that will could cost him potentially, at least, a second term. and who says you can't go home again. we're going to revisit the place in indonesia where mr. obama lived as a young boy hours before he gets there. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." president obama is going to go to new lengths to strengthen ties with india to convince americans that the growing economic power house is not stealing american jobs. the president wrapped up a trip to india with a state dinner, a speech to parliament, and a joint news conference with the prime minister. he tried to address worries back here at home about outsourcing, kri citing new trade deals saying it will create thousands of well paying jobs for u.s. workers. >> when i go back home to the united states, part of the reason i advertise the 50,000 jobs i wanted to be able to say to the american people, hen they asked me, well, why are you spending time with india, aren't they taking our jobs? i want to say, they just created 50,000 jobs. and that's why we shouldn't be resorting to protectionist measures. we shouldn't be thinking it's a one-way street. >> we're going to go to india shortly and speak with sara sidner. she's on the scene. stand by for that. this is what awaits the president and hipz next stop, indonesia. a deadly volcano has been erupting for two weeks but the president's travel plans have not been affected. not yet. back in june, the president was forced to scrap a trip. he had to visit the country where he grew up, spent a few years of his childhood living in indonesia. the first time he had to cancel that trip was in march. he promoted and later signed health care reform legislation into law. meanwhile, new air security measures are taking effect today, prompted by that package bomb plot uncovered late last month. toner and ink cartridges over 16 ounces are now banned on passenger flights in both carry-on and checked baggage. the dpt of homeland security also extending the ban on air cargo from yemen to include somalia as well. all of this is happening right now as we're getting new information about what's going on as officials are cracking down on cargo security. they're paying new attention to a lot of other problems here in the united states. cnn's allan chernoff is standing by in new york. he's got more details on this. allen? >> indeed, wolf. this is a growing problem. a lot of people are concerned about the possibility of corruption within the air cargo security business. >> bribing officials overseas, a forwarder said he did that for five years, paying thousands of bribes, worth at least $27 million to government officials in seven countries, including angola, russia, and nigeria. not only is it a violation of the foreign corrupt practices act, but in today's world, experts say it raises troubling questions about air freight security. a payoff warns the former commissioner of u.s. customs and border protection could be the security hole that permits a dangerous package on to a plane. >> corruption is a problem to any security strategy. it can undermine the various elements of a strategy. >> can alpena paid bribes from 2002 to 2007 to avoid inspection, documentation requirements, and customs duties. the settlement with the government will cost almost $82 million. the company said they have reform so it can react in an ethical manner. the bribe factor ahern said magnifies the urgency of strengthening intelligence-based security as opposed to technology that can be bypassed. >> 100% scanning does not equal 100% security. >> that's the case with large retail shippers like fedex and ups that accept packages from almost anyway. some small shippers know exactly whom they're dealing with and what they're packaging. he works for museums around the globe. she knows exactly what goes into the crates. we're seeing do you think that screening all packages is going to help air security? >> i don't think so. particularly for the kind of commodity that we ship. it's redundant. it can also create unnecessary handling of the objects, you know, as well as additional expense. >> allen is back with us. allan, how much of this is a problem, specifically for small shippers. >> the small shippers like she was saying if you add the extra layers of security, the expense of it, that could put them out of business. so when you combine that concern along with the risk of bribes, experts are saying that improving intelligence is really the way to get air cargo security as opposed to focusing on technology. wolf? >> serious problem indeed. not going away. thank you. a revolted democratic party ranks. jack cafferty is here with the cafferty file. jack? >> some people encyst in cys in knowing when to call it quit, outstaying their welcome and nancy pelosi is looking like one of them. despite her party being crushed in last week's midterm elections, despite her party losing control of the house of representatives, nancy pelosi wants to stay on as the democrat's minority leader in the house. but a growing number of democrats, her own party, are having none of it. fox news is written a defeated democrats drafting a letter urging nancy pelosi to step aside. with pelosi in charge, quote, the hangover of 2010 stands no chance of subsiding, unquote. other democratic house members have said they would vote against nancy pelosi if she insists on running for minority leader. the republicans, of course, couldn't be happier about this. they are positively giddy-yap about keeping nancy pelosi as the liter in the house. it's generally agreed that pelosi and harry reid drove the democrats off of the cliff. and an analysis of tv ads shows more money was spent and more commercials run against nancy pelosi in the midterms than against any other congressional leader since newt gingrich. $65 million spent on 161,000 ads targeting pelosi. is she oh blblivious to all of ? nancy pelosi had a 23% approval rating, 53% unfavorable rating. isn't it time for nancy pelosi to just go away? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile. share your thoughts. >> and they will, jack. thank you, jack cafferty with the cafferty file. president obama is talking about america's bleak jobs market and the fears that it's becoming the, quote, new normal. the threat to the economy and to his chances for re-election. and stand by for the republican congressman who will have a lot of power to make the next two years of the obama administration potentially, at least, an investigative nightmare. darryl isa, standing by to join us live. you could never deliver this much power in a space this small until now. introducing the craftsman compact right angle impact driver. delivering powerful torque, and greater control in the tightest spaces more innovation. more great values. craftsman. trust. in your hands. (announcer) everything you need to stay balanced on long trips. residence inn. president spoke before the indian parliament today. made it clear the obama administration would like to see india become a permanent member of the united nations security council. let's thereon this -- >> the just and sustainable international order that america seeks includes a united nations that is efficient, effective, credible, and legitimate. but that is why i can say today, in the years ahead, i look forward to a reformed united nations security council that includes india as a permanent member. >> bring in cnn's sara sidner in new delhi covering the visit for us. it's well receive bid the indians, not so well received by the rivals, the neighbors, the pakistan pakistanis. what's the thinking there in india, sarah? do they think this will get off of the ground? that india will become a permanent member of the security council. >> they absolutely do. they think it's about time. they've been pushing for this in the back ground for a very long time now. you heard great applause after mr. obama said, yes, the u.s. will back india for a bid for a permanent seat on the u.n. security council. a very strategic ally. that's what they kept talking about over and over again. india is in a region. the most stable country in the region economically and politically. it's bordered by a war torn afghanistan. pakistan is a little less stable there. but also a nuclear power. and also counterbalance it if india was to get this seat. counterbalances the new powerful influence of china. for america, it's a great strategic ally that is something that the president again and again made very clear to the world and to india itself while he was here. wolf? >> the press in india, lively as you well know, they were not unhappy with the ermier comments about pakistan. a lot of them think pakistan is a state sponsor of terror. they remember what happened in mumbai a couple of years ago. how is the president being received, though, now that he's wrapping up his visit to india? oh aoki tell you this, like you said at the very beginning, this stems from the first speech outside of the taj hotel. the last battleground of the mumbai attacks where 160 people were killed. he did not mention who the culprits were in that, which were pakistani citizens. and so india reacted a bit so the citizens and the media as to why he did not mention