has the latest on a powerful computer virus that could be targeting nuclear facilities in iran. there are lots of groups today that are now sitting planning how to make use of this kind of mechanism. >> lehrer: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> brown: there was a changing of the guard at the white house today. president obama announced he's losing his chief-of-staff, rahm emanuel. he'll be succeeded by a long- time advisor, pete rouse. newshour correspondent kwame holman begins our coverage. ( applause ) >> holman: the president and his right-hand man were greeted with a standing ovation in the white house east room. more than 150 cabinet members and senior staffers were there for an event they'd expected for days. >> good morning and welcome to the least suspenseful announcement of all time. ( laughter ) this is a bittersweet day here at the white house. on the one hand, we are all excited for rahm as he takes on a new challenge, for which he is well qualified. but we're also losing a leader of our staff and one who we are going to miss very much. >> holman: in 21 months on the job, emanuel played a lead role in mustering votes in congress for the economic stimulus, health care reform, and new wall street regulations. today, he called mr. obama "the toughest leader any country could ask for in the toughest times any president has faced". and he grew emotional at times. >> i want to thank you for the opportunity to repay in a small portion of the blessings this country has given my family. i give you my word, even as i leave white house, i will never leave that spirit of service behind. >> holman: emanuel did not announce his candidacy for mayor of chicago. he did say he wants to make his hometown "even greater". that will end a long run in washington as a senior advisor in the clinton white house; as a member of congress and member of the house democratic leadership; and finally, white house chief of staff. along the way, he earned the nickname "rahm-bo" for his aggressive manner and strong language. for now, emanuel is being replaced by veteran aide pete rouse. he's been with mr. obama since the president's days as a u.s. senator from illinois. before that, he was chief of staff for senate majority leader tom daschle. >> pete is somebody who is trusted to handle everything and anything, and now he has everything. >> holman: that assessment, by white house press secretary robert gibbs, underscores rouse's reputation as a quiet but powerful figure working in the background. that's in sharp contrast to emanuel's style, as the president noted today. >> pete has never seen a microphone or a tv camera that he likes. >> holman: whether rouse becomes chief of staff on a permanent basis remains an open question. officials said today that choice may not be made for several months. >> brown: and with me to fill in the picture is our political editor, david chalian. david, rahm emanuel from the beginning was seen as this washington insider who could force his way an help the president make his agenda, right. >> and he did help, as mentioned in that piece, jeff, the stimulus bill, the health-care bill, the financial regulatory reform bill, rahm emanuel was a key part of getting those bills through congress. the president gave him some credit for that today and he deserves a ton of it. he knew sort of the inner workings of congress and how to twist some arms for votes. and without rahm emanuel at the helm of that operation, those votes may have been even tougher for the president. >> brown: but that is how he operated through the inside through congress. >> well, he came part of the appeal of why barack obama wanted him to serves achieve of staff was because he was in the democratic leadership in congress and well wired on capitol hill. >> brown: this was not a surprise after mayor daly and the president alluded to the least kept secret here after mayor daly announced he would not be running in chicago. emanuel will run, although he didn't announce it today. but what happens there, what will he face in chicago? >> he heads to chicago this weekend. he heads home to start a listening tour. and it is no slam-dunk that he is going to be able to win the mayoral election. he certainly is a foremidable contender and you may even call him one of the front-runners. the field is not yet fully taken shape but his fund-raising alone, he has 1.2 million in the bank from his house campaign goes immediately into this campaign. he has huge-- he is a huge fund-raiser. he did represent the north side of chicago but some of the choices he mades achieve of staff really angered the liberal left of the democratic party. that may come back to haunt him in chicago. a little bit of rocky relationships with some minority communities, the hispanic and african-american community. will need to work on that as part of his mayoral campaign. >> brown: and then pete roust, the first thing everybody talks about is this contrast with rahm emanuel in style, language, everything, personality but he does have very close ties to the president. >> well right. >> brown: long-standing ties. >> style, there is no doubt. they couldn't be more different. pete has none of that rush style of rahm but it not a big shake-up. president obama likes to work with people he knows and has worked with. and when he came to town in november 2004after his election as a senator, tom daschle, the then ousted senate majority leader basically handed over his chief of staff. pete is known as the 101s senator when he was serving for tom daschle and immediately went to work for barack obama and hasn't left his side yet. so it's not going outside and breaking up this notion of an insurance lar white house. it's using someone from the inside but someone who has the full respect of all the staff at the white house. >> brown: and briefly more changes to come, what do we look for. >> we already know that larry summers one of the top economic advisors is heading back to harvard at the end of