captiong sponsored by macneil/lehrer produions lehrer: good evening, i'm j lehrer. senato dodd and dorgan announced ey won't run again. >> ifill: and i'm gw ifill. on t newshour tonight, what do the rerements mean for mocratic control of the senate. we'll talko congress watchers amy walt and chris cillizza. >> lehrer: the some perspectivon how president obama isandling the bomb plot crisis, from wter russell mead, jeica mathews, and dan balz.

>> ifill: a report frothe streets of yen's capital, on al qaeda's appl. lehrer: margaret warner uptes the guantanamo prison story, after preside obama suspend transfers back to yemen.iú ou can imagine a situation i which the gornment as a choice between yemen and cleveland,nd that's , you kn, very appealing choice from the government's pointf view. >> ifi: and jeffrey brown talks with rocco landesmanthe broadway procer who now heads the national endowment for t arts. >> i'm goingo be outspoken. i'm iz say.çadñiçó if people wa to regard that as partisan, i can't lp it. >> lehrer: tt's all ahead, on tonight'pbs newshour. majofunding for the pbs newsur is provided by: >> what the world needs now energy.

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>> and bthe bill and melinda gates foundation. dedicated to the idea thatll people deservehe chance to live a healthy productive fe. and with the ongoing suppo of these institions and undations. and... this program was made possle by the corporaon for public broadcasting. and contributions to your pbs station from viewersike you. thk you. >> lehrer: twoeteran democraticenators will not be cong back after this year. nator chris dodd of connecticut announced hi desion today, hours after byron dorgan, oforth dakota, did the same. gwen ifillas the story. >> ifill: after 35 yea in washingtonsenator dodd went home tod to connecticut, to announce his decision not run

again. >> there are momts for each elected public official,o step aside, andet someone else ep up this is my momt to step aside. >> ifill: 66, dodd is chaian of the senate banking committee. but 2009 w a long year for m, and his reelection prospects had recently gwn shaky. >> i lost a beloved ster in july and in gust, ted kennedy. i battled cancer over the summerand in the midstf all this, i found myself in the toughest politicalhape of my career. ne of these events or circumstances, either individually or colltively is the cae of my decision not to seek relection. yet together, these chalnges have given mpause to take stk and to ask questions that too few of us in ected public lifever do. why am i running?

>> ifill: news of dd's decision camon the heels of nator dorgan's statement tha he plans to reti, too. like dodd, he was facing potentially tighrace in the fall. but s decision caught political servers by surprise. in a statement, he said: e twin retirement announcements endangered democrats' prospectsor maintaining thr veto-proof, 60-vote margin in the sena. >> didn't expect it, i don't think anyby did. >> ifill: strong republican candidate is more likely to ep up in north dakota, where popular governor jn hoeven is considerg a run. in cnecticut, a popular democrat, ate attorney genel, richard blumenthal, announced he will run fododd's se. >> i he not been pressured to ta this step,

have received a lot of >> i've reived a lot of encouragemen and i emphasize a t. i have two deacell phones righnow. i have 2 deacellfones right now. >> ifill: five democra and six republans will not seek reelection to the u.s. senate ts year. in the house, 10 democrats he announced th're leaving, and an eleventh, abama congressman rker griffith, has switched parts. but 14 houseepublicans have said they willot run again. partleaders are worried about state ras too. in michigan, democrac lieutenantovernor john cherry decided against a n for that state's tojob. anin colorado, democratic governor bill ritter pns to step down. >> ifill: here to scuss thfallout from these high- profe decisions are two who specialize in politi, writ large and sml. amy walter, editor of "the national journal's political ily, "hotline". and chris cilizza, who reports on politicfor the "washington post."

amy, different men, differen states, differenreasons? >> different reasons , both have been there a very long time. they wereoth were looking at competitive races and bothaid wh, it's time to go out on top. i think it's interesting , too, en you look at where these reoning compelatively, in the dorgan situation youook a seat that waseally not on the table-at least not yet coo and put at basically into what i would say rit now is a lean republican column. and the take the other and put it in aore safely democratic column. theyssentially swapped out each other. ere's a psychological toll i takes. we can talk structurally whait means, althougthere are more democraticeats in danger than republicans. fundamentally, whadoes this say to other democrats, hoe and senate-- but mtly in the

use-- who may be looking at what ty want to do in 2010 as well. ey see two longtime, well-rpected members saying it's n really worth it for me to come back. do they want to comeack thselves? >> ifill: chris, perhapsy favorite line in chrisodd's announceme today is when he said many liticians will tell you theye quitting for their family but that's not wh he's doing. >> often saygwen, one of the bestpeeches a politician typically gis is his or her last oo one because they have the freedoto say what they think. i thought that was a great acknowledgement fromomeone in the political me for a very lo time. i ink amy is exactly right. the's a macro analysis, basically a for 1 swap-- i'm sorry, thas the micranalysis. these come at time when the democrs are nervous. as you mentied, park griffith chaing parties. and ur democratic house members decidingot to

