cnn's nischelle turner joins us now. she watched it all. >> and now for the moment we have all been waiting for -- >> first lady michelle obama gave the oscars a jolt of excitement and a huge surprise when she appeared from the white house to announce best picture. >> and the oscar goes to "argo." >> reporter: an especially sweet victory for ben affleck who wasn't even nominated for the hostage thriller. "life of pi" based on the best-selling novel about a boy adrift at sea with a tiger won the most, four, including best direct for for an li. >> namaste. >> reporter: lincoln's leading mandan yell day lewis made history of his own. becoming the first male actor to win three oscars. so grateful for this beautiful honor. she took a tumble heading to the stage. everyone else on their feet when "silver linings playbook" won for best actress. >> you feel bad that i fell. that's really embarrassing. >> and the quest to make tommy lee jones laugh begins now. >> reporter: seth macfarlane took a cheeky tone. poking fun at himself from a victory of captain kirk. >> worst oscar host, is that bad? >> uh-huh, uh-huh. >> reporter: and there were full-throated performances from "chicago," "draeamgirls" and "h will misser he will miserables." and shirley got a standing ovation after the theme from "goldfinger" sung and adele got the best oscar. and barbra streisand sang "memories." >> i was here 15 years ago or something, and i went out, never thought i would be hack here, and i am. and it doesn't matter how you get knocked down in life, because that is going to happen. you have to get back up. >> reporter: that was a very good night, a very good moment last night. one of the things i don't know if people caught the fact that george clooney was also on stage there with ben affleck and the other producers of "argo." he didn't say a word during the whole speech. i said why didn't you say anything? he told me simply this was ben's night. it was ben's moment to kind of redeem himself for that oscar snub, and i think he did. >> he surely did. let's bring in tom o'neil, i think you actually got 10 %. >> in all of my top categories, yes, i did. >> congratulations. >> i thought that the ben affleck speech was really moving. o so prepared in their speeches. he was all emotion. it was great. >> the perfect oscar moment. it turned the oscars into a hollywood story because we saw the happy ending play out. he referred to how he had been there 19 years before on the red carpet. came to international acclaim and finally made the journey to the podium as winner of best picture. >> with a great message. >> don't give up. >> against great odds and michelle obama of all things. >> what did you think of seth macfarlane? >> i liked it a lot. in general, way too many song and dance numbers. in the beginning, i'm wondering why is he dancing with daniel radcliffe? but in general, i thought he was suburb. >> i thought the opening monologue went a couple of beats too long. i thought he was funny, kept the pacing going and his comebacks quick and sharp, and i thought he was funny. >> i felt like they were showing us entertainment on the screen, even the song and dance numbers, which went on and on and on. and some of those taped pieces were hilarious. the skit with sally field. so funny. >> how many kids knew what he was talking about. >> let's go to that. >> i am going to go to a party. >> count me in, man. fire up the trans am. >> i can't go anywhere. i -- >> i have a bottle of wine and some boniva. >> amy, i don't know who that is. >> jackie. >> no. >> it was hilarious. i thought it was so funny when he said the boniva. that was hilarious. the thing that -- all of those clips and song and dance numbers, just showing how amazing he is. he really is so mult i faceted. >> singi inin inin ining superb. >> a lot of people know him from "family guy," he was nominated for best song for "ted." we have always known he was talented. he can do so much. >> he can be crass and inappropriate and can be -- >> that's why we love him, right? >> the joke about the actor who could get seidlid inside linco. that was terrible, but funny. >> the actor really got inside lincoln's head was john wilkes booth. 150 years and still too soon? i have some napoleon jokes coming you up. you guys will be so mad. >> they said we don't need big a-list stars, meshes will tune in because they have seen the movies. >> i have seen all of them. >> last year "the artist" people were saying what is that? >> and "life of pi" worldwide has made over $500 million. >> we'll have more coming up on the after parties and talk about the winners, the losers and the fashion. first, right to breaking news coming to us out of the vatican this morning. right to john berman with that. >> thanks, soledad. breaking news as pope benedict xvi entering his final days as leader of the catholic church, britain's top cardinal, keith o'brien stepping down. this following accusations that o'brien abused young men studying for the priest hood and amid italian media reports that the pope is stepping down due to a vatican involving priests and male prostitutes. becky anderson is live with more. good morning, becky. >> they say a week is a long time in politics, but an hour is a long time in politic there. there is a news briefing going on for journalists as we speak. i'll get you as many of the lines out of that as i can. bombshells coming sort of right, left and scepter this morning out of vatican. let's start with that breaking news on the top brit tissue cardinal. cardinal keith o'brien who has resigned. the pop has declared that today. we are told he talked about his resignation to the pope back in november. he was of ailing health and at 75 he thought he should go. but his resignation hasn't been