this year and it is widely expected that national security advisor jim jones is also going to end his tenure in the obama administration. this is normal, though, for the two year mark after a midterm election. >> brown: all right, david, our political >> lehrer: still to come on the newshour: a suicide at rutgers university; getting out the vote in bosnia; mark shields and michael gerson; and a world-sized computer virus. but first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan in our newsroom. >> sreenivasan: flooding rain and high winds moved up the east coast today, battering the northeast and new england. remnants of tropical storm nicole left major highways and cars under water in newark, new jersey, during the morning commute. more than ten inches of rain flooded homes and businesses in delaware county, pennsylvania. in the storm's wake, coastal north carolina struggled to recover from nearly two feet of rain in the last five days. the political stalemate in iraq may finally be nearing an end after seven months. prime minister nouri al-maliki won the support today of a major shiite group led by muqtada al- sadr. al-sadr is known for his hard- line opposition to the u.s. presence in iraq. his backing puts al-maliki a big step closer to a majority in parliament. pakistan was hit with new turmoil today on several fronts. it began with attackers burning fuel that was meant for u.s. and nato forces in afghanistan. the attacks came in south and central pakistan. shortly after midnight, gunmen torched more than two dozen nato tanker trucks. a truck driver and his assistant died in a second incident. meanwhile, supply convoys were halted for a second day at a key border crossing in the northwest. the crossing closed thursday after a nato helicopter raid killed three pakistani soldiers. prime minister yusuf gilani delivered a warning to nato during a speech today to parliament. >> ( translated ): if you attack inside pakistani territory and cause any collateral damage, we will not accept it. we will never allow you to interfere with pakistan's sovereignty and security. >> sreenivasan: in washington, special u.s. envoy richard holbrooke voiced confidence the border crossing would reopen soon. amid the tensions, pakistan's former military ruler, pervez musharraf, launched a bid to return to power. he acknowledged making mistakes before stepping down, under pressure, in 2008. >> there were some decisions which i took which resulted in negative political repercussions. i take this opportunity to sincerely apologize to the whole nation for those wrong decisions. ( applause ) >> sreenivasan: even so, musharraf insisted only he has the experience to fight al- qaeda, the taliban and the spread of extremism. hours earlier, al qaeda's leader-in-hiding, osama bin laden, issued a new audio message directed at pakistan. it called for new efforts to help muslims affected by war and natural disasters. catastrophic flooding in pakistan has generated widespread anger over the government's response. the president of ecuador, rafael correa, reasserted his power today after violent protests by police. the revolt centered on frozen promotions and bonus cuts, but correa said it was a coup attempt. at one point, he was roughed up and tear-gassed, and troops had to storm a hospital to rescue him. at least three people were killed. the u.s. has apologized for deliberately infecting nearly 700 prisoners and mental patients in guatemala with sexual diseases. it was done in the late 1940s to test penicillin. in a statement today, secretary of state hillary clinton and the secretary of health and human services, kathleen sebelius, called it "reprehensible research". car bombs rocked nigeria's capital, abuja, today, as the african nation celebrated 50 years of independence. at least eight people were killed. the explosions went off minutes apart, leaving the smoking hulks of the two cars. militants in the country's southern delta claimed responsibility. it was the first time the group had struck the capital. in u.s. economic news, bank of america froze home mortgage foreclosures in 23 states. it's checking on whether officials signed legal papers without reading them. two other companies have taken similar steps. and on wall street, stocks moved higher after improvements in consumer spending and auto sales. the dow jones industrial average gained 41 points to close at 10,829. the nasdaq rose two points to close at 2,370. for the week, the dow and the nasdaq lost a fraction of 1%. a single transaction apparently triggered the stock market's "flash crash". on may 6, the dow jones industrial average plunged nearly 1,000 points in less than 30 minutes. today, the securities and exchange commission said a huge computerized "sell" order by an unnamed trading firm started the frenzy. the markets have imposed new curbs to prevent a repeat. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to jim. >> lehrer: the death of a college student is sparking questions about harassment and the boundaries of online privacy. ray suarez begins our story with some background. >> suarez: students at rutgers university are mourning the loss of a classmate who committed suicide just over a week ago, and whose death has triggered a larger conversation about protecting privacy in the digital age. >> in order to prevent just put stricter rules and enforcements for them to make sure it doesn't happen again. >> suarez: on wednesday night, students gathered to remember 18-year-old tyler clementi, a freshman and talented violinist. on september 22, clementi jumped to his death from new york's george washington bridge. it came three days after his roommate, dharun ravi, and classmate molly wei first allegedly broadcast clementi's sexual encounter with another man, secretly, live over the internet. ravi then sent a message on twitter: "roommate asked for the room till midnight. i went into molly's room and turned on my webcam. i saw him making out with a dude. yay." two days later, ravi