Obama On Cordray, Tax Cut, Middle East; Jerry Sandusky Posts Bail
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: All right. First, I want to go to John King on this. So, John, there are a couple of things that stood out here. On the one hand, he's talking about the payroll tax cut, he's also talking about unemployment insurance, and perhaps willing to put in some time before he goes off to his Hawaii vacation to make sure that gets done. On the other hand, he was very definitive, very bold when it came to talking about Iran, that Iran has weakened, and about hitting back really hard on Republicans about supporting appeasement, saying ask Osama bin Laden and some of the others that are left out there to -- whether or not he supports appeasement. Which issue do you think that voters are listening to now? Which one is going to make the real difference in this campaign? Is it the economics? Is it the foreign policy?</s>JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Eleven months from now, when the American people pick their next president, and decide whether to give President Obama four more years, or pick whoever the Republican nominee is, the economy, by and large, overwhelmingly, will be the issue. But at the moment, the president is coming under attack from several fronts. And Suzanne, I think if you wanted a headline for that event, it would be "Game On." The president making that clear he is ready to be more combative. As you did, I found it quite striking. Of late, there was a big Republican event in town just yesterday. The Republican Jewish Coalition had an event. Six of the Republican presidential contenders spoke to it. There has been a great deal of criticism of the president when it comes to his policy regarding Israel, whether he's being tough enough vis-a-vis Iran. And you heard the president's answer there. And most Republicans would concede, most publicly, and the rest of them privately, that there is not much to be gained in saying the president has been weak on the world when he can say what he just said, go ask Osama bin Laden how weak I have been in the world. And anyway, this will be a debate about the economy. And on that front, whether its this consumer finance bureau chief, or the fight now about the payroll tax extension, again we talk about politics a lot -- there are some legitimate policy questions here. Some people, some Republicans, and even some Democrats who supported the payroll tax cut months ago now say there's not that much evidence it has been stimulative to the economy, and that money comes out of the Social Security trust fund. Is there another way to provide some stimulus or some tax breaks? There is a policy debate about this. But in the broader political argument, there are a lot of Republicans who are now privately grumbling that in standing up to the president here, whether it's on this consumer finance bureau or on the payroll tax cut, that even if the Republicans have legitimate policy questions, they want the consumer board restructured, they're not sure the payroll tax cut has been so effective, there are a lot of Republicans who think they are creating an opening to give this president, a struggling president, to give him a chance to find his voice on the economic challenges. You get more and more nervous Republicans, Suzanne, when you have conversations with them on that front.</s>MALVEAUX: And finding his voice. I want to bring that to Brianna Keilar, who's actually at the White House, inside of the Briefing Room there. Brianna, when John and I were covering the president and former presidents, you did not see a podium with a countdown clock behind it saying this is when middle tax -- that tax increases are going to happen here. You didn't hear the president saying, look, I'm going to stay in the White House until this gets done. Talk a little bit about the strategy, the optics, the picture of this White House and this president in trying to deliver that message to the middle class in this campaign season.</s>BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And this was a clock -- I'm looking at it right now, Suzanne -- that was unveiled this week here in the Briefing Room. It's also on the White House Web site, and this is just part of President Obama's plan and the plan of White House officials to really ratchet up pressure on Republicans as they try to draw this contrast that he is for the middle class and that Republicans are for the wealthy, the argument that will permeate his reelection fight. Now, what he's really trying to do is exploit a rift, Suzanne, that we have seen between Republicans. Of course, we've heard from Republican leaders -- or certainly sources in Republican leadership in Congress -- that the expectation is that that payroll tax cut will be extended. No doubt, one of my sources told me. But at the same time, there's a number of Republican rank-and-file members who are not on board, who say not having that money go in to the Social Security fund creates a vulnerability in that entitlement program, and also they feel that it's a temporary measure that doesn't really work. And so as Republicans try to work out something that can be palatable to them, and as they try to certainly add some things to an extension of the payroll tax cut to make it more palatable to their members, essentially President Obama is kind of trying to have a field day with that. We saw that today as he pushed not only for the nomination to be confirmed, but also for the payroll tax cut extension. He got to that pretty quickly, as you noted as well, as the extension of unemployment benefits that he and Democrats are pushing for when he was giving his comments here -- Suzanne.</s>MALVEAUX: All right. Brianna Keilar, John King, thank you very much for your perspective.</s>MALVEAUX: Want to go now back to Pennsylvania. That is where former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky could soon walk out of jail. He posted $250,000 bond just within the last hour. Our Jason Carroll, he is live in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. That is just outside the jail. Jason, do we know when he might be released, when he's getting out?</s>JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that would be anyone's guess. When I e-mailed his attorney, Joe Amendola, a little while ago, I asked after he had posted the bail, would he even be with him here at the Center County Correctional Facility, would he be leaving with him? He said hopefully. So, hopefully, we will se very soon Jerry Sandusky walk out of the facility behind me. Again, $250,000 bail is what he had to post. Before he does leave this facility, a probation officer will have to come in and put that electronic monitoring device on him. That is one of the conditions of his bail, one of the few conditions. In addition to that, he will be under house arrest, Suzanne, as you know. In addition to that, he will also not be able to have any contact with any victims or any witnesses. Also, he will not be able to have any unsupervised visits with any minors. So these are some of the conditions of the bail that have been set forth -- Suzanne.</s>MALVEAUX: And Jason, do we know how he came up with the money?</s>CARROLL: Not at this point. I mean, it would be pure speculation, which I'm certainly not going to do. Obviously, in situations like this, you can put up your home. These are some of the things you can do. You can borrow money. But at this point, it would just be pure speculation.</s>MALVEAUX: And Jason, I know you're outside the jail. Obviously, the media, very interested in this story. Do we suspect, do we even know in his own neighborhood, Sandusky's neighborhood, whether or not people have been outraged, whether or not they've been outside the home, whether or not people are actually outside the jail following what happens to this guy and where he goes next?</s>CARROLL: Well, let's start with his neighborhood, which is located just about 20 minutes from here. As you can imagine, his neighbors are fed up with the media coming to and from Sandusky's home. He lives in sort of a remote neighborhood on a cul-de-sac. It's hard to get in and out. They've restricted media from even parking news vans and news trucks in front of his home for obvious reasons. So his neighbors are understandably a little bit fed up with the media. There have been some situations at the home when some rocks have been thrown through Sandusky's window there. So that, in itself, says something. But in terms of people showing up here at the jail, no one's showing up here at the jail except, of course, for the media.</s>MALVEAUX: All right, Jason. Thank you very much. Obviously, we're going to be monitoring the jail. We're probably going to go back to Jason as well to bring you an update on actually when Sandusky will walk out. We're going to have more on that story after a break.