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The Science of Work; Rand Paul for President; Obama Admits to Underestimating ISIS

Aired September 29, 2014 - 08:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Time now for the five things to know for your new day.

Number one, President Obama admitting U.S. intelligence agencies underestimated ISIS and overestimated Iraq's ability to defend itself against the terror organization.

Tens of thousands of protestors in Hong Kong packed city streets, even as riot police back off. The student-led protests are in response to new rules limiting choices on local elections.

The FAA says it hopes to have Chicago's fire damaged air traffic control center fully operational by October 13th. The fire forced cancellations and delays of more than 3,6000 flights since Friday at O'Hare and Midway Airports.

Murder charges expected to be filed this morning against a man who beheaded a coworker in Oklahoma. Police say Alton Nolen was trying to recruit colleagues to convert to Islam and was fired before going on his rampage.

Jury selection begins in a Phoenix courtroom today for the sentencing phase of Jodi Arias' murder trial. She's been found guilty of first degree murder for killing her boyfriend, but the first jury was deadlocked on the dealt penalty.

We are always updating the five things to know. So go to newdaycnn.com for the latest.

Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Christine, thanks so much.

Now part of California, often known for gang violence, teens are turning to technology to try and break the trend. In our series, "The Science of Work," we focus on the so-called STEM fields in science, technology, engineering and math. First up, a young man in Oakland fighting for his American dream with code.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA (voice-over): Matt Ho (ph) came to America when he was just a year old.

MATT HO: My parents fought on the side of the United States during the Vietnam War. They were imprisoned for eight years.

I'm a product of two refugees that endured a lot of hardships to get me here to America.

PEREIRA: But chasing the American dream wasn't always easy.

HO: Well, I grew up in a pretty bad neighborhood in (INAUDIBLE) Oakland. When we were living there in the apartments, my mom was robbed with a gun to her head.

PEREIRA: Ho says his escape was to play video games, when he taught himself how to write computer code. The youngest of six, he sees his siblings struggle.

HO: All my brothers worked two jobs and all my sisters work all day from 9:00 to 7:00 at a nail salon. And I felt like, that life isn't for me.

PEREIRA: At 21, Ho is on a different path. He joined "Hack the Hood" this summer, a non-profit that teaches young people from low income families how to build websites for small businesses.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We work with youth of color, folks who have historically been left out of the technological conversation.

HO: When I first came to "Hack the Hood," I was just lost. I mean I had the skills to code and stuff, but I didn't actually have an outlet to actually put my work out there.

PEREIRA: Ho designed several websites, including one for Wood's Cafe and Laundromat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, the whole process was very seamless. In about a week or so we had this amazing website.

PEREIRA: Ho is now studying computer science at UC-Davis. He's the first in his family to go to college.

HO: When I graduate, I'm planning on maybe starting a startup company. My first real investment is going to be buying my parents a house. And I feel like that's going to make them really proud.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: An impressive young man. Google saw the results. They awarded "Hack the Hood" with half a million dollars from its Impact Challenge. Those funds will allow the organization to train more than 5,000 young people. Great stuff.

All right, could Rand Paul play spoiler in the 2016 presidential race? A new article examines whether the Kentucky senator could make any noise or even win if he gets in the game. We're going to speak with the author of that article next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Welcome back.

There's plenty of speculation about which candidates could throw their hats in the ring for the 2016 presidential race. One name that keeps making its way into the conversation, Rand Paul. He's the Republican senator from Kentucky, the son of former presidential candidate Ron Paul. Ryan Lizza, a CNN political commentator and Washington correspondent for "The New Yorker" has a new profile of the senator, the revenge of Rand Paul. It appears in the latest issue of "The New Yorker." He joins us now.

It's a great piece. A really great peace. You've clearly, Ryan, spent a lot of time with Senator Paul.

RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Oh, thank you, Christine.