attempted spying a second time, but this time, clementi shut off the computer. the next day, clementi posted this status on his facebook "jumping off the gw bridge. sorry." new jersey governor chris christie called it an unspeakable tragedy >> and those people who helped to lead him to that bridge, uh, are going to have to bear that responsibility for the rest of their lives. >> suarez: the investigation into what happened inside this rutgers dorm is now quickly shifting to questions about why it happened. clementi's death has and fueled the debate over privacy and cyber-bullying. >> the tools of the internet enabled this cruel or sadistic behavior to be amplified and publicized, not just on the campus but throughout the world, and that really contributed to the extreme emotional reaction that the student had and his impulsive decision to take his life. >> suarez: it has also spurred gay rights activist's who say clementi's online outing was a hate crime. >> you have to prosecute this as a hate crime. anything less would be an insult to the memory of the young man our society lost. >> suarez: ravi and wei have been charged with invasion of privacy, but prosecutors are currently considering filing more severe charges under new jersey's bias crimes law. this week, rutgers launched a new initiative-- "project civility"-- designed to get students thinking about how they treat others. we get two perspectives now on some of the questions and concerns that are being discussed as a result of this case. william saletan has been writing about the privacy issues for "slate" magazine; and shane windmeyer works on gay, lesbian and transgender rights at colleges and universities. he is the founder and executive director of campus pride. he joins us from charlotte. shane, given what you know now and there are still facts coming out about this case, what do you make of it? >> you know, our organization campus pride is very disturbed by the rash of teenage gay suicides that have happened over the last three weeks including the one at johnson and wells just this last wednesday. that bring up to five gay suicides that have happened. and so we're deeply disturbed and ultimately our goal is that colleges and universities across the country take action and use these deaths as an opportunity to really create a safer learning environment for all students. >> suarez: william, you wrote about this for this morning's slate.com, what have you been concluding. >> i'm really struck by the convergence of an old weakness of our nature which is to exploit, you know, students take advantage of each other. they often hum il yate each other, they play pranks. but that now magnified by the technology and the ability of a student to get easy access to someone in a position of, you know, being naked or in an awkward position and to have that image broadcast more easily from one computer to another. so it's the technology that is making it easier for students to play pranks and in this case at a lethal expense. >> suarez: the two suspects are being charged under a class 4 felony statute that is roughly akin to being a peeping tom. you use the word prank. is this a prank or a crime? >> well, i think it is a mistake to approach this case from the standpoint that it is a terrible pathological thing that was done here and that we need to focus on punishing this particular student. i think what is scary to me about this case is how easy it was. and how if you look at the case, how the young man, mr. ravi was drawn into it. where he first goes to another room and the web cam is not turned toward his roommatement but then he realizes that he can do this. and then gradually the mischief starts to build it is the temptation that the technology poses that draws him in. and i think he didn't understand how serious what he was doing was. and a lot of students don't. and that is what we need to focus on. spreading the message about what is accessible and what is not. >> suarez: shane windmeyer what do you think, is this a crime or as some are saying a hate crime? >> well, i do think that there's reason to look at a bias-motivated crime here. i do think it's much more severe than a prank or just an incident that has occurred. the fact that this young man who perpetrated this act is a heterosexual privileged male, and that he didn't understand the repercussion of what he did, does not condone it. our national report that campus pride released last week actually shows that a quarter of all lesbian-gay, by sexual and transgender students actually experience harassment and discrimination on their college campuses across the united states. and so this is a larger issue, not only for rutgers university but for all college and universities to really wake up and understand we have along with a to go in creating these safe learning environments for our students. >> suarez: well, shane s there more help on campus today than there was when you were a student, when i was a student, for people who are feeling despairing? gay or straight or any one who feels they may be at risk for suicide? >> well, you know, the suicide is the ultimate last choice for many lesbian, gay, transgender youth after a long period of harassment, bullying throughout their life. and i don't know tyler. i don't know his family. but in not understanding really the issue here, college campuses, you know, only about 7% of them actually have institutional support for lesbian, gay, by sexual and transgender students and it's 2010. 