run for reelection, each in competive districts. if senators do and durgan, whether they did it on a ess daor over the a month retired, nose a vacuum are t that bad but the brd effect of all of these things happeni, the house retiri, the party switch, annow in addition to the senators retirin bill rit and you mentioned john chey. all of that at once has effect to make already-nerus members not sure whether wha they suld do on 2010 even more neous and even more on the fence. >> ifill: let's talk statey state. chris, i want to sta with you because you're from connectit. >> you bet. >> ifillwhat does it mean that chard blumenthal is lying in wait. richard blumenthal was elected attorney gener in 1990 and nce almost roughly that time hhas coveted a senate seat. he has been urted many times. he's taken a pass. obviousl he's had senators

dodd and lieberm in those offices for quite someime. he is by the far a the state's most popul politician, if you beeve skadz of independent polling. the question is is not meone who has had a real rac in rghly two cades. we will ve a real race he. he is clearly e favorite in th election. it is nnecticut. it is reliably democratic state. senatododd's probms were his known noabout the underlying problemsf the state. thataid , rob m fronz eastern nnecticut, my home district, as well as lindhcmeny, have pledged to spend upwds of $50 llion on her campaign are still the ce on the republan side. is it better today for democts than yesterday wh chris dodd in the race? absolutely. is it entire over? let's see w richard blumenthal performs on thcampaign trail. >> ifillamy, you are not, for the rerd, north dakota, and it isot a reliablely democratic

ate so what is the fallout there? >> very, very different. you're look at atate that is veryed although they do tend to send democrats to whington. the deletion there right now is all demoatic. the sitting congressman well as the two sators. that belies thunderlying republican nature ofhe state and most of the statewide electeofficials are reblicans. the other democrat was mentioned earlon as a potential replacemt for senator dorgan. he is not going to run. what you're oking at is a very thin bench for democrats, a place where, obvious, john mccain did well and george bush did ll. this is not place where decrats tend to thrive at the federal lel. hogan gets in, you're look a very easy ckup here for reblicans. i agree th chris on the connticut situation. not ly has blumenthal not had a ra before but as chris pointed t he's been attorney general r 20 years.

there's a long record ere, and th-- in a year where people are saying they don't really like the estabshment, they don't really le the incumben, that can be some fodder forhe republicans. >> ifill: let's take it ck to washington for aoment, amy. if you are hari ride, anyou lose two senators like ts on one day, what are you thking? >> you're thinking y have to get a lodone before the end of the year because the oddof me keepinvikt becoming expless less likely. and that might be an-- tt might give se incentive for some of these democrats o may sitting on the fence iterms of whether they're ing to support or not support census ece of legislation to say here'our last, st chance. if we want to put all these pie of slarkz certainly sothing like health care, this is our te to get it done. we can't expect to have th kind of margin a yr from now. >>fill : chris, democrats have been saying today more republicans are rering than

democrs so how do you add that up and say ts is bad news for democrats? >> well, gwen, all retiremts are not createequal. you can't ju look at the raw numberand say 14 on the republican side inhe house, 10 on theemocratic side in the house. therare seats on the republan si -- for exale, south carolina's third distrt currently heldy gresham barret he is running for governor, that is a seat no decrat is going to win in any circumstances. that inot the same, for example, as bart gdon in central tennesse a democrat in a seat that john mccn got 60-ps percent of the vote. they're both retiremts but bart gordon's retiremenis significantly re problematic for democrats and mo symbolic of a moderate to conservate democrat worriedbout his electible prospects. >> ifill: does this mean republans are clicking their heels togeth, amy? >> they ardefinitely very hay today because, again, the story be , even though we st described e micro-piece not

changing all that ch, the macro-pie continues to move forward as, boy, demrats are having tough time. they're running out of washington. they don't want to be were anymore. they can really do well verning. the queson is can democrats really turn ound and establish something in 2010 toe able to run on to have a message tha says, ok, we got all this stuff accolished for the amican public. we'rhappy to run on this message. and we're ing to be able to hold on to our majity. >> ifill: r both of you, you know as well as anyone, th the worst time f most first-term esidents is that big first midterm elecon. starting with you, amy, let talk about what this mea for prident obama. is this gointo make life tougr for him? >> all right, li was looking pretty takeoff bause the democrats have picked up so ny more vulnerabities just going to the contest. esident obama ran on this postpartisan messageand the reality , and what voterhave see, of course, ishat there is