that. then, after he made his speech in parliament on the second u.s. president to do that in front of a full parliament, after that, he did said to pakistan, look, pakistan has to take care of the terror within his borders and have to control the extremist groups there. a big round of applause. after that, he really charmed india and india sees him as someone who can be and help bridge the gap between the india-america, and pakistan situation, the ties there. >> a lot going on for the president this week as he -- i guess ready to leave india for indonesia. next stop, sarah sidner, thanks very much. she's dubbed a king maker in the wake of the elections. talking about sarah palin. she has her sights set on a new target. does she have the ability, though, to set policy change in motion? and a new report card on fast food fare. the score generally a big fat f. who has the worst and the best meals for kids? ♪ [ upbeat instrumental ] [ rattling ] [ gasps ] [ rattling ] [ laughing ] [ announcer ] close enough just isn't good enough. - if your car is in an accident, - [ laughing continues ] make sure it's repaired with the right replacement parts. take the scary out of life with travelers. call or click now for an agent or quote. i worry about my son playing football. which is why i'm really excited. because toyota developed this software that can simulate head injuries and helps make people safer. then they shared this technology with researchers at wake forest to help reduce head injuries on the football field. so, you know, i can feel a bit better about my son playing football. [ male announcer ] how would you use toyota technology to make a better world? learn how to share your ideas at toyota.com/ideasforgood. >> the democrats trouncing the election day forcing president obama to publicly reflect on where he and his party have gone wrong. let's bring in our senior political analyst gloria borger. he was doing a lot of reflecting. he had a 70-minute interview on 60 minutes yesterday. the only televised part of the interview. it's all part of the website. but listen to this little bit that he said what keeps him up late at night. >> what is a danger is that we stay stuck in a new normal where unemployment rates stay high. people who have jobs see their incomes go up. businesses make big profits, but they've learned to do more with less. and so they don't hire. >> well, that's a major nightmare, not only for all of the people out there, but as far as he's concerned, if the unemployment rate is still very high in two years, this chance of getting re-election, obviously, go down. >> sure. if that's the new normal, you could have a new president, wolf. i mean, if unemployment remains at 9.6%, the public is going to be very unforgiving. i think the problem the president has is that he doesn't have a whole lot of tools in the tool box, which is why you see the fed now buying treasuries and trying to help out in that manner. but, look, this is -- this is the democrat's nightmare. whanld you see from this president now is really trying to reach across the aisle because in some way, shape, or form, i think he hopes or believes that the republicans may overreach on the budget cutting side of the equation and at least that could prop him up to a certain degree if he's seen as somebody who's reaching across the aisle in a postpartisan way. that's what people thought they got when they elected him? >> by all accounts, the republicans now are going to be more conservative than the previous congress. and a lot of the members of the senate, for example, the repibbs up for re-election in 2012, they're worried about a tea party-backed challenger. whether orrin hatch worked over the years or olympia snowe in maine. they have to worry about a tea party challenge. they're going to be more reluctant to compromise with the democrats. >> sure, they will. and the whole question, wolf, is whether they overreach and where they could do that. and in talking about the democratic sources, i think they're figuring when the republicans have to put up and say these are the budget cuts we need to get to -- to start reducing the deficit. that the american public might start saying, whoa, we want to reduce the deficit. but we don't want to cut medicare or social security or raise the retirement agent. we don't want to cut this program or that program or education. and that there is -- they're feeling that that's going to set up the argument that, in fact, the president and the democrats can have. but, you know, we just don't know at this point how either side is going to behave. >> in that 60 minutes, the interview, steve croft asked the president about all of the appearances he's been making on 60 minutes but on "the view" or "the daily show with jon stewart" whether it diminishes the office of the presidency. listen to what the president said? >> i've got to adapt the presidency to reach as many people as possible in as many settings as possible so they can hear directly from me. but, you know this, is an example of where on the one hand folks say, well, you know, he's a little too remote. then if i'm on "the view," well, then he shouldn't be on some daytime tv show. my attitude is, if i'm reaching people, if i'm talking to them, i'm willing to take the risks of overexposure on that front. >> i'm sure he reached millions and millions of people last night on "60 minutes" following football. sure he had a big audience. so is there anything wrong with the president going on these shows? >> you know, it's not how many times you see him, wolf, because he does have a point there. but it's what you see. and what he says. and, you know, with dewe saw bill clinton once on mtv talking boxers and briefs and that was the end of it. what democrats were complaining about was that you saw them in all of the places in the election. they believe, particularly the ones who lost, they believe he didn't effectively carry the message that they needed to carry about all of the things they have done to try to help the economy. and they believe that he wasn't a good spokesman for them. they think it might be good for barack obama to be seen. but it wasn't -- it didn't trickle down to them. they believe as leader of the democratic party that he should have done more. now, he is kind of overexposed. and i wouldn't be surprised if they pulled back just a touch more now that they've done the big "60 minutes" interview. he has to get down to work. you'll see him meeting with republican leaders, i would think, because that's the new message they want to get across, which is that he's trying and they're waiting -- the democrats are waiting to see if it's returned. and they believe the public will be on their side if republicans behave in a partisan way. >> all right, gloria. thanks very much. we'll be back. later, sarah palin has her eye on a new postelection target. kate baldwin is here monitoring some of the other top stories in "the situation room," walking in right now. what is sarah palin up to right now? >> oh taking on an unusual political foe this time. sarah palin is taking aim at the federal reserve and its chairman, ben bernanke in a speech prepared for her appearance in phoenix, the former alaska governor takes issue with the newly announced plan to buy up hundreds of billions of dollars in long-term treasury bonds to jump start the economy. the speech is viewed as a shift for palin who generally steered clear of major policy statements so far. now this one is really interesting. today marks the 50th anniversary of the 35th president of the united states. during his campaign, "life" magazine, then a popular weekly assigned the best photographers to follow jvgs fk. they took thousands of photographs. life.com released some of the unpublished kennedy photos from that era. amazing stuff. parents -- listen. another study to tell you about. a new one says fast food marketing to children is up. and meals advertised at popular restaurant chains are, probably no surprise, very unhealthy. the report from policy and obesity said the worst meal was -- dairy queen's cheese burger, fries, soft drink, and dilly bar, totalling 973 calories. researchers found 12 out of the 3,000 meal combos met nutritional combos. the healthier, subway veggie delight paired with apple slices and 100% juice. this is what's going to sound obvious to you. you're on the road, stay awake. easy? not so much. traffic safety says a lot of us don't. 40% of drivers surveyed said they have dozed off behind the wheel at some point. researchers blame drowsy driving for one in six fatal crashes. the best advice for a long road trip, get a good night's sleep. start out the road trip in the morning. i will admit, i'm one of the 40%. >> i don't want you to have any dilly bars either. i don't know what that is. >> you have not live? >> it's ice cream with a nice chocolate shell. >> oh. >> exactly. >> i've had that. i didn't know those were called the dilly bar. >> they're right there. the worst, right behind you. >> only in moderation. a little dessert. >> one dilly bar a day. >> no, that's the apple. >> what are we going to do with you? >> come on in, congressman. he's going to be joining us right after