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i would make the case in copenhagen personally if i weren't so firmly committed to making real the promise of quality affordable health care for every american. >> calculated risk. the president putting his prestige on the line to lobby for the olympics. with health care, afghanistan, and iran on his plate, some critics are wonder ing ifhe has a priority problem. >> listen up, everybody. i'm going real great now. keep your voices down. available now we got a bunch of these -- >> the caricature of sarah palin may have been even close tore the truth than you think, at least based on her new book. just two months after stepping down at alaska's govern we shall the former vice presidential candidate has written a tell-all. it's going to make waves. closing in. investigators now say they know at least three alleged accomplices in the terror plot to blow up homemade bombs in nye thy city. the chief suspect appearing

today in court. plus, unemployment is in double d double digits. we know the economy is bad. but selling a homeless doll for $100? is it crossing the line? conan talks about his talk show tumble. good afternoon, everybody. great to be with you here in new york. >> glad to have you back from vacation. good afternoon, everyone. i'm tamron hall. >> we're going to begin with breaking news. a powerful 7.9 magnitude earthquake has hit the south pacific near american samoa. an official tells nbc news the quake created 10 to 15 foot tidal waves in populated low lying areas of the capital. and cars were seen floating. the official said there will likely be mass evacuations. he did not have any reports on deaths or injuries. the tsunami warning has been issued for new zealand, american samoa and other small pacific islands. the official says the warning does not mean a tsunami was

generated by the quake. a watch has been issued for hawaii. the president takes a trip to copenhagen this week to make his case for chicago's bid to get the olympics in 2016. it will be a quick trip for president obama. he leaves thursday night. he'll sleep on the plane during the eight-hour flight. he'll spend four to five hours on the ground. more time in the air than on the ground. the president will then head back to washington, d.c. and they say he'll be back home in time for dinner friday. >> everybody knows air force one is equipped with whatever you could possibly need. i think it's a minor time commitment given the significance of what the opportunity is for our country. >> chuck todd, a lot of push back here. senator kip bond saying the president is ignoring major issues like afghanistan. certainly that meeting october 1st with iran to go and pitch chicago for the olympics. is the white house prepared for some of this? >> reporter: they are.

let's put this in a little bit of perspective. when a big -- when washington is consumed by one or two major issues, and in this case health care, war in afghanistan, it doesn't get any bigger than a couple of those issues. it would be odd if the loyal opposition, in this case the republicans, weren't trying to find a way to prove that the president was lacking focus. democrats would do this when it came to the amount of time president bush would spend in crawford or something like that. it would be odd to me if we weren't seeing the republicans trying to hit him for this. it is hard to logically see how the guy's leaving after dinner on thursday night and gets back before dinner on friday night, so we're talking a half day. and, again, "air force one" as i think that clip of valerie jarrett said, "air force one", you can do a lot of work. the time commitment isn't what people are saying. frankly it was the political fallout he feared by not going. and all of the grumbling that was going to come from chicago.

remember, nothing -- nothing inspires true anger in people than when you hurt somebody you love. those chicago folks would have felt -- would have felt a lot of heartburn if the president didn't go and they didn't get it. >> chuck, we know perception is reality within the beltway and outside of it. i want to play what the president said about two weeks ago regarding going to copenhagen. >> sure. >> i would make the case in copenhagen personally if i weren't so firmly committed to making real the promise of quality, affordable health care for every american. >> what changed, chuck? you've got the vote happening right now with public option. democrats fighting democrats. what changed? >> reporter: it's called all politics is local, tamron. as you know, with chicago, it is something else. i can tell you the lobbying campaign among chicago political elites to this building that i have to walk into every day was

intense. and, frankly, the president got cornered into this thing. i know that they will never put it that way. they'll never say it. but it's pretty clear that it was -- that the lobbying got almost out of control. and the worry that chicago's political elite had that they weren't going to get it. they're trying to pull out every stop. it was basically telling -- this is mayor daley -- there's a reason why he's been in charge of chicago for what seems like half a century. he knows how to play political hardball. he played political hardball with the president of the united states. >> thank you very much. does president obama have a priority problem or just a problem with his critics? two weeks ago the president said he was too busy with health care to take the trick to copenhagen. now there's even more on the president's plate. iran's new secret nuclear facility, diplomatic talks, plus a request for a troop increase in afghanistan. republican senator kip bond says president obama should stay home and focus on afghanistan.

