropping off

or need financial aid or applying to colleges, it sounds to me that's a different way of attacking the problem. >> right. it's really monitoring students closely and giving them the support they need when they need it. and the kinds of support they need. a lot of times we throw money at schools in the hopes that we're fixing the right kinds of things, investing money in tutoring or mentoring but not being strategic about where we're placing that money and really making sure that the kind of supports we're giving students are the kinds that they need. so really focusing on the data and really focusing -- figuring out what it is students need help with and helping them when they need it is key to getting students to succeed in school. >> thank you for sharing this with us. it's good to know there is some progress being made in chicago schools. elaine allensworth chief research officer with the consortium on chicago school research at university of

chicago. some of the top stories we're following. president obama made a surprise visit today to afghanistan. he spoke to u.s. troops last hour telling them they will succeed in their mission of defeating the taliban. mr. obama also told them he wanted to spend a little time with them this holiday season. the november jobs report shows plirs added 39,000 jobs to their pay rolls. that's far short of the 150,000 economists had predicted. unemployment rate rose 0.2%. a pair of votes tomorrow. one plan extends the cuts only to families earning less than $250,000 a year. the other raises the threshold to $1 million annually. republicans vow to vote against any measure that doesn't include all taxpayers. we all know it's tough to find a job but easier in some places than in others. i'm going to show you where the hiring is the hottest after this break. hi.

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♪ so the unemployment rate back sliding. we've been talking a lot about jobs today. for many people they are hard to find right now but there are places where the job search might be easier if you're willing to relocate. every month the website juju.com puts out its job search difficulty index and use the labor department's unemployment numbers and their own national database of job postings and come up with how many out of work people there are per job ad in the major u.s. cities. enough of that. let's get to the cities. some might surprise you. the city where it should be easiest to find a job right now is washington, d.c. it's got a rate of just one unemployed person per job opening. not too bad.

san jose, california, number two even though its unemployment rate has topped the national rate recently. interesting. new york city is ranked number three with just over 1.5 job seekers per opening. factor in the cost of living there, though and that might bump it down on your own list. there are two number fours with the same person per job number. first baltimore. don't believe everything you saw on the wire. it's a lovely city. and then hartford, connecticut. like four of the other top five in the northeast around the i-95 corridor. first speculation about hillary clinton. now questions about whether an outgoing senator will challenge president obama in the 2012 primary. next in our cnn political update. if you live for performance, upgrade to castrol edge advanced synthetic oil.

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time for a cnn political update. speculation over whether another democrat will challenge president obama in two years. our chief national correspondent john king joins me with more from washington. what have you got? >> reporter: this one you just mentioned is part of a little bit you might say republican mischief. lindsey graham was on a radio show talking about russ feingold just defeated in the election and said maybe he'll run for president against obama in 2012. her chief of staff says he's not running for president in 2012. any suggestion he's thinking of running, planning to run or interested in running is untrue. senator feingold is a strong supporter of plez barack obama and wants to see him reelected. the biggest thing driving the debate in washington is that

jobs report. a very anemic report from the labor department. the economy added only 39,000 jobs in november. that's the worst since september. unemployment rate going up to 9.8% from 9.6%. it's being talked about all over town especially in the big debate over whether to extend the bush tax cuts, cut it off at $250,000, the jobs report immediately impacting that. tonight on "john king, usa" you talked about the president's debt commission. they voted but not enough to force a vote in congress. one senator said i don't like this but i would like to move forward. tom coburn conservative republican of oklahoma we'll have on the show to talk about the big debt challenges and whether the democrats and republicans can be adults. >> even if they got the 14 votes they would need to force a vote in congress on it, the fact is that didn't mean and most didn't think it was likely that their recommendations would make it into law. but there are some very valid

suggestions that that report worth considering. >> and everybody is hit. spending cut across the board, social security and medicare. the tax code would be fundamentally changed. might lose mortgage rate index deduction but get lower tax rate. everybody would suffer. tom coburn is one that at least had the courage to say i don't want to raise taxes but if it's a way to have a better conversation keep an open mind. >> russ feingold was largely thought having an open mind and one of the more bipartisan. that didn't help this election cycle. >> reporter: it did not. worked with john mccain on campaign finance legislation in the past. also a fierce and proud liberal opposing the war in afghanistan and iraq. a very interesting guy who lost his election. a young guy. we'll see what happens. >> good to see you as always. have a good show tonight. cnn is committed to keeping you informed on all the political news. the next update an hour away. we've heard plenty bihybrid

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♪ here comes the sun ♪ here comes the sun time for today's "odds & ends." green cars are on a lot of people's minds including the pope. according to the associated press the pope would gladly use a solar powered popemobiles. there are several scattered around the world and he just needs a green one offered to him. moving on. teachers with eyes on the back of their heads are becoming a reality sort of. one nyu professor had