this. i don't know if you've been eating dilly bars, congressman. but we're not going to investiga investigate. >> not since i have to wear suits. >> the congressman is coming back. right after this. hey, did you ever finish last month's invoices? sadly, no. oh. but i did pick up your dry cleaning and had your shoes shined. well, i made you a reservation at the sushi place around the corner. well, in that case, i better get back to these invoices... which i'll do right after making your favorite pancakes. you know what? i'm going to tidy up your side of the office. i can't hear you because i'm also making you a smoothie. [ male announcer ] marriott hotels & resorts knows it's better for xerox to automate their global invoice process so they can focus on serving their customers. with xerox, you're ready for real business. the incoming republican majority to house of representatives could make the obama administration miserable if they want to. talk about it with one congressman keen to take over the investigative committee, daryl issa of california. that would be your state. are you going to make their life miserable? will they all have to start hiring lawyers? >> no. we'll get to the bottom of where money went and where it was well spent. we're going to try to roll back the direction of government. many people talked about reducing the 100 million of discretionary spending. we're rolling back $350 million a year which was the stimulus over two years. >> this's a big part of where we start. i said i have two priorities. one is public safety. things like the frk da, mms, the oil spill, and places where it affects people's lives. the money spending that has not let to jobs. >> some would love you to go after the acorn investigation or the new black panthers and some of the highly publicized activities. >> always things that you watch where you have to follow up and refer it to the attorney general and so on. that's not what the committee is about. we're supposed to be finding waste, creating reform, making government do its job. doing it with a smaller budge, not a larger budget. >> here's what you said on the rush bim law show back on october 19. there will be a certain degree of grid lock as the president adjusts to the fact that he has been one of the most corrupt presidents in modern times. he's ignored the laws that said were so vital when he was a senator. wow, those are strong words. >> they were tough. >> got to back it up. he's one of the most corrupt presidents in modern times? >> oh there was a campaign. i make no bones about it. if i had to do it all over again, i would purse my words a little more carefully. if you hand a president nearly a trillion dollars in walking around money, he uses it for political paybacks, that's corrupt. when you have things like acorn where the president once received money to work for them and there seems to be no follow-up, even while states recognized there's a corrupt organization, there's a problem. the new black panthers that you mentioned is not in my lane, another congressman's lane, lamar smith. >> the chairman of the judiciary committee? >> he'll be the chairman there. this is voter intimidation. voter fraud, voter intimidation, wasting money, these are important. but understand, corrupt is often taken by people to be breaking the law. it's not necessarily breaking the law. getting all that money and using it in a way that was not its intended purpose, it did not create jobs, that's a problem. i need to be fair to the president and say, i come here to work with you. i come to make your administration more successful because you comply with the will of the people in light of the election. i'm going have to have a working relationship if we're going to bring hundreds of millions or dollars of spending out of it. never again will we hand you congressional ear marks, never again will we give you walking around money that becomes discretionary ear marks by the president? >> one of the most corrupt presidents in modern times? that's political rhetoric? >> i would say the administration's, if you will, ability to be corrupt because nearly a trillion dollars that congress gave them and let them do whatever they wanted with it should have been approach in the sense that the house -- the senate, and the president wasted a considerable amount of money and they did so in a way that's political. that's a big difference in saying one of the most corrupt. do i think the president has a long way to go to make the kind of changes he promised to make? absolutely. the sestak issue is an issue not about a new crime or wrongdoing, but saying we're not going to change it. >> joe sestak, when he was running against arlen specter for the democratic nomination. he was approached and said he'll get a job and some sort of title in the obama administration if you drop out. you're saying what? >> i can only take on an issue like that that occur in the bush administration if i take on the whole problem. i find out that president bush -- >> so you're not going to investigate it. >> i'm going to look for changes so it doesn't happen in the future. going to recognize that the problem from the gulf in mms began on president bush or president clinton's watch, i have to be fair and bipartisan, we need reforms for all presidents. not just this one. >> you don't or you do think the president is corrupt? >> i think this administration is going to have to make a change. the word corrupt is not an unreasonable -- black's law would say getting $800 billion and spending it in political paybacks to a great extent to public employee unions and governments was, in fact, a misuse that i would call corrupt. do i think that the president is permly corrupt? no, i should never have implied that or said that on a quick statement on a radio call-in. >> you were supposed to meet with joe biden to start a new dialogue. he called you to invite you in. what happen? >> a good conversation. fairly lengthy in which we talkled a little bit about what we needed to start doing together. i think when the vice president had scheduled it, perhaps, the president would be out of the country, it hasn't hit him how busy the schedule was going to be. they said they want to reschedule next week. a number of issues we need to work on together. we certainly have to deal with the fact that the special ig on the -- on the stimulus and the tarp, they don't have subpoena authority, they need to have it. we have a bill in the senate, pass in the house, trapped there, that would give them the ability to do that. additionally, one of the things i want to lobby the vice president is, we do not have mandatory reporting. we have voluntary reporting on all of the stimulus money. that's not going to work. because what we're getting is we're getting the reporting of the right spending an not the reporting of the wrong spending. >> should officials in the white house right now think about lawyering up? >> no. what they should think about is one of our number one priorities to give all 74 igs, inspector generals, subpoena authority. they are the ones that need to be able to use subpoena, be able to do investigations and be free of fear of being fired for doing it. a lot of what i want to do is make the administration do their job better. there aren't enough of us in a little committee to be able to really go after government. we can go after the white house. but the mistake is, the white house is not the probable. the bureaucracy to a great extent is the problem. >> so you, i assume, have studied what happened after president clinton lost the majority in '94 and '95. the republicans took over. and the white water investigations, the paula jones investigations, there were subpoenas after subpoenas after subpoenas. what i hear you saying is you're not going to do that. >> i have no intention on doing that. the fact is, we were out of power for 40 years. i don't think we knew how to lead. we've only been out of the majority for four years. we've learned lessons by being voted out. but we have also a pretty good amount of knowledge on how do you lead? how did tom davis bring about real reforms when he was chairman. how do they do the things that the americans want us to do. we've got to do those first. >> what is the first thing to investigate? >> that's a long list. >> number one? >> well, look, i'm very concerned about the fda and their able to make sure their food and medicine is safe. under chairman towns, we had bipartisan hearings to show us that we're not good at either one. and there are real problems to make sure we can do that basic task of government. and i said in the beginning, safety -- the american people's safety, whether it's oil in the gulf or the food and drugs that they -- that they take feeling that they've been checked by the government. that has to come first. no question we're going to work on that. that's where government money is important. >> that's something everybody can agree on. food, safety, for our kids and all that. no one is going to quarrel with you on that. >> when ed and i switched position. >> the outgoing. >> chairman towns. >> when we switched positions, my hope is everything that's bipartisan before is