quote, it's baffling that the president has made time to pitch the e liolympics, appear on letterman and appear on every network except the food network and fox. congressman, there's a report out today that the olympics would have an economic impact of $20 billion, create 300,000 jobs. some of the money, some of the jobs would be in your state to the east of chicago, in michigan. why shouldn't the president fight for the olympics? >> i think it is a priority clearly for the city of chicago and for the midwest. we would love to have the olympics in chicago. i think the president had a great strategy in place two weeks ago. he was going to send his wife, michelle, to lobby on america's behalf and to bring the olympics to the midwest and bring them to chicago. the president had a great

strategy in place. he should have implemented that strategy. i think what the president ought to do when he gets on a plane this week and starts heading to copenhagen, he ought to just keep the plane going for another eight hours and land in afghanistan and meet with our commander in afghanistan and focus on that. drop michelle off in copenhagen, and then he can keep going to afghanistan. the president has other more important issues than the olympi olympics. he is the president of the united states. >> congressman, what about what we just heard from chuck todd. the white house is saying, look, "air force one" has got all the modern communications. he can be in contact with commanders in afghanistan. he can be in contact with you, if you'd like. if the president going to copenhagen is the thing that makes the difference in him getting the olympics, would it then have been a mistake for him to have gone? >> well, you know, the president is pressed on issues all day long. he and his staff have to make choices each and every day.

you know, we've got the issue. we are at war. we've got the issue of the economy. we have the issue of gitmo. we have the issues on health care. and a whole range of issues. the president needs to make the choices. i really believe that this is a choice that he could have passed on and focused on some other things. i think we can close. i would hope that we could close a sale on chicago without the president personally having to invest his time, his energy, and his credibility on this type of a decision. >> here's what first lady michelle obama told reporters about the president's trip. she said, quote, you're darned if you do and you're darn first-degree you don't. i'd rather be on the side of doing it. i think that's how the president feels. this is not one of those where you worry about what happens if not. if this is what it takes, a face to face visit by the president of the united states in order for a major u.s. city to see a $20 billion economic impact, 300,000 jobs created, if that's what it takes and, granted, we would all like for the president

to be able to focus on other things and not have to make this trip, but if you were convinced this is what it would take, would you support it? >> again, i think i've made my statement clear. this doesn't -- from my perspective, this doesn't rise to the level of a key priority for the president. we have troops in afghanistan. we have a general in afghanistan that is waiting on the president's decision on where and how he wants to move forward in afghanistan. that, i believe, is a priority that he should be focused on. there is no doubt that this is important to chicago and to the midwest. the president has reached a decision different than what i would have reached in similar circumstances. and so we will agree to disagree on this. we will come back. he will come back from copenhagen. we will continue on working on developing a strategy on health care, on afghanistan. i want this president to be successful in those areas and move forward.

>> congressman, if he is successful as far as getting the olympics in chicago, and i know you'd be please and thrilled, will you come on the air and say, okay, it made a difference? if you know it made a difference will you salute him for it if chicago gets the olympics? >> if the olympics come to chicago i will thank the president for what he's done and how he helped bring that to a close. then we'll work with him on these other issues. absolutely. >> thank you, congressman. tamron, if that's what it takes to make a difference, i think most americans would say, okay, great. spend the 18 hours. he can spend all the time on "air force one" talking to other folks. breaking news we started out the hour with. a 7.9 magnitude earthquake has hit in the south pacific near american samoa. 10 to 15 foot tidal waves in a popular low lying area. cars, according to reports, were seen floating. this is obviously a graphic image of the area.

we're hoping to get more details here. no reports so far of any deaths or injuries. a tsunami warning has been issued for new zealand, american samoa and other small pacific islands. officials say the warning does not mean a tsunami was generated by the quake itself. however, again, the quake, they're saying, created 10 to 15 foot tidal waves in populated low lying areas. which certainly could not mean anything good for the people there. >> right now is sort of the critical time. with each passing minute that there aren't tidal waves or tsunami you get into a safer and safer zone. this was just reported a few minutes ago. we're in that very crucial window. scientists around the world would be extremely nervous about what the aftermath would be. >> when you're talking about a low lying area, you've got an area, perhaps, where people are there. a lot of communities with the infrastructure is not sound and solid. and when you're talking about 10 to 15 foot swells of waves, that

