\s. the president hopes to push the reset butting a his agenda. this hour, the new poll numbers and his problems. plus strange gestures. was the man on the sidelines of the nelson mandela memorial an interpreter for the deaf or a fake? and hard to swallow. milk prices may soar above $7 a gallon,ened guess who you have to blame? members of congress. i m wolf blitzer, and you re in the situation room. we begin this hour with president obama in a crisis of confidence. new polls show he s ending 2013 in a political hole. he may be starting to claw his way out, but many would still agree that his administration is in need of a major rebot right now, as the first year of his second term winds down.
that very brief moment on the stage at the nelson mandela memorial. it was this image, the president shaking hands with cuban president raul castro, in this gesture, a handshake has been welcomed with cheers by many people in cuba but also denounced by many others, including some cuban-americans. cnn s athena jones is live at the white house with still more on this, athena. good mornin john. that s right. this move is being criticized also by some folks here in washington. president obama s former rival, ariza senator john mccain compared this handshake to neville chamberlain shaking hands with hitler. it was the handshake seen round the world. castro, he s shaking hands with raul castro. the greeting garnered headlines across the globe. the white house saying the hand shake between president obama and cuban dictator raul castro was not planned.
ask your doctor about nexium. welcome to cnn, viewers from around the world. we are at the nelson mandela memorial, covering it for cnn, of course here in south africa. we ve heard from the u.s. president. we ll replay some of that sound for you in just a moment. world leaders have been following one another after
spirit of jubilation here because of what nelson mandela meant. we ll take a quick break. when we come back, we ll be waiting for the united states president to address this crowd at the nelson mandela memorial here in south africa. stay with us. we ve been proud of you, madiba. beat, not caused by a heart valve problem. that puts jim at a greater risk of stroke. for years, jim s medicine tied him to a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. but now, with once-a-day xarelto®, jim s on the move. jim s doctor recommended xarelto®. like warfarin, xarelto® is proven effective to reduce afib-related stroke risk. but xarelto® is the first and only once-a-day prescription blood thinner for patients with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. that doesn t require routine blood monitoring. so jim s not tied to that monitoring routine. [ gps ] proceed to the designated route. not today. [ male announcer ] for patients currently well managed on warfarin, there is limited info
and so, yes, i remember at the beginning i was at the mandela inauguration. you had the same scene, fidel castro in pretty good health. i remember walking by him in the hall that day. you had gadhafi. they were all at once at the inauguration and there they are today. it is the singular power of a unique figure in history. this does not happen. look at this scene. there have been many great leaders in history from all around the world. this just does not happen. you are in the middle of a rare and unique event because of the power of the power, the singular power, of this man. and also i think it s another musical interlude going on now here at the memorial. we are looking obviously at former bush, below him, former president clinton, and former president clinton joined by hillary, the former secretary of