bipartisan again. >> you're going to start off on a positive note. >> we're going to work first on the things that we agree need to be ficked. the ocean management -- >> the result of the bp disaster the gulf. >> but they were a corrupted organization under the -- under president bush's watch. this is a group that had -- >> mms -- >> mms in those days. we had hearing after hearing in which we saw the too-cozy relationship and we failed and the bush administration failed to fix it to have prevented this. so i look at it and i say, when i start in '05, when i was a subcommittee chairman, i have to finish to make sure i work with the administration to ensure this organization becomes functional on the revenue we deserve and the safety we deserve in the work that they do. those are things that are clearly in my lane. they could be controversial from time to time. i don't think they should be. you said which one is first? i can't fail to tell you there is one investigation i'm going to continue -- the friends of angulo, finding out how hundreds of thousands of dollars per recipient, mostly people in government, not elected people, influenced freddie and fannie's decisions to take bad loans. >> special mortgages, like chris dodd. was he one of those? >> he was one of those. but i'm not looking at the senators and the congressman as much as i look at the staffers and the people over at freddie and fannie that, in fact, may very well have been more important to the bad decision. i think that when it comes to member of the house and the senate, that's an ethics job. that's not committee. but it is important that we get the facts. if i find something in the house and the senate as we've done in the past, we refer to ethics and leave it alone. when i look at 100 people on staff in the house and senate and freddie and fannie who received the special loans in key positions, i have to ask, was angulo doing it because he was a nice guy, or because he got a real bang for his dollar and i think the latter the true. >> investigating the mineral and management mines. with have a lot on your plate. >> america is a great country with a lot of problem on the government. if we don't make a change in the two years, we don't deserve to have an opportunity to lead. i've gotten this opportunity. i want to make the most of it. it won't be by investigating the president first, it will be fixing the problems first. >> the whole country will be watching. >> thanks, wolf. >> thanks for coming in. >> my pleasure. >> good luck. >> thank you. the cia chief is giving a stern warning to his employees about the incredible damage they could do. stand by. new information coming in. and the kidnapped victim, elizabeth smart, relives her abduction in court. ♪ [ male announcer ] one hundred years ago, chevrolet sprang bolt by bolt, car by car, out of the very best america had to offer. ingenuity. integrity. optimism. and a belief that the finest things are the most thoughtfully made -- not the most expensive. today, the american character is no less strong. and chevrolet continues as an expression of the best of it. bringing more technology to more people than ever in our history. inventing new ways to get around our planet while preserving it at the same time. exploring new horizons of design and power. and making our vehicles amongst the safest on earth. this isn't just any car company. this is chevrolet. and the strength of our nation can be found in every car and truck we make. it's why, today, tomorrow, and on into a bright future, we can proudly say... ...chevy runs deep. ♪ [ technician ] are you busy? 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[ male announcer ] humana and walmart are teaming up to bring you a low-price medicare prescription drug plan called the humana walmart-. it's a new plan that covers both brand ans and has the lowest-pricednatioy of only $14.80 per month and in-store copays as . when you could save over, you can focus on the things . ♪ go to walmart.com for details. when we all become doers. when our mittens double as work gloves. and we turn every room into a project. but this year, let's trim the budget. get some help from martha stewart that we can't get anywhere else. and spread our money as far as our cheer. ♪ more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. we're lowering the cost of bright spirits. trade any light string for 3 bucks off a new led set. get right to the strategy session. joining us now, the democratic strategist and cnn political contributor, paul begala and republican strategist rich galen. guys, thanks very much for coming in. the mayor of new york, mayor bloomberg, he's outspoken assessing some of the new members who are coming to washington. if you look at the u.s., you look at who we're electing to congress, to the senate, they can't read. i bet you a bunch of these people don't have passports. we're about to start a trade war with china if we're not careful here because nobody knows where china is. nobody knows what china is. mayor michael bloomberg quote in "the wall street journal." he sounded happy with a lot of the new members. i assume he's not referring to the republicans because they're the new ones coming to town. >> michael bloomberg is elected as republican, mayor of new york. >> independent. >> now an independent, but comes out of the republican party in the politics. this is the intellectual arrogance that's disappointing. i don't like the outcome of the election. i disagree with most of the republican congressman coming in. lord al mighty, they haven't done anything yet. let's wait and see how they do. i'm just -- i hate that kind of intellectual arrogance. >> it's that elitism that -- that -- the upper east side of new york. i mean, that's why everybody else hates new york city people. my father who grew up and raised and born in brooklyn would have called brooklyn a new york smart. he's better than anybody else. but, you know, if he wants to run for president, we may not be able to read, but we can't count. there are a number of electoral votes in the west coast and the east coast to get there. >> will he run? >> he will. i think he will. yeah. >> do you think he will. >> i think if the republicans nominate an extreme conservative, sarah palin, glen beck. the people who run their party. they might see some opening. i'm not kidding. but ms. palin is the queen and king maker of the republican party now. it's inconceivable. you can't say things like that. it's not true. lots of smart people are conservative. i'm standing next to one. okay? and lots of perfectly moral people are liberal. the notion that all liberals are smart is are pure is wrong. >> it does remind me of what then candidate obama said in california when he said about pennsylvanians, that they're bitter and they rely on their guns and their religion. i think bloomberg was in on -- >> i want both of you to stand by. i want to talk about the tea party and what republicans are fearing incumbent republicans as they're looking ahead to 2012, their own reelections. they're not worried about democrats, but they're worried about other republicans. stand by for that. also, jack cafferty coming up later. we'll be right back. let's get back to the strategy session. paul begala and rich guialen ar here. a tea party spokesman said this. hopefully the 2010 election results will cause more senators to see the light about excessive growth of government and deficit spending. so we will give them a chance to improve before we make them feel the heat in their reelection campaigns. after the results this week, my guess is many senators will suddenly be more willing to adhere to conservative ideals. mostly republicans. so if you're orrin hatch in utah, who has worked with democrats over the years, or olympia snowe in maine, how worried should you be about a tea party backed candidate going of you? >> i think anybody running for any office needs to be aware of what happens to them. cassel got to see what happened to murkowski a week before and he still didn't do anything about it. everybody needs to take all of this stuff as seriously as you would in any campaign. i don't think there's anything wrong with long-term incumbents having to work to -- shall he be retained. >> sometimes people want a new face. >> but this smells like a purity test. this smells like rigid extremism. frankly, it helps the democrats. if you start knocking out -- the -- the tea party -- >> it helped in can kentucky. >> no, it didn't. they lost in delaware because of the tea party, i believe. mike cassel would have won that race. >> didn't help in florida. >> they won in some places, but they lost in places they should have won. they should have won nevada. they certainly should have won in delaware. they should have won in colorado. they limited their gains in what should have been a republican wave. but also, it ought not be a crime, a sin. if they worship the founding fathers, the founding fathers were all about compromise. >> we'll continue this conversation, guys. thanks very much. an american-born islamic cleric sends out the call to kill americans. he's wanted dead or alive. new information coming in. in to? 