certainly can cause loss of life. a lot of loss of property. and injuries as well. we're waiting to hopefully get someone live here to talk with us to get the very latest on this. right now they're saying 7.9 magnitude earthquake hitting the south pacific near american samoa. we were hoping to get somebody here to tell us a little bit more about possible damage and what they're waiting to hear. >> it's such a good point. whenever we hear about an earthquake in the pacific we worry about tsunamis like the kind they had in indonesia. as you point out, the areas that were most sort of affected by it were these very sort of poor, low lying areas. there are a lot of places sort of along the coast where people are better equipped to deal with this sort of thing. the fear is if there are tidal waves, a tsunami, there are people in small islands where you don't get communication, hear from people, they're the ones who could be in trouble. >> no warning. mass devastation. we don't know right now what the damage, injuries, or if there have been any deaths at this point. nbc news is saying low lying

areas, there have been cars seen floating. that would obviously mean where there are cars, there are people. a populated area. thus the potential for a loss of life. we're waiting, again, to get more information on this. our details of the information, david and i have are very sparse at this point. as you can imagine it's difficult in this kind of situation, a, to alert people. b, to get the information out to the news agencies about what is going on, what's happening, and even getting video for you to see. we have a representative now, a representative, the delegate from american samoa. i don't know how much information you've been able to get in the last 10 or 5 minut15 minutes. i wonder if you can describe american samoa and what are the communities there that might be particularly vulnerable to tsunamis. >> i've just been in touch not only with our meteorologist down there, but several members of the community also. we've been kept in touch.

you reported correctly. it's a 7.9 richter scale earthquake that is about 100 to 200 miles south of american samoa. it's my understanding the whole bay area, they've had about a 10 to 15 foot wave. that bay area is very low lying, only about three feet above sea level. it's my understanding that it created a tsunami or tidal wave. and i think that there's been warnings given to communities in the low-lying areas to immediately evacuate their places, their residences. so that's the latest information that i'm also able to get. i think we have to remember that it is not just -- even mountainous areas where you do have these beach fronts very much similar to what we witnessed in indonesia in that

tsunami. yes. you're correct. we're making every effort to make sure that we send the appropriate federal officials to go down there and make inspections, see what we can do to help. >> the l.a. times is reporting families were fleeing from their home amid severe shaking that lasted for up to three minutes. local media reporting people were fleeing to higher ground. what's the warning system like there? >> well, we have, again, this is something that is so sudden. there's nothing really you can do in terms of an earthquake. this is not like an expectation of an upcoming tidal wave. but with an earthquake it comes so suddenly, like you said, when you hear it, it had been shaking for about three to five minutes. the only thing you can do is get out of your house and try to see what is going on. but there's no question. i've had reports from several of our -- my constituents that's exactly what happened. everybody was just getting out of their homes as quickly as

possible. and making for higher ground. especially for those who live along the beach areas. >> with these reports that this was essentially 200 miles or several hundred miles south of american samoa, as far as the southern part of the island, describe, where's the most populated part of american samoa with the presumption being people in the south obviously would be much more vulnerable than people on the northern side of the island? >> it's more or less, you're right, right in the airport area. about 40% of the entire population resides in that area, low lying area. but like i said, you mentioned -- this coming out of the trench which is one of the two deepest in the world. barely, as i said, things like this happen even in volcanic areas. those island are volcanic. unfortunately, as you said, i'm very, very sorry to hear that this was so sudden. i guess also the fact it was

around 7:00 in the morning this occurred. this gave the people some sense of daylight to get away from this as much as possible. they're still suspecting there may be more waves of the tsunami coming out of this. it can only be worse. >> again, this is several hundred miles south of american samoa. it would mean it was perhaps 400 to 500 miles to the east of fiji to orient our viewers. a couple hundred miles to the south of american samoa. do you know if there have been any reports that have come out of fiji? that would be the next most populous area to possibly be affected by this. >> you know, i have not been able to -- i'm definitely going to call the fijian embassy and get information from them as to what happened here. this is probably the worst earthquake and tsunami american samoa has had since 1946.

i've seen tidal waves before. i'm saying it is not a very pleasant thing. and very misleading to think that when the ocean is sucked out and leaving a lot of fish and everything along the reefs, thinking that it's safe when it's only that's when the danger comes in, when the waves start tripling in. usually you wait about for the sixth and seventh wave. that's when the most dangerous wave comes in and causes considerable damage. >> we appreciate you coming on with us. we're going to keep in contact with you. if you do get any information out of your counterpart for fiji, again, any reports from them, we want to bring that to our viewers as well. good luck. we appreciate you joining us. >> we want to point out it's not confirmed a tsunami actually hit. these are large waves. 10 to 15 feet. there have been warnings and watches. you mentioned new zealand as well as hawaii, other small pacific islands. including, of course, american samoa. we'll be right back with more politics.

