[S. O'brien:] Welcome back, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
[M. O'brien:] Good morning. I'm Miles O'Brien. Let's get right to the news. We'll look at some of the stories we're following for you this morning.
[S. O'brien:] More violence in Iraq to tell you about. People in the southern city of Amara say it's under militia control now. The hospital reports 15 people dead, 45 people wounded, this as U.S. military leaders say they're rethinking the strategy in Iraq.
[M. O'brien:] The Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Beijing as we speak at a news conference. She and the Chinese foreign minister call for new talks to end the North Korea nuclear crisis.
[S. O'brien:] That nine-month-old baby from Kentucky who was kidnapped after his social worker was found beaten to death, is in good condition this morning. The boy's mother and her boyfriend are now in police custody.
[M. O'brien:] More twists and turns from North Korea. The latest just a few moments ago. Kim Jong Il now saying his country has no plans to conduct another underground nuclear bomb explosion. Kim making that vow to Chinese diplomats to whom he also apologized and expressed regret for the first nuclear test. Now as that unfolds, the secretary of state is in Beijing this morning, pushing China to fully enforce those United Nations approved sanctions. Our bureau chief there is Jaime Florcruz, he has details.
[Jaime Florcruz, Cnn Beijing Bureau Chief:] Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is wrapping up a series of meetings with top Chinese leaders as she seeks a united approach to North Korea. She's leaning on the Chinese to use its leverage on its traditional ally and force North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program and also return to the negotiation table. She has asked Chinese to truly implement the UN resolution imposing sanctions on North Korea.
[Condoleezza Rice, U.s. Secretary Of State:] The minister and I have talked about the importance of full implementation of Resolution 1718, so that we can make certain that there is not a transit in trade in illegal materials, dangerous illegal materials concerning the nuclear weapons program of the
[Dprk. Li Zhaoxing, Chinese Foreign Minister:] We hope all relevant parties will maintain cool headedness, adopt a prudent and responsible approach and adhere to dialogue and peaceful resolution as the general direction of our efforts.
[Florcruz:] Her visit comes just one day after special Chinese envoy Tang Jiaxuan visited Pyongyang and held a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il. It's the first time Kim met with a visiting foreign dignitary. And Tang Jiaxuan, while in Pyongyang, obviously relayed a message from the Chinese President Hu Jintao. Upon his return in his meeting with Secretary Rice today, Tang Jiaxuan said he's very happy that his visit to Pyongyang was not in vain, hinting that, perhaps, the Chinese are getting closer to brokering the impasse of this North Korean crisis. Jaime Florcruz, CNN, Beijing.
[Miles O'brien, Cnn Anchor, American Morning:] We're going to hear more directly from the secretary of State later on AMERICAN MORNING. CNN's Zain Verjee is the only television correspondent traveling with the secretary. She interviewed her, exclusively, this morning. We'll bring it to you later Soledad.
[Soledad O'brien, Cnn Anchor, American Morning:] Miles, thanks. Some people say he is the brightest star in the Democratic Party right now. Two years ago at the Democratic National Convention, Barack Obama stepped out on the national stage, and here's what he said.
[Sen. Barack Obama:] Hope, hope in the face of difficulty, hope in the face of uncertainty, the audacity of hope.
[S. O'brien:] Well, the senator has a new book called "The Audacity of Hope". Senator Barack Obama joins us this morning. It's nice to see you. What does that mean, the audacity of hope?
[Obama:] You know, it's a phrase I took from my pastor. About 18 years ago when I was a young community organizer, he gave a sermon. I was working in low-income neighborhoods. People had lost jobs because steel plants had closed. There was a lot of poverty and despair. He said, you know, it requires a certain audacity to feel hopeful sometimes. It's easier to feel cynical. I thought that was a wonderful phrase. And I think it characterizes how Americans, I think, historically have overcome difficulties. Feeling we have limitless possibilities even when sometimes what's right in front of us looks like it's a little bleak.