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yes, i do. if you want to read more on this, you'll find it on my blog. >> thanks, jack. you're in "the situation room." happening now, he's a radical cleric in one of the world's most wanted terrorists. now he's giving his followers a blanket license to kill americans, even as his father is fighting to keep america from killing his son. also, as president obama heads to indonesia, we visit the place where he spends some of his most formative years as a kid. this hour, a tour inside the president's childhood home. and he's a sole survivor of a vicious home invasion that left his wife and two daughters dead. now as the killer is sentenced, he's speaking out. you'll hear his emotional statement this hour. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. breaking news, political headlines and jeanne moos, all straight ahead. i'm wolf blitzer. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com he's an american citizen and a radical cleric linked to terrorist attacks from the ft. hood massacre to the plot the other day. anmer al awlaki is wanted dead or alive, but now he's got a chilling new message. he says it's okay to kill americans, no permission needed. cnn's brian todd has details of this latest threat. what are you finding out? >> wolf, because anwar al awlaki is a religious figure in yemen, this is being taken very seriously. it's drawing one strong reaction from at least one quarter of the u.s. intelligence community. a message that prompts a u.s. counterterrorism official to say, quote, he's vile, american-born cleric anwar al awlaki wanted dead or alive by u.s. and yemeni authorities sendsute chilling call, giving militants blanket permission to kill americans. >> translator: do not seek any permission when it comes to the killing of the americans. finding the devil doesn't need a religious edict, deliberation, prayer or guidance. they are the party of the devil and fighting them is a personal duty of our times. >> reporter: the raddical cleri made the remarks posted on islamic websites. officials say al awlaki is linked directly to the christmas day airline bombing plot and to the ft. hood shooter. they say he's a significant figure in the group al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. given who we know he's linked to and incidents that he's linked to, could we take this as a possible signal that something may be coming? >> i don't think this is the signal for some imminent attack, but the fact that he's a religious cleric and he's giving religious sanctions is important. his people want to have the feeling that there's a figure giving them sanction to do something that in islam is pretty controversial, which is killing civilians. >> reporter: u.s. officials have confirmed that al awlaki is on a government hit list to be captured or killed, but lawyers for al awlaki's father are insisting because he's an american citizen, he has a right to due process. the father is suing, trying to stop the u.s. government from killing him. defenders of the government's position say killing al awlaki would be a legitimate military action taken in wartime against an imminent threat. the yemeni foreign minister says u.s. foreign intelligence is helping track down al awlaki and he made a surprising admission. >> the yemeni air force has unmanned drones? >> yes. >> now, yemeni officials have said there are no u.s. drone attacks in their country. a national security council official told us they don't comment on specific weapons systems or flplatforms. >> you were at the hearing today, this lawsuit from al awlaki's father. what happened? >> no final ruling from the judge today, wolf. he indicated it may not come within the next few days. he did ask a lot of tough questions to the aclu attorneys who represent his father. the father, we have to say, is currently in yemen, not in the united states. a lot of the questions today had to deal with threshold issues, whether the father has any right to bring this suit. what was interesting also, on more than one occasion during this hearing, government lawyers said if al awlaki would turn himself in, he would have no reason to fear being killed. >> brian, thanks. we're also learning that president obama discussed terror twice with india's prime minister before wrapping up his visit to india today. at issue, the case of an american man who helped plan that deadly 2008 terror attack in mumbai. our correspondent, ed henry, is traveling with the president. ed? >> wolf, senior u.s. officials say that president obama and indian prime minister singh spoke for a second time today about what information the u.s. government had on david headley, to played a major role in plotting those terror attacks in mumbai two years ago that killed 200 people. headley was a drug informant for the u.s. government who was sent to pakistan after 9/11. what is at issue here is why the u.s. government did not act on intelligence they had suggesting he might be a terrorist. two ex-wives of headley had gone to the u.s. government in 2005, 2006, and had said they had worries that maybe he was plotting some sort of a terror attack. white house aide ben rhodes said today while the u.s. government did have general intelligence, they did not have specific intel suggesting that he was targeting mum b mumbai. >> we didn't have information relevant to the -- the attacks. what we had was various different kinds of information about david headley that -- that, again, weren't specific to particular plot in india, had more to do with suspicions about david headley and, again, so it wasn't an instance where we did not share something related to that particular plot. it was information related to david headley. >> even though these intelligence mistakes occurred before president obama took office, his administration is being very aggressive in trying to clean it up. they've been reaching out to prime minister singh. they made headley available to the indian government after he was apprehended. this is part of a broader agenda to forge closer ties with the indian government on trade, climate change and also counterterrorism. and today back in washington, the director of national intelligence who is conducting on investigation of this whole situation released a statement saying that u.s. officials did not conduct the dots on headley until 2009, after the mumbai terror attacks, is that if they had this intelligence connected sooner, they would have immediately informed the indian government. wolf? >> ed henry, thank you. we'll have more on the president's trip to india in a few minutes, including a very heated confrontation between the white house press secretary and indian security all on behalf of the u.s. news media. we'll explain what's going on. stand by for that. before he left on his asian tour, president obama gave an interview that's still generating a lot of buzz. he's talking candidly about where his administration went wrong, leading to the democrats' trouncing on election day. listen to what he told cbs' "60 minutes". >> you know, i think that over the course of two years, we were so busy and so focused on getting a bunch of stuff done that we stopped paying attention to the fact that leadership isn't just legislation. that it's a matter of persuading people. and giving them confidence. and bringing them together. and setting a tone. we haven't always been successful at that, and i take personal responsibility for that. and it's something that i've got to examine carefully as i go forward. >> let's go deeper with david gergen. david, admitting failure, is that going to help the president going forward? >> i think it does help when he shows humility, as he did in that interview. what i think does not work is when he claims that this was a communications failure and that was essentially was what derailed democrats. the fact -- i think the facts show, wolf, that the president and his team did not take their eye off the ball about trying to persuade people. the president was out regularly -- by a cbs tally in the first 423 days of the president's time in office, he gave 471 speeches, comments, remarks. he was out in the public eye trying to persuade people more than once a day. that's far more exposure than any of his predecessors, even including bill clinton and george w. bush. it's the way -- it was not a lack of expoekser. take health care. he gave 54 speeches on health care. now, it wasn't that people didn't get the message. they did. but it's that old line about people who sell dog food. you can package it any way you want and make it -- with beautiful ribbons and a great bow, but sometimes the dogs just don't like the dog food. >> so looking forward, what does he need to do now? >> well, wolf, i think it's an interesting question. he clearly -- you had a conversation with gloria borger in the last hour. he's got to get this unemployment rate down. i think that -- that's partly a question of coming back with some ideas for how to advance the economy. and then actually getting some momentum. and i don't think it's a matter of just giving tons more speeches and getting into people's backyards. you know, americans showed when george w. bush, you know, gave