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welcome back. we're following some breaking news right now. what you're looking at are a few images we've gotten in of american samoa. where a powerful 7.9 magnitude earthquake has hit. 10 to 15 foot tidal waves have hit in populated low lying areas. cars reportedly seen floating in the area. more information on the aftermath and what the tsunami warning and watch that following means for the people there. >> american samoa has a population of over 46,000. it's several hundred miles to the northeast of fiji. perhaps 1,000 miles north of new zealand off the coast of australia. joining us now is the

meteorologist from wtvj. the great concern with any earthquake in a pacific island is the threat of tsunami. what's the time frame we're talking about as far as how quickly that might develop? have we already now reached beyond the danger zone since it's been 20 to 25 minutes now and at least it doesn't appear that beyond the initial 10 to 15 foot tidal wave things have gotten any worse? >> just like -- hello, david and tamron. good to talk to you this afternoon. just like a pebble in a pond, this is going to spread out in all directions. it's going to be traveling. it could travel for hundreds or thousands of miles. it's going to take some time before it reaches far away places like, for example, hawaii where there is a tsunami watch in effect right now. but, of course, it's only taken a few minutes to reach places like american samoa. very close to the epicenter of the actual earthquake. so it all depends on how far away we are. places like new zealand, for example, which are under a tsunami warning at this moment

would very likely see this on short notice. it's not going to take too much longer. within the next hour or so before they seem some effects as the waves travel out in all directions. >> john, ut it in perspective when it's a 7.9. how does that rate in terms of the possible danger of tsunami? how does that compare, for example, with what happened in indonesia. as tamron was mentioning over commercial break, five years ago when tens of thousands were killed because of the tsunami. >> that was a much stronger earthquake. anywhere between 9.1 and 9.3. the second largest or strongest earthquake ever recorded on a seismograph. it gives you an idea of just how powerful that particular event was. therefore, how large the waves were and how far-reaching they were when it occurred five years ago in 2004. this one, we're talking about 7.9. which is certainly well below the intensity of the one we saw in 2004. so hopefully the waves will not be as large as they were with

the one in 2004. >> john, after the 2004 massive loss of life, we've talked so much about warning systems being put in place. who was prepared and who was not. do we know? some of the reports saying that people were trying to run to higher ground. this happened, we believe, around 7:00 a.m. local time. what is the warning system like there? >> well, as for american samoa, i really cannot speak for them. i don't know what type of warning they have. but i do know this. all those governments across the pacific area are connected to the u.s. national ocean annic and atmospheric administration which is responsible for issuing these tsunami warnings and watches across the entire pacific basin. all those governments defer to them as far as warning them for the possibility of these things happening. like you've said on the air several times already, the mere fact that they've issued a tsunami watch and a tsunami warning for many locations does

not necessarily imply that this will occur. it simply implying the magnitude of the quake that occurred just off american samoa is strong enough, is large enough, to possibly generate a tidal wave across the entire basin. being that they're all connected, once the governments receive the warning they try to get word out to their people. they probably have different methods of doing so in different countries. >> all right. meteorologist from wtvj helping us with the coverage. we're going to take a quick break and gather more information. on the other side we'll talk with somebody who is an official at the pacific warning center, mr. nathan becker. he's one of those people that allow folks out in the pacific islands rely upon to bring them the latest information. we'll get their perspective about what happened after the coast of american samoa.

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american samoa, an island. right now we're hearing the damage is minor. they've had some issues with electricity. but nothing severe at this point. no loss of life. the population size around 46,000 people. that's according to some of the latest numbers there. and the foreign desk here has spoken with the foreign service officer for the is a moen embassy. he says he felt tremors for a few minutes. they've seen no major structural damage. >> from the perspective of the pacific warning center which has the responsibility of monitoring these events, we're joined by nathan becker. why don't you tell us the latest information that you have? >> the latest information i have is that we've increased our magnitude estimate from 7.9 to 8.3. this is a very large earthquake. we also have some information about a tsunami has struck western samoa and american samoa. our instrumentation detected it.