13% of them actually have sexual orientation in their nondiscrimination statement. so yes we've made progress over the last 20 years since i've been in college. but the fact that there's been five teenage youth suicides that are gay young men is cause for alarm. >> suarez: william, does the idea of what constitutes abuse, what constitutes harassment have to broaden, have to change to reflect the possibilities of this technology? >> yeah, i think it does. i think it does. it's very important to understand when i was researching this i looked went back and looked. there was a case in oregon state university, nine years ago, very similar case, roommate using the-- and making an image of his roommate having sex. and he said after he was caught, and prosecuted, he said i didn't understand that this was wrong. now that was nine years ago. here we are again a decade later and the message has still to the gotten out. and i think that the problem is that now we have many more students who have laptops. the laptops have web cams. the web cams in many cases are built in, they are not conspicuous it is very today just turn it on as this young man did to remotely act vate it now if you have a video chat or skype or something like that it has just made it so much easier to do that. and we have not educated these kids to handle the responsibility of the additional power they have. in this case power to do damage. >> suarez: in this case are you talking about how the machines are becoming easier to use. but isn't something also changing about young people themselves? they talk about where they are. they tell everyone. they take pictures of it send the pictures to everyone on their lists. i mean it got to the point where tyler went on facebook to change his status and send, in effect, a digital suicide note. >> oh, and supposedly he took the computer with him to the bridge. he took the cell phone and the computer. he is announcing his death on there. he also, you know, apparently he had an on-line profile at a web chat, a web site where you go and it is a heavily sexual site but it is consensual, so he is used to that technology, what is not used to is the notion of nonconsensual, someone taking an image of you and broadcasting it without your consent. and it is a very simple rule. but the students have to the gotten your message. i think would be great if we came out of this with something we could call the rutgers rules which is teach the students where you have an expectation of privacy. for example, in your dorm room. and the cardinal rule of consent. it is okay to broadcast something, you can exchange information consensually but not without the consent of the person who is being videotaped. >> suarez: shane windmeyer, you can do that? can you take an act that is essentially unprivate that is leaving your family home and moving on to a college campus, eating with other people, having a roommate, and build in some boundaries for privacy, for protection, to be safe? >> well, i do think for young people today privacy is an issue that they're encountering and fumbling in many ways as has been noted. you know, facebook has an impact on the victims as well as this incident. you know, the suicide that happened has not only impact the rutgers but it impacted colleges across the country and young people across the country. and we see that as a result of facebook and twitter. but let us not forget that tyler also reported this incident to his resident assistant according to some of the news reports. and i still get to hear what happened with that incident report to his resident assistant. which is very disturbing when we think about a student trying to outreach to get maybe support or direction from someone who is supposed to be there for him. >> suarez: shane windmeyer, william saleton, thank you both. >> thank you. >> brown: next, elections in the former yugoslav republic of bosnia, a country torn apart in a civil war and still divided by ethnic loyalties. special correspondent kira kay has our report. ♪ >> reporter: election season in bosnia and herzegovina is in high gear. pumped-up rallies, marches through historic neighborhoods, television debates filling the airwaves. on october 3, citizens will cast their votes for president on down to county representative. the extremely complex geographic and political system here means there are 8,000 candidates in this country of fewer than four million people. in the country's capital, sarajevo, the activist group dosta, which means "enough," is trying to help vers navigate the forest of candidates and get them engaged with the issues. voter apathy is a major problem here. >> so this is the vote meter two. >> reporter: dosta's coordinator, darko brkan, shows me how his vote meter works. >> you've got 48 questions on different issues-- for instance, health care, employment, social politics. and we have all of these you can answer with "i totally agree" up to "i totally disagree." >> reporter: darko's primary targets are young voters. almost 80,000 of them are now eligible for the first time, an entire generation that has come of age in the years following this country's brutal ethnic war. >> i am 18 years old. i am going to vote this year and i am going to elect because i want a new country. >> reporter: at the dosta event, we met alen, born the year the war started and orphaned when his parents' car hit a land mine. corruption and education are his issues. >> i go to the high school. our education is very expensive. we need a lot of money for books, for the internet and other things. i need somebody who will help me to educate, but not to give a lot of money. >> reporter: alen also says he worries about an increase in ethnically divisive politics. >> i don't care if he's kerim or muhammed or his name. i don't care that, or which religion he is. i don't care, he is my friend. i am playing basketball and that's important. >> reporter: do you think the politicians understand that? >> no. no. they are not understand that. >> reporter: in many ways, this country is still recovering from the war that tore it apart in the early 1990s. more than 100,000 people were killed. mass graves are still being discovered today. buildings remain pockmarked from years of shelling. the agreement that ended the war in 1995 carved the country into two autonomous ethnic entities-- a serb majority area called republika srpska, and a federation predominantly of bosniak muslims and catholic croats. dosta coordinator darko brkan