no such thing post-partisanship many of the members of congress are ke the blow-back-- re's what the prident keemd. it not taking place here. you bre the promise that the president made. th're going to suffer the conseqnces of that. the president's apoval rating also vy important to look at. traditiolly any sometime a president ming into his first midterelection under 50% of the te has big losses, especially in the house. >> ifi: chris. >>un, hiory would sukt, glen, thate're look at 15 to 20 seats in the house t, to four to five seats in the senate. i think th's a good barometer. think if you see go over tha number. if you see republican gains in the hoe 25, 30, 35, then i think we can legitimately aw some conclusio that the voters were not happy with the direction, n just the president but the decratic congress took e nation. anything short of that, guess the obama ministration will declare a success.

demoats in the souse house and a certain extent in the senate are maxed out. they control many seats th probably nay neual political yearhich 2006 and 2008 were not. places in southern alabama northern mississpi, idaho. these are not ddenly democraticreas. the pendulum is early going to swing back towas republicans in 201 the question ihow far? >> ifill: thank you th very much. >> lehrer: now, for the her ne of the day. here hari sreenivasan in our newsroom. hari. >> sreenasan: a federal grand ju in detroit indicted a nigerian man today in thfailed airliner bombinglot. um farouk abdulmutallab is accused of trying to bw up northwest airlines flight 253 over deoit on christmas day. the chars include attempted murder, and attempting to e a weapon of massestruction. a white house spokesn said today annitial review ofhat went wrong will be made public tomorrow. two more u.s. drone rikes in pakistanave killed at least 13 people.

pakistani intelligence officls said today the uanned planes red missiles into a militant compound in noh waziristan. the area neathe border with afghantan is where al qaeda and the taban take sanctuary. the region is so believed to haor militants behind the bombing that kild 7 cia employeein afghanistan last week. anrctic cold wave hung on today, from the dwest, to the noreast to the deep south. foresters predicted snow and ice tomorrow, from sou carolina to louiana. farmerin florida sprayed a protective coating oice on millions odollars worth of strawberry and citrucrops. a citr growers group said it appeared damage would nobe crippling. the deep freeze is eected to last through the weeke. the winter blast helped sendhe price of oil climbg again. it topped $83 a barr in new york trang, for the first time since the fall of 2008 t the stock market was relatively quiet. the dow jones industrialverage gained morthan a point to close above 10,573. the nasdaq fell morehan 7 points to close at 2301.

the mayoof baltimore agreed to resign today, as part oa al with prosecutors. sheila dixon was convicted lt month mis-using $500 in gift cards, when she was ci council president. the cards had been iended for needy families. xon's resignation is effecti as of february. those are somef the day's main ories. i'lle back at the end of the program with a preview owhat you'll find night on the newsur's website. but fonow, back to gwen. >> ifill: and still to ce on the newshourwo takes on yemen an on-the-ground report from sanaa and what to about yemeni detnees at guantanamo bay. plus, a broadway producer athe helm of the nea. >> lehrer: that folls, the president in a time ofrisis. >> lehrer: it's been a by 13 days for predent obama, since a failed christmas day attacon a u.s. airlineapproaching detrt. the incident occred just hours afr the first family departed for hawaii, to celrate the holidays with family

instead,ost of mr. obama's time was spent in briefings,nd secure conference lls. and ch day, details emerged on the nigerian spect and the u.s.overnment's failure to prevent the attack in two statementto the americanublic, the president labeled it a "a system failure" and lauhed a full review. yesterday,ack in the white house, he met with his nional serity team. he saiit's his responsibility to find out why the syem failed a to fix it. today, whi house press secrary robert gibbs offered this, by w of context. >> the president has tak actions deal with a whole set of crises that he had whene came in. he understan that. he had to make a lot of toug decions that may or may not be politil popular because that wawhat he was faced with. but again, he-that's why he

ran r the job. >> lehrer: now, the perspeives on president obama and the christmas bombg crisis. walter russell mead is aenior fellow at e council on foreign relations and the author o several books on.s. diplomacy. jessa tuchman mathews is the president of the carnee endowment for ternational peace. d dan balz is national political correspondent r the "washingtopost." dan, conventional wisdom sms to be that thichristmas bombing scare was president obama's fit test in governing. do you buy that? >> well, i don't know th it's the first test in goveing. certainly havi to deal with the recessioand trying to get a heth care bill through have been majorests of his governing, butn terms of ternational policies this wa one of tse crisis moments that presents itself to eve president, that 3:00 a.m. one ca furc will, and i think a lot people have looked at his