>> i wonder if you can clarify what that means tech nickically. is that based on the size of the waves other reporting instruments? >> right. we have gauges deployed throughout the oceans. some of which are on islands, some in harbors and some on buoys out in the open ocean. the information i have in front of me is from two shore-based gauges in western samoa. we recorded a 0.7 meter or 2.3 foot wave. and in pongo pongo a five foot wave. there's local effects from the shoreline and from some topograp topography. this certainly means there is a tsunami we recorded in samoa. i don't know which way the wave is moving. it's more like a log being rolled into a pond. i just don't have that information yet which way it's

headed. >> reassuring, these initial reports that lelectricity is largely unaffected. the tsunamis created by this are no more than a couple of feet. >> a couple of feet is a dangerous wave. if you're on the beach and a two foot tsunami comes in it'll knock you off your feet and drag you out to sea. it'll flood low lying areas. it can damage boats and harbors. at two feet the currents can be quite strong. it can move debris around and cause damage. i know it doesn't sound like much. you can see waves that big. a tsunami wave is not like a surf wave. it doesn't oscillate back and forth. it's like a flash flood. comes in land and stays and keeps coming for a long time. >> what should we be watching for at this point? this is minute by minute. still gets reports of people trying to get to higher ground.

what's the critical time line or are we in that critical time line? >> right now we are waiting for and analyzing sea level data as it comes in. we have -- i mentioned the data we got from samoa. we have data coming in from other islands in the pacific, other coastlines and our buoys out in the open ocean. as we get more and more of this data we can much more refine our forecast and ascertain what danger it is. the wave could totally dissipate or it could actually be large and go all the way across the ocean. we just don't know yet. so this is why we've issued a warning for a wide area. we issue the warnings and watches based on the time the wave would travel. but we don't have a direction yet. we have to put everybody into a watch and warning within a certain travel time. in this case three hours for a watch. three hours for a warning. and six hours for the watch. >> nathan becker, thank you very much. we're going to continue to hopefully get more information. perhaps some pictures or some images here soon of any of the damage. right now it's been reported

nothing serious, at least according to one report. certainly we're keeping an eye on this breaking news regarding a tsunami that has hit american samoa, population nearly 50,000 people. we're working to get more details. we'll be right back. ♪ crunch. wheat thins. that's what's gonna happen here. because you're tasty... with toasty whole grains. (crunch) wheat thins. toasted. whole grain. crunch. have at it.

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by passing strong clean energy legislation. 1.7 million new american jobs. less carbon pollution. and a cleaner america for our children. it's time for clean american energy. welcome back. we continue to follow the aftermath of a significant earthquake. 8.3 registered near american samoa by the northern islands. to put an 8.3 in perspective and the danger of stsunami as a result, five years ago that earthquake was a 9.0. it's not as strong. it's up there. some grave concerns, of course, at this hour in the islands of the area of american samoa. there's some 45,000 people who live there. of course, tsunami warnings have been issued across the pacific. >> let's bring in weather

channel's dr. steve lyons. are these people in the circle of danger especially within american samoa? >> well, they are. there could be aftershocks that could generate additional sue ma'ammies. we've already seen reports of some of those locally there. the original tsunami generated from the quake has already occurred in samoa. it's radiating away. in which direction we're not sure. we have a watch up for the hawaiian islands. the travel time from the epicenter to hawaii is on the order of about five hours and 23 minutes or a little bit longer. that travel time depends on the absolute depth of the water between the two locations. about five hours and 22 minutes. which would mean the earliest arrival time in hawaii would be about 1:11 p.m. hawaiian time. they're about six hours earlier than the east coast of the united states. >> you did bring up some of the stats from the 2004 tsunami. obviously ingrained in our minds, the images of people trying to flee and being swept

away. >> from what i can tell, at least in the local samoa area, the tsunami is on the order of about a foot or foot and a half. that's significant. that can do a lot of damage. that's not nearly as big as the one we saw in indonesia. that's good news. we don't have all that information. right now they're monitoring a lot of the buoy observations between samoa and hawaii to see whether or not a tsunami is actually traveling in the direction of hawaii. so far i have not heard any reports that they have found one yet. which is good news. >> it is, indeed. steve lyons from the weather channel, thanks so much. we appreciate it. we're, of course, going to continue to follow it throughout the next hour and a half. again, a lot of dangers that come up. it takes a while for the tsunamis to travel. even though the worst is over now in american samoa, there are concerns, of course, about new zealand, fiji. >> and hawaii. we'll be back with more news. ♪