says now, 15 years later, there are three distinct societies here. >> the segregation that's happening in bosnia after the war is something everybody's getting used to. you got young people, 18 to 20 years, that kind of don't have friends of an other ethnicity, are deprived of all the normal things in life. >> reporter: once so diverse it was called "the jerusalem of europe," sarajevo today is around 80% muslim. the city of mostar, famously joined by a symbolic bridge, remains largely segregated on opposite banks of the river. in some regional schools, students play together during recess. but when the bell rings, the croat students make their way to classrooms on the first floor while their bosniak muslim playmates head upstairs for their lessons. they also use different textbooks for language, geography and, perhaps most troubling, history. and in the serb entity capital, banja luka, the issue of national identity is potentially most explosive. >> ( translated ): it's very logical, even expected, that the ethnic identity of the young people here means their love for republika srpska is greater than their love for bosnia. >> reporter: social psychologist srdjan puhalo says these personal divides are being exploited by the region's politicians. >> ( translated ): nationalism is a tool which provokes fear in people in bosnia, and that's a tool used for manipulation. in the war, no one won. the war goals of the three sides were not achieved, and all of them still feel somewhat endangered. >> reporter: perhaps no one is capitalizing on this more than the current prime minister of republika srpska, milorad dodik, who is now running for serb entity president. at a rally in the serb heartland town of prnavor, his speech featured the usual political promises of better health care, education, infrastructure. but it was also filled with the rhetoric he has become famous for. ( applause ) >> ( translated ): only in republika srpska are we free people, only here are we on our own land. republika srpska forever. the country of bosnia as long as we have to. >> reporter: indeed, dodik has been signaling that republika srpska may not remain part of bosnia much longer. he has threatened a vote on secession, and warns serbs they will lose their autonomy if the country is pushed to integrate in its bid to join the european union. "integration," he says, "means dominance by the more populous muslims." >> ( translated ): you cannot force us to love sarajevo when it is 96% bosniak muslim. that cannot be our capital. our capital is banja luka, then belgrade, and not sarajevo. >> reporter: it is clear that the rhetoric is seeping down into at least some of the young people here. >> ( translated ): it is better here than in the federation, for sure. it's much better. today, they are trying to attack us more and our prime minister doesnt let them, and that is good. >> reporter: but in a much smaller venue than prime minister dodik's rally, there are also signs of change in the political culture of republika srpska. >> ( translated ): in bosnia and herzegovina, fear rules. in bosnia and herzegovina, something is coming back that smells of 1991. and therefore, you've gathered here today. >> reporter: zdravko krsmanovic is also serb ethnicity, but he is gaining a reputation as a uniter. as mayor of the city of foca, he has reached out to the muslim community and welcomed back those cleansed during the genocide. and as part of a long-term strategy of change, he is drafting young people to join his party as candidates. >> ( translated ): good evening good people. i am glad you came in such big numbers, but i am even more glad to see so many of my peers and i say to you, ciao. >> reporter: ivana sandic is only 22 and still finishing university. but she's also running for a position in republika srpska's parliament. >> ( translated ): these years have been very difficult and people have started to understand that the next four years will be even worse if something is not changed. the time has come for the professional and educated people to deal with politics in this country and to open it towards the european union. >> reporter: i sat down with ivana and a few of her friends. their serb identity isn't as important as other issues, they tell me. what needs to change? what's wrong with the leadership right now in republika srpska? >> ( translated ): unfortunately, young people are only considered by the politicians during election time. and during the four years of their term, they do nothing for them. a large number of my educated friends have had to leave the country because they simply couldn't find a job. >> reporter: ognens finishing up school and worries he wont get a job. 58% of bosnia's young adults are unemployed. boris says he thinks the serbs and the muslim-croat federation should draw closer together. economics major andrea is sober about the political battles that remain ahead. >> ( translated ): i'm not sure that we can achieve something in a short time. if we want to make some real, deep change, we need to start from the beginning. i believe that during my lifetime, changes will happen. whether that will be in 10 or 20 years, i still cannot say for sure. >> reporter: srdjan puhalo says time is on the young activists' side. >> ( translated ): you can't stop the flow of information. today, we have the internet we have cable tv, and thousands of other ways. so no matter how hard you try to hide them in a cocoon, the information still gets through to the young people. and on the other hand, the war is slowly being forgotten and we are turning more to everyday life. ♪ >> reporter: but a few days before the election, serb candidate milorad dodik and his nationalist party are ahead in the polls. the frontrunner for bosnian muslim president continues to call for a more centralized state, even if against serb wishes. unless there's an upset, it appears it will be at least another election cycle before change comes to bosnia. >> lehrer: and to the analysis