speech after speech about the iraq war, when they thought we were losing it, they just stopped listening. and he could give as many speeches as he wanted, they want to see facts change on the ground. he needs to see facts change. the unemployment rate has to come down by the time he goes into the elections. history shows that -- these are interesting numbers. of the last nine presidents who sought reelection, the only three who lost were those who had unemployment rates at 7.5% or higher. and that was namely jerry ford, jimmy carter, and george bush senior. those three went down in reelection bids with a high unemployment rate. for barack obama, the goal has to bring it under 7.5% by november of 2012. >> that's going to be very, very hard. >> hard to do. >> all right, david. thanks. president obama's future is also on jack kacafferty's mind. jack is back with "the cafferty file." >> america's love affair with barack obama is over. zuckerman writes the election results show how far away the country has drifted from mr. obama. quote, a man who was once seen as a talented, even charismatic speaker is now seen as lacking real experience or even the ability to stop america's decline, unquote. there's a growing sense now that mr. obama has isolated himself from everyone who matters. according to politico.com, members of his own party worry that the president has distanced himself from congressional democrats, democratic lobbyist recollecti, business leaders, the media, members of his own cabinet and most importantly, a whole bunch of voters. he may not be able to get it turned around in time for 2012. the question being whether he's self-aware enough to make the changes and whether events will choose to cooperate. one democratic official says, he's pomore of a movement leade than a politician. he needs someone to kick his ass on things large and small and teach him to be a politician. ouch. on some level, the president seems to be catching on here. in that interview with "60 minutes" he acknowledged mistakes that he's made. mr. obama says he misjudged the pace of the economic recovery and didn't always live up to his campaign promise to change the tone of the white house debate. so here's the question. is america's love affair with president obama over? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile. >> jack, thank you. his job usually has a battling reporters, but now he's going to bat for reporters fighting indian security or access. we have details of the dramatic and unusual action that the white house press secretary, robert gibbs, had to take on our behalf. also, a half a wordld away, the childhood home of president obama in indonesia. he's heading there right now. we'll go inside. and a survivor's emotional remarks as a man who helped murder his family is sentenced. mom, new shoes? old legs. p.a.d., the doctor said. p-a-d... p.a.d. isn't just poor circulation in your legs causing you pain. it more than doubles your risk of a heart attack or stroke. i was going to tell you. if you have p.a.d., plavix can help protect you from a heart attack or stroke. plavix helps keep blood platelets from sticking together and forming clots, the cause of most heart attacks and strokes. call the doctor about plavix -- please? i will. 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[ male announcer ] nature is unique... ...authentic... ...pure... and also delicious. ♪ like nature valley. granola bars made with crunchy oats and pure honey. because natural is not only good, it also tastes good. nature valley -- 100% natural. 100% delicious. it was truly a crime that shocked the country. a connecticut mother and her two young daughters killed during a nightmarish home invasion. today a jury handed down the death penalty for one of the two men accused in that crime, convicted triple killer steven hayes. now the slain family's sole survivor is speaking out. kate baldwin is here with more on this horrendous, horrendous story. >> it such a horrible story. we're told defendant steven hayes, he showed little emotion as the jury sentenced him to die, but there was plenty of emotion on the courtroom steps. dr. william petit called the death sentence a, quote, verdict for justice. he'd been beaten himself with a baseball bat and left for dead while his wife, jennifer, and daughters were terrorized. he managed to free himself, but his wife and daughters died when their house went up in flames. today he said there will never be closure. >> the question is what is going through my heart? i was really crying, crying for loss. you know, probably many of you have kids. mikaela was an 11-year-old little girl. you know? he tortured and he killed her in her own bedroom, you know? surrounded by stuffed animals. and hailey had a great future. she was a strong and courageous person. and jennifer helped so many kids at children's hospital in pittsburgh and at strong memorial in rochester and at the children's hospital. she cannot do that. so i'm just really thinking of the tremendous loss. it's a huge void in my life. and our family and friends' lives. to all their -- to hundreds and thousands of friends and people that have -- have written to us to express their condolences and support, so i -- i was glad for the girls that there was justice because i think it's -- i think it's a just verdict. but mostly, mostly i was sad for the loss that we have all suffered. it's helpful that justice has been served with an appropriate verdi verdict. i don't think there's ever closure. i think whoever came up with that concept is an imbile is. i think many of you know who have lost a parent or a child or a friend, there's never closure. there's a hole, you know. the way i've imagined it straight through, it's a hole with jagged edges and over time, the edges may smooth out a little bit, but the hole in your heart and the hole in your soul is still there. so there is -- there's never closure. i was very much insulted when people asked me last year that if the death penalty were rendered, would that somehow give me closure. absolutely not. you know, this is not about revenge. you know, vengeance belongs to the lord. this is about justice. we need to have some rules in a civilized society. and if life is that important, we need to view -- view it in that fashion. >> just absolutely tears at your heart to hear his words. the jury deliberated for 18 hours. there's another suspect, joshua c camer sarjevsky that's expected to go on trial next year. this seems to ring exactly true. if you lose a spouse, you're a widower. if you lose a parent, you're an orphan. there's no words to describe if you lose a child. that's really what you hear there. >> all right. kate, thank you. they certainly could be all too easy prey for con men. investigators warning many of ameri america's elderly are at risk for abuse. we'll tell you how to keep your loved ones, your parents, your grandparents safe. there's information you need to know. we have it for you. and george w. bush famously did it. now it's president obama's turn to do it as well. you'll find out who coached him to show off for dancing moves. there they are. stay with us. you're in "the situation room." y i speak a different language. but i love math and math and science develop new ideas. we've used hydrogen in our plants for decades. the old hydrogen units were very large. recently, we've been able to reduce that. then our scientists said "what if we could make it small enough to produce and use hydrogen right on board a car, as part of a hydrogen system." this could significantly reduce emissions and increase fuel economy by as much as 80%. when we all become doers. when our mittens double as work gloves. and we turn every room into a project. but this year, let's trim the budget. get some help from martha stewart that we can't get anywhere else. and spread our money as far as our cheer. ♪ more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. we're lowering the cost of bright spirits. trade any light string for 3 bucks off a new led set. i worry about my son playing football. which is why i'm really excited. because toyota developed this software that can simulate head injuries and helps make people safer. then they shared this technology with researchers at wake forest to help reduce head injuries on the football field. so, you know, i can feel a bit better about my son playing football. [ male announcer ] how would you use toyota technology to make a better world? learn how to share your ideas at toyota.com/ideasforgood. kate baldwin is back, monitoring the top stories in "the situation room" right now. kate, the american student jailed in italy, what's going on? >> there's a lot going on. the american student convicted of killing her british roommate in italy faces another trial on slander charges this time. amanda knox and her parents are accused of defaming italian police. the charges stem from accusations that police mistreated and hit her after they arrested her for meredith kercher's murder. knox is serving 26 years in an italian prison. she plans to appeal the conviction later this month. and this is a really great story. one of king henry viii most beautiful palaces has all but disappeared, but