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sarah palin increasingly is going to go rogue. >> going rogue on john mccain. >> rogue. >> rogue. >> rogue. >> she's going rogue. >> palin is going rogue! >> listen up, everybody, i'm going rogue right now. keep your voices down. available now we got a bunch of these. >> "the daily show" and "saturday night live." great clips. >> she took a lot of heat in the closing weeks of the campaign when some in the mccain camp claimed she was going rogue. it may come as a surprise she's embraced that name and it's the title of her memoir. upcoming book, "going rogue: an american life." according to her publisher palin has been working nonstop on the book since resigning from

governorship of alaska. that means four months. palin's memoir, how does it stack up? if you're judging by the length of her book, it's about 400 pages. we're told bill clinton's memoir, "my life," weighed in at 1,000 pages. former secretary of state colin powell's "my american journey was 650 pages. hillary clinton's was 592. barack obama's 464 pages. palin's book, 400 pages. former president george w. bush's "on god and country" was 266 pages. publisher harper collins says the book will have a very large first printing of 1.5 million copies. the same as the late senator ted kennedy's "truth and passion." >> will the palin book be a memoir or manifesto? how will it help or hurt palin's chances of making a serious run

for nomination for the republican party in 2012? charles, what do we know about the book? any leaked drafts coming out? any excerpts out there yet? >> no. all we know right now is sarah palin seems to be very excited to finish. she spent some time alone. went with her family to san diego. worked with an author and got this done much quicker than anyone expected. that, i think, has pushed the release date much farther forward than anyone expected. >> the fact she pushed it up, would this suggest she was working on the book while she was govern sner. >> i wouldn't go that far. i think it would suggest she's got a lot that she wants to say right now. i think she's got a lot of folks she probably would like to settle some scores with. she's got some very strong opinions. we've seen that on numerous occasions. i think there's no reason to delay it now that she doesn't have the day-to-day responsibilities of being a chief executive. >> charles, i'm curious. if this is more of a memoir, talking about the triumphs and troubles that she experienced during this whirlwind tour, if

you will, or is it going to be a manifesto, her america, how she sees america? >> i think it's probably a little of everything. her fans want to know what she thinks. they want to hear what she thinks about a variety of issues. at the same time, there's no memoir that's not an exercise in score settling. this is a perfect opportunity and a perfect venue for her to do that. you can bet she's going to seize that opportunity the way every politician does. >> do we think she'll be aggressive? some of the things that have been leaked out ability mccain insiders about her intellect, demeanor, everything has been slammed to the curb. >> she refers to herself as the mama grizzly. she's no shrinking violent. we've seen that in every instance. i think she's going to fight back just as hard and give it back just as hard as she's gotten it so far. >> charles from politico, thank you so much. we appreciate it.

tamron, the book is going to be intriguing in several ways. not the least of which, is it going to be hitting back at some of the leaks from levi jonston and the rest or policy oriented to suggest she's got gravitas or bedrock understanding of politics? >> i think it's going to be the latter. it's going to be her america. the speech in hong kong was all about the ways she sees america. the bad decisions of this administration. i don't know so much of her personal life is out there. >> then the question is going to be -- will she follow up and talk about them articulately when she goes on her book tour and is asked by folks like you and i about these policies. >> if she dishes the dirt, people will give it as holiday gifts. if it's a manifesto, we'll see. we're monitoring breaking news. we're monitoring the earthquake near american samoa. sea level readings indicate a

tsunami was, in fact, generated in the pacific. the tsunami was reportedly observed near west samoa. more importantly we're hearing people have been running to higher ground for safety. some reports of cars floating. we'll get an update on lives and property and all of the information coming in. we'll be right back. how to get rich, by america's health insurance companies. raise health insurance premiums 4 times faster than wages. pay your ceo twenty four million dollars a year. deny payment for 1 out of every 5