Yes, I spent -- I interviewed him four times this summer and was down in Kentucky with him in Washington and spent a lot of time talking to friends, his mother, political advisors. The one person that would not -- that I really could not get, and I think it's interesting why they wouldn't let me talk to him, was his father Ron Paul.

ROMANS: Really?

LIZZA: Ron would not agree to be interviewed for this piece.

ROMANS: Well, now, here's the thing. You know, Rand Paul really came up underneath the, you know, underneath the ideology of his father.

LIZZA: Yes.

ROMANS: But It seems as though he's trying to sort of move beyond that --

LIZZA: Yes.

ROMANS: And move more to the center of the Republican Party.

LIZZA: Yes. This is the sort of -- the center contradiction in Rand Paul's career is, he basically owes his father everything. I mean he would not have been a senator from Kentucky without the movement his father built. He leverage had movement to which was really built in the 2008 presidential campaign to win the Kentucky Senate seat in 2010. And yet now, as he takes -- as he tries to take that next step to run for president in 2016, which he almost certainly will unless, as one of his advisors said, his wife says no. And now he's -- tries to take that next step. His father is obviously not what's going to get him there and he -- his whole project right now and what I sort of documented this summer is trying to separate himself from his -- from the libertarian base and woo the establishment. And especially on two issues that are really critical to his future, and that is foreign policy --

ROMANS: Right. LIZZA: Or those are foreign policy and race.

ROMANS: Well, let's talk about that because it could be the baggage of his father in some cases that could end up haunting him as he goes forward, or will it not?

LIZZA: Well, that is -- that's really the key question. I think -- let me give you a couple of examples of how hard this is for Rand Paul. When I started working on this piece over the summer, the head of the Texas Republican Party -- now, the Texas Republican Party is the biggest state party in the country. It's a very -- and the head of that is who carries -- his voice carries a lot of weight in presidential primary politics. He told me over the summer that Rand Paul was one of the three most likely people to win the Republican nomination.

ROMANS: Wow.

LIZZA: Well, guess what, after the debate over ISIS this summer where Rand Paul was accused of changing his position and not having a clear position, I went back to that person and -- just to make sure he still felt that way and he said, no. He had changed his mind and that the foreign policy issue had so (INAUDIBLE) strained and he'd gotten of messed up with his shifting position that it was too much of a wildcard and he no longer believed that. Now, that's evidence that this project of trying to mainstream Paul's policies is a lot more complicated than maybe he thought.

ROMANS: Right. So mainstreaming Paul's policies. You talked to someone named Jesse Benton (ph), political advisor to Rand Paul. I want to write what he says. There's a sub layer that's a very, very loud minority of supporters and nothing is ever going to be right unless Rand is on a regular basis standing on the floor of the Senate smashing the establishment. They want Ted Cruz on steroids, and that's just not going to work in the long term.

LIZZA: Which is really interesting, one, because he's sort of describing Ted Cruz as too far to the right, right? And he's sort of trying to separate Rand from that wing of the party in a certain way. And it's also interesting because they realize that, you know, Ron Paul, for all the excitement he generated, he could never -- he never won a state and he could never generate more than, you know, five to 15 percent of the Republican base. And so it's just not enough to win the Republican nomination. And so they had this very tricky project of trying to keep the tea party end of the libertarian base with Rand Paul, but at the same time trying to woo these establishment GOP donors and activists and to convince them that he's not his dad.

ROMANS: Right. And -- but you say that he's got the energy this time around with the Republicans like another senator who was talked about and able to raise money, Barack Obama was, not too long ago.

LIZZA: Yes, look, I covered Obama starting in 2004 and I -- and writing about Rand Paul reminded me of that period in Barack Obama's career.

ROMANS: Interesting.

LIZZA: And let's be honest, Obama had a lot of issues he had to overcome. A lot of past associations and statements.

ROMANS: Right. Right.

LIZZA: And it's very similar. I see Rand a little bit as the Obama of the Republican Party right now.

ROMANS: So interesting. All right, Ryan Lizza. It's called "the Revenge of Rand Paul." It's in "The New Yorker" right now. You clearly had a summer of Rand Paul. Nice to see you. Thanks, Ryan.