[S. O'brien:] Maybe not just historically. If you look at today, you see Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, school shootings. You know, people who struggle to send their kids to college, when they have jobs. We talked to somebody yesterday who doesn't have health insurance, has a good job.
[Obama:] Absolutely.
[S. O'brien:] Where do you see hope in that?
[Obama:] You know, I've been traveling around the country a lot. One of the nice things about being a senator is you meet a lot of people. There's an amazing resilience and a core decency, I think, to the American people. But the problem is that our politics has been structured to divide us instead of to bring us together. And what the book really talks about, is what are our common values, what are our common ideals, and how can we apply them in a commonsense, practical way on some of the issues you just mentioned.
[S. O'brien:] Politics seems particularly mean these days.
[Obama:] Yes.
[S. O'brien:] I think, we see partisanship that you see. And sort of as you mentioned, in D.C. that you don't necessarily see in the American people. Why don't politicians get that?
[Obama:] There are a lot of institutional pressures on politicians. The most powerful being that they don't want to lose elections.
[S. O'brien:] Yes, that would be it pretty much.
[Obama:] That's what they're scared about. If they think negative campaigns work, then that's what they'll do. If they think that raising money from special interests will work, that's what they do. Part of what I argue in the book is to the extent that we can get people engaged, paying attention, I think there's a sense of seriousness and soberness right now in the country about the lack of health insurance, or rising costs for people, about energy and the sense we really need to deal with this, not just for the economy, but national security and the environment. If we can come together around historically what's been our strength, which is our pragmatism, and our willingness to try new things and get beyond a lot of these ideological divisions, then I actually think we can make some progress. And I'm hopeful that will happen after this next election.
[S. O'brien:] I gather you read what David Brookes wrote about you in "The New York Times". He said, under the title, "Run, Barack, Run". And he's talking about the presidency. "Barack Obama should run for president," he writes. "He should run first for the good of his party." And then he goes on later to say, "The next Democratic nominee should either be Barack Obama or should have the stature that would come from defeating Barack Obama." In other words, in the very least, let the guy beat you so he can have some stature. Why do you demure when you're asked about your presidential ambitions?
[Obama:] Because we've got three weeks to go before probably the most important election that I've seen in a long time. I think that President Bush is going to be in the office for the next two years. Really what's going to determine what we do in Iraq, what happens in terms of healthcare, are we going to put together an energy plan; how are we going to rewrite the education law, No Child Left Behind all that's going to be determined in the next two years. And so I'm spending enormous amounts of time focused on making sure the Democrats get elected.
[S. O'brien:] You're too busy to think about running for president?
[Obama:] Well, look, it's not that I know that seems odd, but it's a pretty serious thing to think about. If you're going to do something like that, you've got to think it through. It's not it can't be driven by personal ambition alone. It's got to be based on a sense somehow that you can actually be useful to the country in that way. So that's not something that I'd be thinking about just off-the- cuff.
[S. O'brien:] And do the job, I would imagine. You've got four years in national politics. Do you think you're qualified to be president?
[Obama:] Yes, I think the only people who are completely qualified to be president are Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, people who have been president. Because you land that first day, and I suspect that things come at you pretty fast.
[S. O'brien:] How come you don't name the current president? He's qualified, too. You left him off the list.
[Obama:] He knows what it's like to be president. And I think that my sense is that it's very much something that you learn on the job. You write about how tough it is, I think you say the toughest part is to be a father, where you have doubt, as how you are as a husband and father. Right.
[S. O'brien:] And that's a big area to have doubt in. What's your biggest fear?
[Obama:] My biggest fear is that you grow up and your children don't feel completely that you're there, present with them, particularly during the tough times. They're eight and five right now. You know, they skin their knees, but they don't have tough times at eight and five.
[S. O'brien:] High drama, yeah.