handling of it and his performance oft through that prm. >> lehrer: should they yes, they should. i thk it's a legitimate way to try to judge a president nay moment like this, d i think the inial reaction, certainly by the white house, nd of a clsic case of a white house on vacation, en everybody's in far-flg places and not quite on the balls of eir feet, and i think they recoved from that and you've seen the esident increasinglytubborn and robust in his public comments sce en. >>ehrer: walter mead how do you see the seriousness this partular test and how does it apply to predent obama's abilitto handle this kind of thing? >> i don't think it was real seris test. a serious test would be if a bomb went off on a plane. in some ways, i thinobama at the copeagen conference really showed himselferforming in a much more stressful situation where he took a conferencehat was falling art and he mastered theynamics. he got off the script d he

really made some positive steps forward. but i agree, the white hse had a little bit of a "deer the headlines of an coming truck" fomaybe 36 hours after this. d my guess is the next time something like this happs , it's a very disciplined ite hoe, they'll do a better job. >> lehrer: do you think tomuch has en made of this? is that what you're suggesti? >> well, i would say you've t to looat it in context. it's a missed oppounity. it's a mimiste. if it happens again something like ts, then i think you have to ask some questions,hy aren't they lening? but if you look at this whole fst year of the white house inoreign policy-- sure, thereave been some mistakes-- but on the whole this has been a much sother first yearor the operation of foreign policy than, say, the clton administration was or e bugs --ush administration. the team has more or lesworked together.

ere investigate been kind of thrownff message. they've had so policy initiatives thatren't working as well as they'd ke but that happs to everybody. the whole, when you look at first yearave new administraon ere the pay's been out of wer for a long time, this ha been a pretty ooth operation. at said, the christmas bombi was notheir finest hour. >> lehrer: you aee , jessica math use, not their nest moment? >> secretary napolitano started the coverage on the wron footing-- the system worke- and it was allecovery from then the mo the president got into the cts the stronger and stronger he came, culminating with yterday's announcement where's i think heeally did a very strong performance. >> lehrer: do you thinit's legitimate to raise this-- t use the word "cris" in terms of the process -- presidency, barack obama, righnow? >> no.

this president has fad nothing but crises in a much more profound see. the mestic kmefs plummeting towards thbottom where the economists couldn't feel bottom, had a glal economic threat, and a froz and global financial system. and a war that w spiraling downhi as well. those are real cris. and the fact-- especlly on the econom front-- that they handled th i think very, very strongly. the fact that wee hardly talking abouit now is testimony to how welthey did. >> lehrer: dan, other rap on the president is tt he tend, when in doub makes a speech rather than decision. is th legit? >> up to a point. it's a line of argument somef his critics ed. the truth she has been tough

e campaign and as a presiden somebody whcan rise to the mome of a big speech. and he has given morable speeches. i think one of the things ey've learned is there are limits to th, that the bully pulpit may not be as strong as some might and think there is more to than giving a speech. i think you saw the deliberationeliberations over the afghanistan situation in which the president to a lot of criticisms roughout that process of whether he wadith or delaying or indecisive but came to to a conclusion that drew bipartin praiseand suppt. not ju for the speech but the decisi he made. again, we don't know h the policy wilwork in practice, but the way he dealt with says he is willi to do more than just give speeches. >> lehrer: we'll get back the speech thingn a moment, but what about t point that dan st raised, the president has now said-- going back the bombing crisis f a moment-- thpresident has

now said we' ing to-- i not going to torate this anymore. we're going to change thin, et cetera, et cera, et cetera. now things have to really chge rrect? corrt? is that the real tt to come? >> here's thproblem, when yore fighting an a defensive action against a terrost enemy ey can always choose their moments to attack and can change their tactics d they'll surpri you. and the esident probably has gone a little too far in sing i'm gointo make this work. the chans we're going to make are going toake all the problems go away. the reality sthey won't. unfortunately, the is a gnificant possibility-- perhaps a probability-that at some time in the next few yes, terrorists are going to sueed in somhing on the u.s. inland, and that's just a reality. anadministration's going to be bled for it, probably a little irrationally. but this president does have the nd of

-- i wro about this in the current foign policy-- almost a jimmy carter prlem. he an intellectual . he's a very thghtful guy. he is trying to pull america backrom confrontation. d to try to lower the tone o americ rhetoric, to try to take the crisiout of something a way of reducing the country's risks and vulnerabilities. whenever you start doi tha you e -- people start to question you. e you weak? anthis president is going to be caught-- he'soing too have hard time avoiding being trapped in a way betwe a rock and a ha place of being so tough at he can't try the new, creative foreign policthat he wants, b on the other hand, maybbeing en as weak opener indecisive. it'soing to be a problem for hi >> he's been anythinbut indecisive, and he is-- i ink what's really noticeable ithat he taken such big risks.