LIZZA: Good to see you. Take care.

ROMANS: President Obama's admission, he underestimated ISIS, comes just days after ordering the first air strikes against the terror group in Syria. It's a big shift for the president. A "New York Times" White House correspondent will weigh in on Obama's new role, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: President Obama's admission, he underestimated ISIS, comes just days after ordering the first air strikes against the terror group in Syria. Its a big shift for the president. "The New York Times" White House correspondent will weigh in on Obama's new role, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

STEVE KROFT, CBS NEWS: Are you saying that this is not really a war?

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What I'm saying is that we are assisting Iraq in a very real battle that's taking place on their soil, with their troops. But we are providing air support, and it is in our interest to do that because ISIL represents sort of a hybrid of not just a terrorist network, but one with territorial ambitions and some of the strategy and tactics of an army.

This is not America against ISIL.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Why was President Obama so careful on something that seems so obvious in his interview on "60 Minutes" with Steve Kroft?

Well, we have somebody now who may be able to tell us exactly why, because he looks at when Obama came into office as someone who was going to end wars, not start them. So where does this all leave him right now?

Let's get some insight from "New York Times" White House correspondent, Mr. Peter Baker. Peter, thank you for joining us. As people heard that answer, we started to see in social media and otherwise, confusion. Seems pretty obvious that we're at war, but then there's a poll from CNN/ORC says 60 percent, maybe more, don't think we're at war. But the situation seems to be that obvious, but this matters to President Obama. Why?

PETER BAKER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES" WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it does matter to him. You're right. He came into office, his goal was to get us out of Middle East wars. He withdrew from Iraq, plans to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, and he hoped that would be his legacy, to kind of pull back from the militarization of foreign policy.

But he's found himself in a situation where now, suddenly, he's not only back in Iraq, at least in the air, and with some small number of troops on the ground, but also in Syria, a place we hadn't actually been militarily before his presidency.

So I think he's found himself in a place where he's trying to, you know, reconcile these ideas so it feels consistent, and it makes sense to him, and it makes sense to the public he's been trying to lead on this.

CUOMO: What have you figured out? I of course suggest that you read Peter's reporting on this. He has some fresh reporting on it now, its very interesting. However, what have you been able to figure out in terms of why would he do the one thing that he criticized so roundly, that may well have been a big reason he became president.

BAKER: Well, he resisted for as long as he possible could. Three years of serious civil war has been going on. He was warned by some people, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that they ought to get involved more directly by arming some of the more moderate opposition that would not only take on the government of President Bashar al Assad, but counter the rise of a group like ISIS.

He didn't want to do it. He felt like it was a mess, it would be a terrible thing to get the American troops back involved in. And now he feels he has no choice, that ISIS has grown so large. As you heard him say, it's not just a terrorist group, its one with territorial ambitions. He's been forced into a position where he feels he has no choice but to intervene.

He's trying to do it on his own terms. He's not George W. Bush he'd like everybody to understand. He's not going to put large numbers of ground troops in there. But, there's a real question as to whether his strategy will work and what he'll leave his successor.

CUOMO: So, what does it mean, in the thinking of the White House, they're all so legacy-conscious, especially when they're (AUDIOGAP) the second (AUDIOGAP) that he will most likely, President Obama, be defined on an issue that he very much wanted to avoid.

How do they handle it?

BAKER: Yes, I know, its a great question. President Obama, even when he was a senator, actually understood that a presidency is sometimes events that take place outside of your control. I remember him saying that president control may be about 25 percent of what goes on, and the rest is reacting to the world.

Well, that's where he's at right now. He's reacting to the world in Syria and in Iraq, obviously, and other places like Ukraine, Gaza, Afghanistan, and it's not going exactly how he wanted it to go. So, he's focused on trying to get these next two years right, so that when he leaves office, he's left a more stable condition for whoever happens to come along, whether it be Hillary Clinton, or Rand Paul, or somebody else.