announced, nor was it going to be until his birthdate on march 15th. as of today, the top british cardinal has resigned. only british cardinal that would have been here for conclave, which we are told out of his press conference this morning won't be announced before march 1st. it could still happen now before march the 15th. so breaking news is the news out of britain today, he will no longer be here at conclave. also hearing today about a secret dossier. this is with reference to allegations doing the rounds in the italian press. allegations that there is a network of gay clerics at the vatican who have or possibly could have been made vulnerable to black mail by male prostitutes. that secret dossier will be passed on by this pope to the next one it will not be released. allegations will continue until people get their eyes over that. we won't any time soon. >> anything but a quiet good-bye for pope benedict xvi. our thanks to becky anderson. in other news, four days away from the forced government spending cuts, and the white house laying out what cuts will look like. in each state. christine romans with a look at that. >> some call this a doomsday scenario, meant to pressure republicans to accepting a deal on the wealthy. the white house spelling out the $85 billion in reductions mean. across the country, washington, d.c., head start, just there. the child development program for low-income families will be cut for several hundred kids. 13,000 department of defense civilian workers will be cut. and education will take a 90 million cut in california. some navy ships in san diego won't be repaired. nationwide, the cuts mean longer security lines and plane delays, frpgs secretary ray lahood said worker furl lo eer furloughs ar. >> in the end, there has to be some kind of furlough of air traffic controllers and that then will also begin to curtail or eliminate guiding planes in and out of the airport. >> and food inspectors will likely be furloughed and meat and poultry plants will be closed or slow down. republicans are calling for more action, less talk. >> the president should be calling us over somewhere. camp david, the white house, somewhere, and us sitting down and trying to avert these cuts. >> senator kelly ayotte saying we shouldn't even be in this position. >> we wouldn't be in this positions if -- these sequester type situations if we prioritized spending. in terms of the democrat's plan, the first thing they come up with, we'll raise taxes. >> chances are slim congress will avert cuts before fry. expect to feel it hitting schools, grocery stores, airports to name a few, john. call it a very seer weather sequel. life threatening blizzard conditions. that's what the national weather service is saying. this just days after a powerful winter blast had already blanketed the area with record snow. severe weather advisories issued for portions of southeast kansas, northeast oklahoma and the texas panhandle. the system dropping a blanket of white, canceling hundreds of flights in denver on sunday. sam brownback is calling for drivers to stay off the road and says the storm has the potential to be more dangerous than last week's. you are looking at jennifer delgado standing there on the ready to tell us what will happen next. live in the cnn weather center. >> a weather blockbuster, experiencing blizzard conditions through the texas panhandle and the oklahoma panhandle. see where the warnings are. talking about four states. this is likely going to continue through tomorrow morning. here is the radar, snow is coming down, in fact, we know now that interstate 27 from amarillo to lubbock is closed to visibility. the roadway too bad out there. the big story as we go through today and tomorrow. thinking about heading tomorrow, through texas and oklahoma. too late. snow has been there. storms through central texas will change over to snow. and many of these talking about a foot of snow. 12 to 18 through parts of kansas, oklahoma and northern parts of missouri, but not just the snow, not just the blizzard and visibility we're talking about today, a chance for severe storms setting up along the gulf states as well as potential for heavy rainfall across the southeast. two to four inches of rainfall. we have four big storms to deal with today. >> a lot of weather happening around the country. jennifer delgado, thank you very much. >> you're welcome. coast guard rescue crews searching for two adults and two children after their 29-foot sailboat started taking on water. the vessel, 65 miles off the coast of pillar point when someone on board radioed for help. an hour later, the coast guard got a message they were abandoning ship. a pair of earthquakes hit japan. about 11 minutes apart. and there are no reports of any kind of serious damage. japanese officials did not issue a tsunami alert. so some good news out of there. let's go back to california. hollywood, where no doubt the party still goes on. soledad is there. >> no doubt indeed, still ahead on "starting point," more moments from last night's very differently styled oscars, plus the daytona 500. we'll talk to kyle petty about danica patrick's historic finish and the safety of the sport after that terrible accident over the weekend. you're watching "starting point," back in a moment. 