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well, major drama just seconds ago in the senate finance committee. the senate finance committee had its second vote of the day on a version of the public option for health care reform. this was the version that democrats were thinking might get the vote to be passed on to the baucus bill. it failed. the amendment by senator chuck schumer failed 13-10. all of the republicans voted against it, and at least a couple of democrats, including the committee chair, max baucus, also voted against the public option. again, the reason this is so significant, and we're looking at senator bennett there talk sort of about his amendment, which is being introduced next,

but the reason this vote on the schumer amendment is so significant because this is the more conservative of the two that many democrats thought might attract at least some support by centrist democrats. but it did not get enough. and this means that the bill that's going to merge out of the baucus committee will not have the public option and it also means it will likely then not be part of the what the senate passes and tries to merge with the house. so, a major setback for progressive democrats today. we're hoping that a public option, some sort of version of a public government plan to compete with the private for-profit insurance companies might be tacked on. but it is not being tacked on in the crucial senate finance committee. we'll have a complete wrap-up on the drama over health care reform today at the top of the hour. time for today's close-up topic. president obama's looming decision to send up to 40,000 more troops to afghanistan. the president today met with nato general secretary rasmussen and seemed to hint on that

decision on the eve of tomorrow's strategy session with top commanders. >> hello, everybody. i just want to welcome secretary-general rasmussen to the oval office. he and i had the opportunity to get to know each other -- because grateful for the leadership he has shown. >> support, i look very much forward to cooperating with -- >> we apologize. that's the iran sound bites. in the meantime, those expected to attend the meeting, hillary clinton, general mcchrystal, petraeus, gates, as well as several others including richard holbrooke. but few americans have had the kind of close-up look that jonathan lan di has had while he was embedded with u.s. troops in afghanistan. he is senior national intelligence and security correspondent for mcclatchy. amazing reports including one

fire fight detailing how children were handing ammunition to the taliban while they faced american troops. talk about the troop levels already there. there are 68,000, i believe, there, and could be more. but that is not people on the ground regarding american troop levels. >> that's right. there are a lot of troops. and you have to add the nato troops there and non-nato troops. you're talking about around 100,000 troops. but you have to remember that afghanistan is a really big country. it's twice the size of iraq, where the united states had at one point 160,000 troops. general mcchrystal is looking at a strategy that would consolidate the troops he does have in major -- around major populations centers, which are economic centers, as well, because he simply doesn't have the number of troops at the moment or even if he gets the 40,000, that's the upper limit of what he's talking about, to cover that entire country. and so, that's -- that's kind of what he's putting out there.

on the other hand, you have a camp that's being led by vice president joe biden that's talking about this so-called counterinsurgency strategy. it's a strategy they call counterterrorism, which looks at consolidating americans' position in certain parts of that country, then using predators and special forces to go after high-value targets, al qaeda targets, taliban leadership targets. both approaches have very serious shortcomings with them. for instance, with the biden approach, i mean, that's kind of what the united states has been doing both in afghanistan and pakistan for the last eight years. >> right. >> if you put more troops in, that means more targets, more violence, more civilian deaths, potentially means turning more afghans against the foreign presence in afghanistan. >> real quick, jonathan. we heard general mcchrystal talk about the urgency on "60 minutes." he said he'd only spoken to president obama one time in seven months. capture the urgency of a decision because there is a lot

of pressure to move now and reflect on what's gone wrong the last eight years. >> well, you just said it. it's eight years. it's basically eight squandered years. the united states has treated afghanistan, and i should say the previous administration has treated afghanistan as the orphan child of iraq. again, as i said, this is a place where it really was the center of the war on terror. it is a country that is twice as big as iraq. and it was allowed to fester in a way that the united states kind of used the warlord as their proxies to try and hold this place together and these warlords just reverted to the very kind of conduct that helped create the taliban in the first place back in the early ninth. there is a huge premium on time. it is questionable whether any strategy now could turn this thing around. the stakes are much greater than the idea that al qaeda can come back and plot and plan and launch new attacks against the

united states from afghanistan. we're basically talking about the future stability, the viability of afghanistan as a multiethnic state and the stability of south and central asia. >> jonathan, thank you very much for joining us today. thank you. >> my pleasure. we're following the tsunami that has hit america samoa, the western part. apparently it did strike american samoa. this is the aftermath of an 8.3 earthquake near the pacific islands. you've wanted to quit smoking so many times,

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