>>ehrer: too big, sometimes? >> he may have takenn more an thunited states senate can bear, for example, but i don't know how he uld have done lesthan deal with health care, than deawith the economy. he had to do tse things. he'sut on the table some major arms control iniatives and raed the possibility of zero nuke which makes his near-term challeng even tougher. he's td the congress that it has to deal wi climate, with energy, d that's going to be enormous difficulty this coming yea but the fact that went to conhagen was a huge role of the ce, particularly because conclude hundred acted. and the low-risk straty would have beenot to go and then other heads of stateould not have gon the facthat he set out to reset the u.-russian relationip was another high-risk ll of the dice. the engagement wh iran was a high-risk ll of the dice. gog to cairo and giving that

speech in e heart of the arab rld was a high roll of the dice. he has been somebody who has embrasd a very challenging policy. >> lehrer: do yobuy walter's jimmy carterock and a hard ple theor gee no, i don't. i see a very differentan, and i think a much-- taking on tough issues is not the same tng as being indecisive, and e notion that you're -- thagiving speechs is somehow n decision making i mean, he has made pocy in those speees and--. >> lrer: walter didn't say that. i sa that-- >> well, it's paradox, but-- think what he has embrasis-- i thk we remember president carter in the context of t

iranian history cris, and it didn't look quite the waat the time that he was gog-- was undertaking, butlso, as walter also said, this he can auch smooth first year than president carter'sirst year. >> lehrer: walter, you want toome back on that? >> yes, don't want to say barack obama is the new jimm rter because they're very dierent people and the world situation is different. i say the course he's ying to execute poses him to risk of how he's bng perceived and i thk you can see that in some of the criticism jessica's righthat he's taken on tremendouissues at home and abro. soar he's had, i think, more success in working, rticularly with cgress, than president carter did earlyn. but we can see thathese-- you kn , prident bush took a lot risks too. rolling the ce and then rollg the doubling cube and double or thing, it doesn't always work.

and one of the problems yocan see now is if you lookt public support for the health carbill it's actuay lower than public support for the surge in afghanistan. d when you have a very lock, inconclusive war bng more popular th a-- than what ought to be a very popar domestic inittive, then i think you do see an administration th's head ing to rough political seas. i'm no predicting how it's going to come out. i don't think we can know. and barackbama is one of the most talented anfar-seeing people we've elect president in quite a while. who knows what'soing to happen buit is a stormy sea. >> lehrer: all right, speang of the stormy sea, dan, hodo yoread the simple fact, at least accordinto the polls, the critics coming aftebarack obama are coming on very strongly from the left andery stngly from the right at the same time. is that to be expected or is there

something usual you see the that you can explain to us? >> ihink it's two different phenomena, jim. going backo the point about jimmy carter, i think thathe challenge thatarack obama has faced and continues to face is onthat was part of the narrative of theampaign that he had to overcome, whh was this questn was did someone with the limited amount of experience he had , was he gng to bable to govern in a very dangerous world and wod he have the strgth to be a strong commander in chi? he passed that thresho, obviously,n the campaign. that's dferent than passing it as president. i think therwill always be some suspicion , particularly on the right, about whether hhas the equipmento do that. are in a much more polarize environment today an we were certainly ck in jimmy carter's day. all know, that and i think that's one of the asons he will continue to face that kd of cticism so there's kind of almost a haitrigger in terms of everything does gets examined very, very closely he has that challenge he haso deal with. the challees, or the criticism

he's geting from the left, i thk are in part a function of kind of disappointment-- disillusioment is too strong a word-- but his a victim of expectations that ran wabeyond what he was able to dor could be expecd to do. there arpeople on the left who because of his big victory a little more than a year ag thought that things would ange and ange very quickly and they would change in a very prressive way on policy. may of the things he is pushing haveeen and continue toe near and deer to the liberal agda. but he is prepared to coromise toet some of those thin thugh, the public option perhaps beg the most symbolically signicant of those-- and when he does tse things there is disappointmentolt left a so he gets criticized th way. >> lehrer: in a word,. jessica tuchman maews, do you agree the expectationing things--