a rarely seen 16th century painting of the palace could be yours for the right price. it goes up for auction in december. the 1568 artwork has only been displayed in public twice before. it earned its name because no other palace could match its beauty. but it fell into disrepair in the 1680s after a countess began demolishing it. it's been a tough couple of weeks at home for president obama, but that didn't stop him from showing off his dance moves in india. can't get enough of this. take a look at president obama. he broke into a traditional indian dance with school children in mumbai. they were celebrating the hindu festivals of lights. michelle obama also joined in the fancy footwork. >> it looked like she was giving it a little american angle with the hands going up like that. >> we call that flair, las you know. >> that's right. what do you think? >> i think -- i think i know someone else that knows how to dance really well. >> not me. >> you know you can dance. >> i'm learning. >> you are? >> yeah. please? >> i'll be at the b.e.t. soul train awards. i've got to do what i've got to do. john wall, go to youtube and check him out. you'll see it. >> i'm going to do that right away. >> okay. it's the indonesian home where a future american president spent an important part of his childhood. we're going there. stand by and the white house press secretary's fight with indian security officials. thank you, thank you robert gibbs. and the contestant that blew everyone away solving a "wheel of fortune" puzzle. stand by. 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[ tires screech ] [ dennis ] dollar for dollar nobody protects you from mayhem like allstate. president obama's next stop, indonesia where he spent part of his childhood. he wrapped up his trip to india with a state dinner after telling the indian parliament he'll be backing a bid for a permanent seat on the united nations security council for india. the president's press secretary also made some unusual news getting into a tussle with indian security. let's bring back brian todd. you've got new details on what happened. tell our viewers who don't know what happened what happened. >> quite a scene, wolf. explaining what the pool is, it's often too expensive and not logistically practical for each news organization to send a team in to cover presidential events. they arrange for a so-called pool. it's pooling resources to send in a small group or one team that speaks for all the other journalists and then shares that material that's gathered with those other journalists. today at the president's bilateral meeting in india, real confusion ensued when indian officials decided to put the agreed-on number of pool journalists allowed into this meeting for a photo op. the journalists thought eight would be allowed in. the indians said only five. robert gibbs said he'd pull the president out of the meeting unless the eight were allowed in. the video is a little jumpy because photographers are often adjusting their gear to make sure the video is right, but take a listen to this. >> here's what i'd like to do. i'm going to start with these guys. i shouldn't have any problem getting in because that -- they're going in with me. the whole group is going in with me. okay. those guys, if there's a pool, all of them go in. all of my guys go in. okay? that's the new agreement. >> now, at one point gibbs literally had his foot in the door, pressing officials to let the eight journalists in. they were let in and then hustled back out. it was a scrum in there. >> i can only imagine. thank you, robert, for doing this. this isn't the first time he's intervened on a foreign trip. >> not at all. almost a year ago during the climate conference, gibbs got into it with chinese officials trying to keep american reporters out of a photo op. this is after chinese media had been allowed in. he got even -- he got tougher at that point. take a look. >> i got to get my american guys in because everybody else got in. those guys -- >> no, no, no. >> no, no, no. all right. my guys get in just like your guys got in. this is a joint meeting. my guys get in or we're leaving the meeting. >> i did not get in. >> come on. >> so twice in the span of one year, robert gibbs intercedes with local security officials trying to force the hand and try to get u.s. journalists in there and he at both times said i'm going to pull the president out. pretty forceful by robert gibbs. >> he should do that. he did a good job. we thank him for that. it's motjust tnot just the amer media. the world gets to see this. if you don't let the pool in, the pool of reporters, we're not going to see it. >> tell us about your experience. clinton, blair, 1997. >> i was the network television pool reporter for this meeting where the president, president bill clinton, was meeting with tony blair, the british prime minister and we were going in. we are the camera crews and everything. one of tony blair's communications advisers said you guys can go in but you're not allowed to ask questions. and i pointedly said, well, we're going to go in, we can ask questions. they don't have to answer the questions. it's a free country, but we'll ask the questions and they can answer or not answer. don't ask questions or you're not going in. i said, we'll go in, ask questions, they don't have to answer. we had a back and forth and they said, we're not letting you in. i said we're going in. if we don't go in, the world is not going to see any pictures of the president of the united states. >> we got the picture. we have a clip of it. >> we have a sound bite. we went in and i asked the question and both leaders were more than happy to respond. listen to this. >> thanks, guys. there rill be a press conference later where you can ask questions. >> would you care to share with those some of your thoughts about some of the lessons you learned in getting elected from president clinton's playbook? >> you'll have an opportunity to ask us questions later this afternoon, thank you. >> he was annoyed. bill clinton was not annoyed. our job is to ask the questions. they don't have to answer them. >> did you get any brushback? >> yes. for years, he was a jnnoy would me, president blair's press secretary. i wasn't just representing cnn. i was representing all of the u.s. television networks. when you're in the pool, you stop working for your own company and you work for everybody. >> it's a very competitive situation. >> lit give a shout out to robert gibbs. he did the right thing for the press and for the american public. thank you, robert. a broken system is putting american's elderly at risk. what you need to know to protect yourself or your loved ones, your parents or your grandparents. stand by. new information and imagine solving wheel of fortune with only one letter and an apostrophe. stand by. client comes in and they have a box. and inside that box is their financial life. people wake up and realize i better start doing something. we open up that box. we organize it. and we make decisions. we really are here to help you. they look back and think, "wow. i never thought i could do this." but we've actually done it. [ male announcer ] visit ameriprise.com and put a confident retirement more within reach. try capzasin-hp. it penetrates deep to block pain signals for hours of relief. capzasin-hp. take the pain out of arthritis. more and more of us will need care as we age, but a new report says the guardianship system is broken. kate baldwin is back, and she reports. >> this is the table. >> reporter: thelma oliver managed the grand street cafe in kansas city, okamissouri. she befriended a man named griffi griffith coon s. he had no family, a collection of antique toy soldiers were his only companied. he seemed well-educated and generous. >> i said, i really like that blazer. and he literally took it off of his back and gave it to me. i still have it to this day. >> reporter: it was that generous spirit, though, that may have been his greatest failing as he became frail with age, he stopped driving and started taking cabs. soon, oliver noticed a strampger at her regular's table. >> the taxi driver would start coming in and sith at the table and having lunch with him, which i thought was kind of different. >> reporter: this is that taxi driver, a convicted bank robber who plans to empty another bank. this time, his target was mr. cc coons. >> he insinuated himself into the life of the victim, who is an isolated, single man. >> reporter: mike warner handled the case for the u.s. attorney's office. he says even with his criminal past and even without being related to coons, he was able to become much more than a driver. >> he went to various lawyers and over a period of time was able to acquire every type of legal documentation that he could to take control over mr. coons. >> reporter: late one night, the man was smuggled out of his nursing home. >> he was shuttled to an unfinished basement. he was basically kept in a bed with a diaper. the conditions were pretty horrific. >> he had a legal obligation to care for griffith and clearly he did not. he was in a physical and mental state that was deplorable. >> reporter: the fbi's tom dalton