of shields and gerson-- syndicated columnist mark shields and "washington post" columnist michael gerson. david brooks is off tonight. mark, fair well rahm emanuel what is your reading as to why he would go now one month before the midterm elections? did he have any choice? >> i think it just became important for him if he is going to make the race. and probably became in the white house's interest to enthe soap opera. >> lehrer: what do you think, michael? should anything be read into the fact that he was willing to go at a crucial time for the president. >> it's not normal for a white house chief of staff to depart the white house a month before a midterm election. it is a sign of stress. i think it's quite possible that if rahm emanuel had stayed until after the election he might be forced to leave the white house if the white house come is really bad that happens with chief of staff. so i think this was a good choice for him in a certain way. and but it does indicate that where the administration is to some extent. >> lehrer: do agree? >> i think more than that it shows the uniqueness. we're talking about white house chief of staff there is no definition of it. and-- . >> lehrer: it really is update, each person creates his own. >> and every white house staff in my experience in washington is ultimately a reflection of the person at the top. and if are you talking about the best white house chief of staff and by most people's definition n this city, the democrats and republicans, i mean a lot of people listed but the consensus choice is jim baker as ronald reagan's chief of staff was that he had run the last two campaigns against ronald reagan. he ran george herbert walker bushs in 1980 and gerry fords in 1976. and reagan was square enough to reach other and say this is the guy. ed piece is local but this is the guy i need and he was what made him special chief of staff he mastered policy. he knew politics. he was trusted by the press and liked by the press and the hill and congress. and he was somebody who delegated very, very well. >> emanuel's style was quite different than obama. it was a contrast, not a reflection in that way and he drew a lot of attention to himself. i can't remember an example where the press knew every time he disagreed with the president on a key decision, the manhattan trial for, the terrorist trial, the timing of the health-care bill. the press knew when he disagreed with the president. i worked for two chief of staff. that wouldn't have been permissible. >> it wouldn't have been permissible. >> absolutely not this is a very high profile figure in his own right. and i believe that this new chief of staff is much more the normal model of the chief of staff. a low profile loyalist. and this might be a white house that needs a good manager who serves the president quietly instead of creating the kind of drama that emanuel created. >> well, you could say that president obama, which bob wood ward reports, for example, that he really did go after him. he wanted rahm emanuel. rahm emanuel was central to passing the legislative package. >> in other words, obama wanted emanuel. >> whatever passion for anonymity rahm had, he would overcome it at that point and the idea of a chief of staff going on charlie rose and saying yeah, i would like to be mayor of chicago some day, i mean if it was working for lyndon johnson, for ronald reagan or jack kennedy or for bill clinton, we have had his own desk cleared out that night. and he would have gone back the next morning with the locks changed. i mean, now it's a tribute in a way to president obama that cohave somebody around who was so high profile but will you not see pete rouse on charlie rose or on bob schieffer. >> lehrer: what about the newshour. >> that is a different show because it is a substantive show where you can speak to the nation on a thoughtful, serious manner. >> lehrer: he read it just exactly the way i wrote it. but i mean do you think that rouse is going to be that different? that we're to the going to hear about him in a public way and the president will be better served by him than he was by rahm emanuel? >> i think he's highly respected. both on the hill and within the administration. there is a long background with tom daschle in leadership in the senate so he knows the hill. and he has a good reputation among republicans on the hill. so you know, i think there's a lot to commend at least as a transitional figure. he is not guaranteeed this job from now on it is a difficult position to be in. and obama may need to reconstitute his administration in reaction to an electoral reversal in the midterm and you may need some kind of high profile, you know, outreach. >> a howard baker type or something like that. >> that's possible. >> but only after the election. >> mike sell right. the key is november 3rd. i mean when the president has to stand up there and say i heard you. that's got to be the opening line, i heard you, given the results but pete rouse does have a passion for anonymity and there will be no style profile pieces on him in the "washington post". he won't be seen at the cafe milano or the fancy water holes around town. that isn't his style. that isn't who he is. he is the staff person who submerges his own ego and ambition in the service of his principles. in this case -- >> and he always has. de that with tom daschle, whoever he was working for. >> now speaking of the midterm elections, obviously president obama, vice president biden, they've been out. and they've had an interesting, they have an interesting message now. they've been talking to their own folks lately, haven't they? >> well, he has two big political problems. the intensity of his own base which is lagging. and the support among independents. and it's hard to solve both those problems at the same time because they require different messages. they have really concentrated on the base, trying to get progressive's more engaged. i have some questions about the way that they