>> thewere unrealistically high. there's question. there was feeling th somehow heould make magic, and not en barack obama can make magic. >> lrer: okay, thank you, all three, very much. >> ifill: now to our two-pt look at yemen,he impoverished abian peninsula nation ddenly in the international spotlight as an al qaeda hen. authities there arrested 3 men today in a security ackdown aimed at rooting out militts. itegan after investigators found a link between yen and e bombing suspect. jonathon rugman independent telesion news reports from the couny's capital. >>om: it's a long way from here to deoit, but it was in saas sprawling streets that a plot to blow up a paenger jet on chrtmas day may well have be planned. yemen, ancesal homeland of osama bin ladehimself, is once again on al qaedas fro line. and the big burly man wi the balding pate and benefent

smile knows alabout it. for nasser al-bai alias "abu jandal" is the forr bodyguard to osama bin len himself. a martyr he says, a man toe loved. nasser al-bahri biladens formerodyguard i have ofn said i love osa bin laden more than my father. we shared manyxperiences and heefends the islamic nation. he doesn't like killg. >> reporter:r. al bahri was e of many yemenis serving alonide bin laden in the afghan mountains in thlate 1990s, wheree earned the nickname, the kill. out after jail time inemen, he now rks here as a business consultant. but he's still pud of the leg wod the al qaeda leader often bandaged up for him. and though he's retired om jid, his sympathy for the latest generation is hd to disguise. do you understand wha nigerian legedly would

>> do you know w this nigerian wanted to blow up thblaen headedo detroit? >> ( anslated ): i wish the question wasn't so ïve. britain d america are in iraq and in afghanistan. they intvene in the affairs of islamic nations. there are a million pele out there like the nigeria >> reporter: omar ruk abdul mutall, the nigerian student with explosives in his underpants, who put qaeda back on the p. he stued arabic last summer at th language school in sanaa. it seems a sanand civilized ple of learning, now tainted by the actions of onnotorious pupil. ose teacher say he was smart the best in the ass, not a man to blow up a plane mid-flit. >> ( translated like the whole rld i was wrong about him. amsterdaairport was wrong about him. he waslways smiling. >> reporter: sming, like the friely former bodyguard of the

wods most wanted man. who now lives qutly in this dirt poor capital city, ere al qaeda stilinspires young men to wage war agnst the west. >> lehrer: now marret warner looks at what the yen terrorism conntions mean for guantanamo dainees. >> warr: ever since taking office, president oba has worked to nor his pledge to shut the prison at guantanam bay, cuba. but his januy 2010 deadline has already ipped. w the apparent connection between the suspect in t christmas day pl has raised a new hurdle. nearly 100 yemenis are sll at guantanamobout half the total inmate population remainin there. near half of those yemenis have been cleared for rease. but th was before yesterday's announcement from thpresident. >> gen the unsettled situation, i've spen to the attorney genal and we've agreed thawe will not be

trsferring additional detainees back to yemen athis time. >> warner: for retired u. navy commander ki lippold, the desion came not a moment too soon. i'm actual very pleased tha they chose to do that. think it shows that they recognize th the yemini govement is having a very hard time in maintaining ntrol throughout t country. >> warne lippold was skipper of the "uss cole" in octob of 2000, when it waattacked by al qaa suicide bombers off the coast of yemen. 17 american sailorwere killed. >> it wod be unwise for to retu people back to that country if in ct they have the pontial to return back to al qaeda and return to e battlefid. >> warner: in fact, on some 20 yemenis ve been released to date fm guantanamo. and benjaminittes at the broongs institution in washington says there's a reon for at. >> the problem is , in short that y have a group of people, a very lge percentage of the

totapopulation of guantanamo many owhom are from the u.s. government's point of ew pretty scary pple, and a country th is very badly positioned to mage the risks thathey pose in absorbing them. >> warne and that, says wittes has meant that yemenis he always been treated differeny from others sefor release at guantanamo >> in addion to the scary yemenis, there are a gro of people tre who had they been saudi, hadhey been from, you know some other countries wod have gone ho a long time ago. >> warner: ieed, yemen is a country of 22 milliowith a agile government facing secession in t south and rebelln in the north not to mention cripplinpoverty. it's proven ferte ground for al qaeda in e arabian peninsula the oup claiming responsibility for christmasay bombg attempt. only o released yemeni has retued to the battlefield, but many fmer saudi guatanamo detainees are now in al qaa's leership there.

>> they we to yemen for a ason and the reason is that the long armf the saudi stayed umand the long arm of any state has a lot more troub reaching you in men than it does in,n other places. >> warner: whington attorney orge clarke represents two yemenis at guaanamo. he ss decisions on who gets released should contin to be made on a case by case bas. >> i think both the bush adnistration and the obama administration, tried to relse people that ey thought were t dangerous to the united stes and or its interests. and i thinthat that, that analysis suld continue in the future as opposed to sort , me sort of blanket. warner: but after what president ama said tuesday, clarke says it isn't cle what comes next for one of his clients who'd been sted for release. >> honestly don't know what happens to him i think with clearly t blanket prohibitn, they're not going to be going anywhere for while