says as legal guardian, he used the man's money not for elderly care, but as you see in this surveillance video, he spent it on himself. even bought a hummer. >> he used the victim's funds to obtain jewelry, exotic dances, at least one, if not more, vehicles and spent the money on his extended family. >> reporter: in all, he stole more than $500,000. unfortunately, the government accountability office says this is not an isolated case. it's just finished an eye-opening nationwide investigation into financial exploitation and abuse of seniors. >> what we found were hundreds of cases in 45 states and here in the washington, d.c. area of abuse including fraud and physical abuse of seniors and others that were in the care of these guardians. we then drilled down on 20 cases relating to 158 people and found $5 million of money that was stolen from them, along with physical and other emotional abuse of these people. including many seniors. >> reporter: it sounds like a drop in the bucket. >> the ones thatt get caught, there are many more that never go through the judicial system. only a fraction of fraud is caught. only a fraction of what's caught gets successfully prosecuted. >> reporter: most jobs handling even small amounts of cash require a criminal background check or a credit check, but in most cases, guardians for the elderly can handle millions of dollars and states have failed to require either. >> it's like putting the, you know, fox in the chicken coop. they'll steal money. >> reporter: who is dropping the ball here? >> i think the local court systems are dropping the ball. they're the ones that are appointing guardians that in some cases were criminals or had serious financial prnoblems. they're supposed to be overseeing this activity. they were asleep at the switch. >> what needs to be done? >> reporter: to do no background checks on them is irresponsible. there has to be more consistent monitoring. >> reporter: unfortunately, it's too late for griffith. he died in 2005, just ten days after police rescued him from his so-called caretaker's basement. not a penny of the 640,000 that was stolen has been repaid. he's in prison now, but will get out in less than ten years unless the system is fixed, he could strike again. >> kate is here in "the situation room." excellent report. these are startling findings in this investigation that's been going on. what can we done moving forward? >> it's a huge question, wolf. this investigation was requested by the senate special committee on aging. the committee says it will consider federal legislation to help state courts improve training of guardians, judges and the legal personnel, but just take a look at this story. time is of the essence. we're just talking about considering legislation. it's an immediate need. look at this one story and this one case. so it's a little unclear. >> there are so many people out there who could be affected. >> yes. thanks for that. it's the home where a future american president spent his childhood. we'll be right back. one word turns innovative design into revolutionary performance. one word makes the difference between defining the mission and accomplishing the mission. one word makes the difference in defending our nation and the cause of freedom. how... is the word that makes all the difference. how... it doesn't look risky. i mean, phil, does this look risky to you? 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[ female announcer ] only flood insurance covers floods. visit floodsmart.gov/risk to learn your risk. prod obama spent four years in indonesia. season malveaux takes us on a tour of his childhood home. >> hey, wolf. you may recall we were traveling ahead of the president before his canceled he trip. we went on to indonesia. there was a lot of excitement over his trip. you see a picture of president obama back then when he was a young boy. here, the next day, palace plays off delay as preferable. we had a chance to talk to his friends, his teachers, even had a chance to go behind the scenes, a sneak peek at obama's boyhood home. take a look. the two-bedroom house was built in 1939. this woman lives her now and was gracious enough to show us around. but since he doesn't speak english, we thought we'd give you the tour. let's go inside. this is the sitting rool. this is the original furniture from the obama family here. you can see it is a typical original wood. this is where they actually would just kind of hang out. now, this room is the room where reportedly ann dunham, obama's mother, used to teach english to the kids from the neighborhood. let me take you to the next room here. this is the master bedroom. this is where obama's step-father and his mother, this is the master bedroom where they stayed. this is pretty much a shotgun house. we don't know too much about president's bedroom at the white house, but this is barack obama's bedroom when he was about 8 or 9 years old. this is where he used to sleep and study and there are two beds here now, but there was just one back then. this was his own room as a young boy. outside his bedroom, he was under the stars. a complete outdoor garden with plants, birds. he even had a pet rabbit and a little dog. since barack obama became president, hundreds of visitors have come to his indonesian home. he was proud to show us his photos and let me sign the guest book. >> i guess we're not the first. many people before us. yes. thank you. wolf l eyes are on an active volcano in indonesia to make sure that it is safe for the president. so far, white house officials are monitoring it and they say all systems go. so obviously a lot of excitement and anticipation about the president's arrival in jakarta. >> thank you. jack cafferty is coming up next. plus, she's a one-letter wonder. stand by. let's get back to jack for the cafferty file. jack? >> the question this hour -- is america's love affair with president obama over? larry in ohio, "yes, the scam is over. after america got past the greatest political sales pitch ever delivered, they finally see an empty suit with no experience. al from new jersey. zuckerman is wrong. the country has not drifted away from the president. the president has drifted away from the country. he has mistaken opposition to the bush presidency for support of himself. the key question is whether the prodigal son will return. dee from ohio. i hope not. although it would be interesting to see if he could win again in the event that the republican party just goes crazy and nominates palin in 2012. carla writes, it's over. it was a heck of a one night stand in chicago. now he doesn't send us flowers anymore. the universal health care wilted right away. the peace lily turned brown before it could be placed in water ending the flood of money we have poured into the black hole. he's admitted he hasn't called. he's out of touch with what america wants. what's a girl to do? michael in new mexico, no. if it weren't for the obstructionism of the republicans and the spineless blue dog democrats, the country would have been much further down the road. jerry in georgia, it must be nice to run around the world when things at home are going to hell. americans are tired of the rhett tick from both sides of the aisle and the media. government has to come together to get real work done. obama's history as of 2012. he should recognize that. everybody else does. david writes, in the united states, perhaps for some. for the rest of the world, no. ken says, unless people go back to work it's going to be a one-night stand. to read more, go to my blog. >> see you tomorrow, jack. thank you very much. there's only one senate race left officially undecided. alaska's republican nominee joe miller goes one on one on john king at the top of the hour. first, the luckiest game show contestant maybe ever. we were actually thinking, maybe... we're going to hike up here, so we'll catch up with you guys. 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[ applause ] [ bell ringing ] >> reporter: one l and an apostrophe don't help most folks. what is this phrase? >> um -- >> i have no idea. i'm stumped. >> can i buy a vowel. >> reporter: but kate wasn't. pat sajak was momentarily caught mute when she asked to solve? >> can i solve? >> yeah. >> i've got a good feeling about this. >> that's right. >> look at her fellow contestant's face. >> i had a good feeling about it! >> reporter: this transplanted new yorker is such a fan she got tears in her eyes is first time she spun the wheel. >> there is a strategy. the apostrophe helped. >> reporter: if you think she's a one letter wonder what's amazing is she said she had the phrase figured out before there were any letters up. you knew it when it was empty. >> i do it all the time at home. half the time i'm right. >> reporter: skeptics called her a witch, said it was staged, rigged. >> that's funny. i don't know how you would cheat. >> reporter: she won around $53,000 which includes a caribbean trip. she plans to pay off her student loan. >> i have a bucket list of things to do. i wanted to be on "wheel of fortune" and own a chanel bag. >> reporter: this one's about $3,000. someone posted, i can't even solve it when there is only one t