are conducting that message if you look at the rolling stone interview with the president, he tends to scold the base. he tells them they are irresponsible for to the being energetic. he tells them to buck up. usually you want to inspire them not really try to shame them into enthusiasm. that's not the way it usually is done. but there is some evidence that democrats are coming home a little bit in the runoff to the election. in the generic ballot and some other things. so maybe it's working a little. >> what do you think about that? >> well, i think it's working. the measurement in the wauj nib poll is higher among african-american and latino voters has significantly increased. the democrats have been so long receiving any good news that even semi bad news is good at this point. i mean because still there is a double-digit margin . the voters who are most interested in this election so that has to be part of the job. but i am, when swro biden said stop whining. >> lehrer: right. >> that say phrase that in american conversation is probably not really a starting of an interesting it colloquy. i mean you know-- there has never been a person who said oh that's a good point. we'll stop whining. a child, stop whining. >> i don't, i think that he is energizing in the sense of obviously madison wisconsin. think the blue state is where you see it most dramatically. martin o'malley and maryland, the governor has opened up a lead. barbara boxer in california. i mean i think that's where his impact will be felt the most. >> lehrer: the democrat s had hoped to or said they wanted to go out on-- congress has just gone out of business until after the election but they wanted to go out having done something about tax cuts. middle class tax cuts. and nothing happened. what did happen? what -- >> well, a month ago the white house was leaking that they thought this was a great issue trying to pit the middle class against upper income voters. this was going to be a great populist issue and it back fired completely. and to the because of republican obstruction but because of democratic detections and house of representatives in the senate. it's the reason that they couldn't even produce a bill in the senate. they didn't introduce legislation to do what they wanted to do in the senate because they couldn't get agreement. >> they didn't want just for the two party lines. >> many of the democrats were making the case that a lot of people do that this was the wrong time to increase taxes on anyone. so you have a reluctant democratic party in this. and what happened is for that reason, instead of sprinting to the finish line, they really stumbled across it. >> i think that, i don't argue with nancy pelosi. she is proved herself to be the most effective vote counter in my time in washington. demonstrated by passing the national health insurance. she is confident and certain that she had the votes to pass it and i think she has the votes to pass it in the house. there was no point in passing it in the house if it wasn't going pass in the senate. >> lehrer: why wouldn't they get points for doing it? >> because then you have cast a vote that, in some of those districts, the vulnerable democrats mostly come from districts that john mccain carried. those 49 democrats hold the seats that john mccain carryed in 2008 against barack obama. and in those districts, they have to win republican votes to survive. and among republicans there is one galvanizing principles, there is one holy grail and that is no tax cuts. i mean ideally no taxes. and the leverage that pelosi has is that as of january 1st, the inherited tax or as the republicans love to call t the death tax will go from 0 which it is today to 55% on states over $1 one. so the republicans will negotiate they cannot accept that. and in the session. but i think politically it had become difficult for a number of those democrats, michael mentioned in the 31 who signed the letter to the speaker. but she's quite confident that they will pass it. >> other republican s john boehner the minority leader left after making a speech a couple of days ago where he called for reforming the way the house of represents operated and everybody did just exactly what the two of you are doing, laughing. should they be? is that a serious thing? how do you read what he was trying to say there? >> well, i think that you know, congressional majorities tend to change when you have corruption and when you have arrogance, okay. and republicans are trying to make the case that that is a reason to change, that there is a kind of corruption the way that congress does its own business. i'm not sure john bayne certificate the best messenger for that he's not really an outsider as a lot of ties to the lobbyist community. he's, you know, so he's a flawed messenger when it comes to internal congressional reform. but you know, you add that to the pledge and republicans are trying to have some message going into the midterms. >> from the party of no, they want to say something. i mean john boehner called it a reform message. they asked him about earmarks which are the biggest item of controversy. republicans when they are out of power in the house of represent ofs and against earmarks, would you continue that if the republican majority and john boehner punted on that issue so it was a speech that didn't get him in trouble. and just as the pledge doesn't get them in trouble. but it is a little bit like a china ease meal intellectually. are you hungry 30 minutes later. >> okay, mark, michael, thank you both >> brown: finally tonight, the industrial-strength computer virus with a global reach. we began work on this report for the "online newshour," and thought you'd like to see it on air as well. hari sreenivasan has the story. >> sreenivasan: these are the letters and numbers behind the so-called stuxnet virus. it is different from most computer viruses transmitted across the internet, which may steal credit card numbers or wreak havoc on personal