>> warner: it's not ju the fate of indidual inmates that'sangs in the balance. the prident's temporary ban doesn't resolve larger politically charged qutions that he ancongress have to wrese with. repuicans have argued the president was wrong fromhe staron guantanamo. in aecent letter, congressman peteoekstra, ranking republicann the house inteigence committee, said the chrimas day incident requires . obama to abandon his "braz and naive edge to close guannamo bay. hoekstra followed up sundaon abc's his week." >> the core grp of al qaeda on e arabian peninsula is formed by formegitmo detainees. these are peoplehat were held initmo, have been returned, and have now gone ba to the battlefid. >> warner: democratic congrewoman jane harman, chairm of a house subcommittee on terrorism assessmen takes issue with tha

>> it's way o simplistic it is true tt there is a connection beten the christmas day bombernd yemen and that i think guantanamo foods a recruiting tool at surksnique wodwide al qaeda and other bad guys. >> warner:arman supports the temporary freeze on repatriang yemeni detaine but says indefitely holding them is not a permanent solution tthis thny problem. one of t alternatives is to transfer the yemeni prisons even those cleed for release to federal facility in thompson, illinois, which wa chosen recently the obama adminiration to take detainees o can't be released elsewher but that prospect remas murky since it unclear when and if congress will fu security upgrades need at the prison. >> i think the administratn is sorting th out right now. this wrinkle about yem is fairly recenand it is very serious. i support what t

administration is doing suspend the transfer orelease of any othese people into yemen. but we areoing to have to, ey are going to have to find other answer. >> warne benjamin wittes warns delay in finding an answerould pose anotheranger, that the urts could order the government to free those "cleared for releasein the u.s. if nother country will take them. >> you could imagine aituation in whichhe government has a chce between yemen and cleveland. anthat's a very unappealing choice from the govement's point of view. >> warner:t could be a politically zardous choice as well, given the passions aeady aroused by talk of releasingny gitmo detainees into the u.. >> ifill: now washinon's new 'arts' chief. jeffy brown has our profile. >> brown: rocco ndesman is a succsful broadway producer, whose mpany jujamcyn, owns five major theaterin new york and has presented numerous award-winning play including "angelin america", and "the producs".

♪ now landesman has given uphe bright lights broadway for thhalls of washingn's bureaucracy. as head of the nional endowment for tharts, he manages federal agency that's seen its sha of ups and downs: stard by congress in 1965 to ster and bring the arts to a americans, but a frequentarget of conservives for funding of controrsial works. landesn wasted no time raising eyebrowshe called nea funding "pathetic", d suggested money should go to programbased on merit, n automatically to all congressiol districts. "i don't know if there's a theater in peoria," said in an intview, "but i would bet that it's not as good steppenwolf or the goodm," referring to t chicago companie that didn't play well in peoa. but recentlylandesman paid a sit, answered questions, and

made amends. look at that >> brown: helso launched a six-month tour he cas "art works," toighlight the arts' role in the nation's culturend economy. recently, surround by paintings byis father, landesn said he took his new job despite advice to th contrary. >> whei went around and polled my friends and friendland people that trusted the most about whether i shld volunteer for is every last one of them said you are out of ur mind. you are t of your mind to come here. they sd you are out of your blankety blank mind don'even think about it to come dowand run a small federal agcy 170 person beaucracy, its backwater, the amount of funding thathey can do ultimaly doesn't make that big a difference. i didn't feel that washe case. i felt ithis administration it was going be something more. you have aresident who himself

a writer, who res about the arts, they go tohe theatre, they go museums they reay are engaged withrts. clearly this is president who has different view of the arts than previous adminirations and i waed to be a part of that. >> bwn: and what is it you wa to do? >> what is it thatas been lacking in the government'role peaps vis-a-vis the arts that you ink you could step in and lp well, i think the arts have always been a kindf step child in ts country, a target for some people, somethingiewed as an extrar an add on for hers. something t essential. i beeve arts are essential. it's a fundamental parof who we are as man beings. it'serribly important and i felt that this was may one way i could make a conibution. the greathing about this rticular post whatever the limitations of the bget is that it's a grt bully pulpit. brown: why do you think tha the arts are undvalued then in our soety? >> well compare r support of the ts with any other frame of refence you like. england is the worst suprter of the arts in europe. about $9oo millionn public commitment.

france is about $2.3 blion. our currt budget it about $160 million. we are among allhe developed worlds theeakest supporter of the arts in this country oa public basis. >> brown: inact you called gornment funding for the arts pathetic. >> yes and theovernment doesn't like it when iay that cause it sounds a little bit too i sound too much like advocate b.. >> brown: wellare you an advoca? that how you see your role? >> this is an intesting question. you know we are a ant making agency. we are n a regulatory agency or enforcement agency-- we supporthe art through grant making so part of the join my view invves some advocacy. i do feel that wrepresent art and artists wiin the gornment within the ministration and this is a source or always younow always source of some tension.