[Obama:] Yeah. You start thinking about their teenage years and going through struggles. And you want to make sure they're enveloped by the sense you're there and you want to make sure that your spouse, my wife, Michelle, feels she always has me there as a foundation and that she's not alone. I think all of us who are in busy, professional lives, I think, have this juggling act we're going through. The burden falls typically harder on women, I think, because they still have a no matter how liberated men like to think of themselves, they still put a disproportionate burden on the women. And that's something that I'm constantly mindful of, and my wife Michelle is happy to remind me.
[S. O'brien:] Michelle must tell you, because that's what I tell my husband, too. Barack Obama, the book is called "The Audacity of Hope".
[Obama:] It's great to see you.
[S. O'brien:] It's so nice to see you, Senator. Thanks for talking with us this morning. Appreciate it.
[Obama:] Thank you.
[S. O'brien:] Miles.
[M. O'brien:] Thanks, Soledad. In California, a Roman Catholic bishop who was supposed to help the church recover from that sex abuse scandal, facing indictment this morning. CNN's Jason Carroll explains.
[Jason Carroll, Cnn Correspondent, American Morning:] Daniel Walsh was appointed bishop of California's Santa Rosa Diocese six years ago. In large part his job was to restore trust in a church community rocked by sexual abuse. Church leaders and parishioners put their faith in Walsh because he'd been outspoken about the church's zero tolerance policy.
[Deirdre Frontczak, Spokeswoman, Santa Rosa Diocese:] He's taken that charge very seriously and he wants to be responsible.
[Carroll:] But now Walsh is the subject of an investigation that could lead to the first indictment of a U.S. Catholic bishop for failing to report an abusive priest. Walsh says that after the priest admitted molesting three boys, he did not notify authorities immediately.
[Michael Meadows, Attorney:] He didn't follow his own internal guidelines, much less the laws, which is why he finds himself the subject of a criminal investigation.
[Carroll:] Mike Meadows is an attorney, representing seven men in a civil suit filed last week against the diocese, and the offending priest, Father Francisco Ochoa. The plaintiffs say Ochoa sexually abused them when they were children. One of his alleged victims, who requested anonymity, says Ochoa started molesting him when he was a nine-year-old altar boy.
[Unidentified Male:] One day he kind of started touching me. He told me it's normal, you know, just don't tell anybody.
[Carroll:] In a letter to parishioners Walsh said that Ochoa admitted to him, last April, that he recently sexually abused a 12- year-old boy, and two other boys a decade ago. [On Camera] Walsh immediately put Ochoa on administrative leave and barred him from serving as a priest. What Walsh says he didn't do immediately is call the authorities, which is required by California state law. [Voice Over] The diocese's own charter says a report should be made immediately. Bishop Walsh waited three days. The Sonoma County sheriff's office believes Father Ochoa fled during that time and is now in Mexico.
[Meadows:] What reason could there have been for not reporting this immediately? It's not like he has to conduct an investigation. Ochoa came to him and said I've been abusing these boys. What more did he need to know?
[Carroll:] Bishop Walsh declined an interview. But in that letter to parishioners he apologized and explained, quote, "I did not wait in order to allow Reverend Ochoa time to escape. I waited from an excess of caution. The sheriff's office says its investigation found this case is worthy of district attorney reviews. The D.A.'s office declined to say whether it has reached a decision to indict. Walsh says he's prepared to face the consequences if he's criminally charged.
[Frontczak:] People say the man-made a mistake. There was not a malicious intent. Perhaps prosecution is a bit harsh.
[Carroll:] One man of the cloth has escaped justice for now. Another waits to see if he'll be judged in a place governed by facts, not faith. Jason Carroll, CNN, Santa Rosa, California.
[M. O'brien:] More to come, stories we're following for you this morning. Severe storms washing out roads and causing heavy flooding in Turkey. Plus, doctors explain how and octogenarian survived a stingray stabbing to the heart. More on that, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.