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>> you know, obviously they call it the great american race. if was a decent race. with the new cars, toyotas and chevys, everyone is feeling this car out, the gen 6 car. once they got in the race, they got more comfortable with it the last 24, 30 miles of the race pretty good. pretty fantastic. >> not a lot of passing, the last lap looked like it would line up for big drama maybe not so much. let me ask you this. danica patrick was slipped from third to eighth on the last lap. seemed a little disappointed by what happened. did she have reason to be disappointed about the last lap? >> i think there were a lot of people disappointed. denny hamlin was disappointed. if you follow these people on twitter, a lot of people thought they had better runs and the finish didn't show that. danica one of them. she ran an incredibly solid good race. wouldn't be a great race unless you win. she ran solid, in the top five, top ten, still finished eighth. she should hold her head proud. i had to eat crow when i said she wouldn't do that way. >> she held her own. let me ask you about what happened on saturday. the big crash there, and parts of the car which flew into the stands. how big of a concern is fan safety at nascar? >> it's a huge concern for nascar. and let's go back. bobby allison in 1987-88 almost did the same thing at talladega. nascar reassessed the track and fencing at this time. no issues until we get all the way to carl edwards in 0'07-'08. this design at daytona has been changed in the last six or seven years. best design we've come up with at this time. and the fence did exactly what it was supposed to do. it kept the car on the racetrack, did parts and pieces fly into the stands? yes, they did. but the catch fence keeps the majority of the car on the track and out of grant stands. it did a fantastic job. i believe nascar will go back to the r & d center, take the car, the fence, and the parts and pieces and lay it out, just like in a plane crash or that type of situation, try to figure out what went wrong, how it went wrong, when it went wrong, and nascar will definitely look at this, and the sport will move forward in a safer way. >> we didn't even talk about jimmie johnson, lining up to be a legendary driver in nascar. we'll get to that. nice to see you. back to hollywood, where soledad is basking in the post oscar glow. >> yes, i am basking. ahead this morning on "starting point," we'll talk about the rookie host of the oscars and his brand new producers, the result, on as car show with a whole different feel. did love it? hate it? we'll break it down, coming up next. yes! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. live the regular life. phillips'. the road to gold. welcome back, everybody. a special edition of "starting point." live from hollywood, california. we're talking oscars with tom o'neil, another oscar night in the books now. 85th oscars have been short on surprises. but some drama, it's fair to say. with "argo" winning best picture. lots of musical numbers. seth macfarlane, a lot of talk about his performance. tom o'neil with us and nischelle turner. nice to have you both with me. let's talk about seth macfarlane's take on the oscars, he brought an entire different team of people to produce the oscar show. >> i think people who have an appreciation for pop culture and a context for all his jokes on target. he did a superb job. >> not only was he a first time host, but the producers were first time producers. one of the things they told me, we will make sure the oscars have more music than ever, a little edgier, they want to bring that back. >> i thought they gave it a really big feel and tone. >> it was entertaining. the boob song. >> i loved it. one of my favorite. >> mine too. >> let's play a little bit of -- i thought it was hilarious, but completely inappropriate. ♪ christin stewart we saw the boobs and in monster we saw charles let charlize theron and on scarlett johansson we thought them on our phones ♪ ♪ and jessica chastain in lawless ♪ >> the cutaway shots were meant to look like the women they were referring to was unhappy. >> that was a taped piece and those women participated. and naomi watts, charlize theron, all wearing something different. they really weren't put off by it. they enjoyed it. they participated in it. i thought it was hilarious. >> right up to the edge. naughty, but didn't go too far. >> he consistently went to the edge or over it. we'll talk about it all through the morning. still ahead, we'll talk about what is a long road going from "gili" to "argo" for ben affleck. and the end of the castro era in cuba. a transfer of power now in sight. that's ahead. it's a hawk with night vision goggles. it's marching to the beat of a different drum. and where beauty meets brains. it's big ideas with smaller footprints. and knowing there's always more in the world to see. it's the all-new lincoln mkz. oh, hi thehey!ill. are you in town for another meeting? p, i brought my a-team. vo: business trips add up to family time. this is my family. this is joe. hi joe! hi there! vo: earn a ton of extra points with the double your hhonors promotion and feel the hamptonality. did you know not all fiber is the same? citrucel is different- it's the only fiber for regularity that won't cause excess gas. it's gentle and clinically proven to help restore and maintain regularity. look for citrucel today. you have to work harder than you think you possibly can, can't hold grudges, it's hard, but you can't hold grudges. and it doesn't matter how you get knocked down in life, because that's going to happen. all that matters is that you got to get up. >> i love this speech. a great speech from ben affleck. sweet victory from him. the director of "argo" celebrating from the oscars. we have a special edition of "starting point" from the oscars. but first, right to the news. john berman has an update on the top stories. another powerful winter storm bearing down on the plains states. the national weather service warns the storm is bringing potentially life threatening conditions to kansas, oklahoma, and the texas panhandle. governor sam brownback is asking people to stay off the roads. in color