yocreated a stir early on with the peoria commentnd it sounded as tugh you were saying that money ould go to placesith proven merit as opposed to the more traditnal sort of distbution geographically. that's theay it sounded. >>ell peoria was really a figure of spch. i'a broadway guy and there is that great old vauville expressionell play in peoria. what i w trying to say was really thaart that's going to be supported bthe nea is going to be onhe basis of merit and quality not just bause it ists in a certain place. so art can come om everywhere anwe are going to be wherever it is. >> bwn: of course when you talk about qualityarrates excellen then for some folks at can to start to sound lik a kindf elitism, you are coming here? hereou are a big broadway guy, new york, >> can't stand that. that somehow standards is co for elitism. or something worse. don't buy that at all.

i dot think that there is a dionnect between supporting ality and having some kind o stdard and bng democratic anbeing in many, many different aces. >> brown: but go back to the funding questiongain i mean we have gone around t country and ported on different cities, states, and art initutions that areuffering. when you getown to a main stet and there is a lot of differenneeds out there, what'she case for giving it to the ballet, or the dce whever the modern dance company aspposed to the you know the homeless shelter orhe peopleho need food? >> because youre making an invement in the future of that commity. it's one thing just to giv someone a grant or even to ge soone a job that will last so longyou build an arts community in a neighborhd it becomes an iegral part of that nehborhood. part othe fabric of that place. artists are enepreneurs, they are ple makers. they are indivuals small businessmeand you put them to a community and it change

that pce. it me me crazy when the stimul package was announced $787 billion and the neaot $50 million yoturn on the telesion and here is a congressn saying how can you spen$50 million on t nea when that money could be spe creating real jo like road building. >> brown: it dris you crazy to lien to a congressman but you know you have to wk with these congressmen now. >> i do and i do and will. >> brown: as you've been traveling around the count now you started traveling ound the country do youind a reception the arts and a real awarene for it nowadays? >> i do, i think there is a hunger for it. but to t extent that there are ples and segments of the country where there is n i think that reles to the lack ofrts education in the schools. it's alwaythe first thing cut when the is a budget crisis and i have to say in d't want sound terribly partisan about

this buthis whole "no child left behind" initiative whh is essentially program to train teacrs, to train kids to take tests leaves a lot ochild's behind. there e a lot of kids who have a talent an iosyncratic passion oromething special out them, the arts catches these ki. d i think its very important to have arts educaon in the schools. this should be just about performance on standdized tests. >> brown: you knowou say you n't want to be partisan and yet you e willing to say thgs like that, that will not everybody will likto hear that. >> i think the preside knew who he wasetting when he brought there. i'm going be outspoken. i'm going to be forceful in what i say. m going to be pounding the table about the artsf people want to gard that as partisan i cant help . think he could have chosen a lot of oth people whose resumes maybe laid out lot better for this job th mine i think he wand change. chge was a mantra of the campai and i think he wanted change at the nea and he going to get it. >>rown: rocco landeman thanks for letting us ce to talk. >> it'good to be with you jeff.

>> ill: for the record, the national endowmentor the arts is o of the funders of the nehour's arts coverage. >> lehrer:gain, the major velopments of the day. two more demratic senators pl to retire after this year, chris dodd of connticut and byron dorgan of north dakota the nigerian susct in the airlin bombing plot was indicted on charges includin atmpted murder. and pakiani officials reported u.s. drone strikes killeat least 13 peoplnear the border th afghanistan. the newshour is always onle. ha sreenivasan, in our newsroom, previewshat's there. hari, >> sreenivasan: we have re inghts from "washington post" reporter chris cillizza on t retirements of docratic senators dodd and dorgan dante chin stopped by to discuss new research on th impact of immigrion on political battlegrounds acro the country, that's onur patchwork nation page. on art beat, a conrsation remembering abstract artist kenneth noland who dd yesterda plus a slideshow of his colorful geometric paiings and an interview with franceo

clark, a young man pfiled on the pbs series this emotiol life, which exores the human search for happiness. e final episode airs tonight on many pbs statio. all that and more isn our web site, newshour.pbs.org >> ifill: and again, to our honor roll of ameran service personl killed in the iraq and afghanistan conflicts. we add them their deaths are made official and photograph become available. here, in silence, are ne more.

ifill: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm gwen ifill, >> lehrer: and i'm j lehrer. 'll see you on-line, and aga here tomorrow eving, thank you and good night. major funding for the s newshour is provided by:

♪ >> and by sf railway.

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