computers. stuxnet targets industrial control centers. the virus is designed to leap through computers that run microsoft windows, the operating system used by millions, looking for software and connections to highly specialized devices known as programmable logic controllers. these targeted controllers are made by siemens, and in all sorts of industrial machines, including ones that regulate the flow of electricity through power grids or oil through pipelines. the media has reported this virus in recent weeks, but cyber security experts have been aware of it for months. rodney joffe is the vice president and senior technologist at neustar, inc., a global technology and communications company. he says iran has the largest number of computers infected with the virus. so what are we seeing on this map here? >> what we are looking at here on the map is a visualization of where the infections are that we are aware of. as we move across, you'll see in the u.s., there are some infections. >> sreenivasan: so there are 53 here, 40 here. these are stuxnet infections? >> these are infections of computer systems now. what we are now looking at is the interesting one, the purple one, which says 4,694 and that is... as we drill in, is obviously iran. >> sreenivasan: several security experts believe stuxnet may be designed to sabotage iran's nuclear program, because there maybe several siemens devices at the nuclear facility in natanz. this is where thousands of centrifuges enrich uranium, which is critical for both nuclear power and nuclear weapons. one news report quoted an iranian official who said 30,000 iranian computers are infected with the virus, but that "the effect and damage is not serious." it is not clear who created this virus, but according to one israeli newspaper report, "the prevailing assessment over the past few days has been that stuxnet was developed by a highly capable intelligence organization, with israel's military intelligence unit 8200 and the mossad being named as suspects." so far, the israeli government has refused to comment about this virus. when we look at a map and see an incredibly high concentration of this virus in the same neighborhood as a possible uranium enrichment plant, is it too far of a leap to make that connection and say perhaps that was the target? >> with normal viruses that spread over the internet, that is not likely to happen. however, one of the major mechanisms that helps stuxnet actually spread is through an infected usb drive, which is a physical device. so it doesn't use the internet; it means somebody physically inserted a usb drive into a computer. >> sreenivasan: usb drives have become common storage devices that allow people to transfer files between computers. >> this particular piece of software did something we've never seen before or even thought about, which is each time it was inserted into a computer, it counted up. and after it had been inserted into three computers, on the fourth computer, it actually wiped itself clean. so it disappeared. and that looks like it was designed so that it didn't spread geographically. >> sreenivasan: is this the equivalent of a cyber bomb? >> i describe it as a "precision guided cyber munition." that's exactly what this is. >> sreenivasan: joffe also works extensively with the department of homeland security. this week, he was participating in an exercise called cyberstorm three, where government agencies and private companies all work through worst-case scenarios of cyber attacks. the department has conducted previous cyber security exercises before. in 2007, the department and idaho national labs ran a test called "aurora," in which a large generator was taken over by a targeted electronic attack. this video shows how a hacker was able to let the machine self-destruct. >> aurora was exactly like this. it's interesting-- i talk to people, and when you talk about cyber security and viruses and worms, people think about viruses that slow your laptop down or make it inconvenient, or perhaps have popup adds. and they find it very difficult to think that it could have a kinetic impact. but as you saw with what you've look at in aurora, that is exactly what happened. it was software. these things aren't controlled by human beings anymore with switches. it's really software based. so yes, a laptop is capable of turning off ultimately the power to the united states. >> sreenivasan: several people might watch this and say, "it's a virus. if it slows down iranian nuclear plans, so be it." but is there any reason to think that a virus like this couldn't be used against us tomorrow? >> if not before the last few weeks, there are lots of groups today that are now sitting, planning how to make use of this type of mechanism. >> sreenivasan: as government and private companies create plans to stop them. >> brown: hari's story is just one example of how our journalism is both online and on air. right now, on our web site, you can read more from david chalian and our politics team about rahm emanuel's exit from the white house and pete rouse's arrival. plus, on "art beat," watch our interview with the producer of "freakonomics," a new documentary based on the best- selling book. that's all at newshour.pbs.org. >> lehrer: again, the major developments of the day: president obama's chief of staff rahm emanuel resigned to run for mayor of chicago; flooding rain and high winds battered the northeast and new england after hitting the carolinas hard; and attackers in pakistan burned dozens of nato supply trucks bound for afghanistan. >> lehrer: and again, to our honor roll of american service personnel killed in the iraq and afghanistan conflicts. we add them as their deaths are made official and photographs become available. here, in silence, are nine more. >> brown: and that's the newshour for tonight. on monday, we'll preview the new term at the supreme court. i'm jeffrey brown. >> lehrer: and i'm jim lehrer. 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