It's interesting because a very parallel to where George W. Bush was at this point in his presidency as well. He also felt like it was his job to get Iraq in particular into a place that he could leave his successor in better shape than it was at that time.

CUOMO: Well, big reason, when you look back at the history, just a quick primer on it You know, you know this obviously, Peter, but Bush had set up a deal with Maliki, who was then and obviously running the Iraqi government, about leaving and what would happen. And Maliki was pretty strong about wanting the U.S. out because he had so much trouble domestically with the U.S. being there.

And then, the Obama administration really didn't pay anymore attention to that because they were okay staying out of there as well. That's why McCain and all these guys are arguing, no, we could have been back in there, we should have been a stability force. Now troops on the ground, Peter, will probably be the line between whether this is any different than what we've seen in the past, how does he avoid boots on the ground?

BAKER: That's a good question. Partly its not just how do we avoid boots on the ground. It's how do we define boots on the ground, right?

Does boots on the ground mean no ground forces at all? Probably not. We already have about 1600 folks in Iraq. The idea is, though, they're not going to be out there firing weapons. They're not going to be in direct combat the way they were for nine years, eight years under President Bush and later President Obama.

Eventually, the question is will he introduce special forces to help air strikes determine targets to help Syrian opposition forces, much less Iraqi Army forces, figure out how to do the combat themselves? That's a line that's sort of been shifting over these last few weeks as they try to struggle to define what the strategy really is.

CUOMO: On the good side, he has 70 plus percent of the American people believe that U.S. forces will be necessary in this. The downside, the handling of this situation he's taking a beating. Very complex, needs intelligent coverage. Good thing you're there.

BAKER: Thank you very much.

CUOMO: Peter Baker, strong stuff. We need perspective on it. Thank you for being on NEW DAY. Hope to have you back. BAKER: Have a great day.

CUOMO: You too, you too.

So, here's a question for you. What would you do if you knew a pair of kids who's only toy to play with was a balled up sock? And old sock. What would you do if you knew those kids? We're going to tell you a story about what one police officer did about it, and put it this way, it makes him the Good Stuff.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Time for the Good Stuff, today's edition. A police officer goes above and beyond for a pair of young boys with nothing to play with. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO ( voice-over): Officer Joseph Bolland, okay? Virginia, on patrol in a neighborhood. Spots a pair of kids, looked like they could use a buddy.

JOSEPH BOLLAND, OFFICER WITH HENRICO POLICE DEPARTMENT: They began asking about my different equipment on my police gear. I said, so you guys want to play with some toys or something while we're here? They said they didn't have any. It was pretty heartbreaking.

CUOMO: Turns out the only toy they had to play catch with, a balled up sock. Officer Bolland wasn't having it. You know what he did? He arrested them. No, I'm just kidding. He went out and bought them a proper ball, action figures, even a costume police hat, all with his own money. No publicity stunt here, guys, okay? This was just what he felt he needed to do. The kids reaction, that was the reward.

BOLLAND: Just to see their eyes light up was just incredible. Its probably my greatest experience as a police officer. I got a little teary eyed. I was not expecting that kind of a response towards me.

PEREIRA (voice-over): That's so wonderful. Good Stuff right there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO (on camera): Protect and serve, you know? We tell the story straight when it's the other side. Got to it straight on this side too. Isn't that nice?

PEREIRA: Yes, absolutely.

ROMANS: Protect, and serve, and play.

CUOMO: Right?

PETERSONS: (inaudible) how fortunate you really are. Makes me want to go buy toys right now.

CUOMO: Go buy toys. You should do that. In fact, let's do it right now.

There's a lot of news this morning. Time for the "NEWSROOM" Randi Kaye.

PEREIRA: Hi, Randi.

CUOMO: Have to go buy toys, Randi. Good to see you, though.

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: That is on my list this morning, right after the show. Thanks, guys, Nice to see you.

NEWSROOM starts right now.