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STARTING POINT WITH SOLEDAD O'BRIEN
Bill Clinton Captures DNC Crowd; Interview with Senator Dick Durbin; "A Father First"; Bill Clinton Gives Speech to Democratic National Convention; Democratic Platform Amended to Include "God" and "Jerusalem"; Interview with Bob McDonnell, Interview with Debbie Wasserman Schultz; DEMs Change Israel Platform Language; Will.I.Am's "Yes We Can" Message>
Aired September 6, 2012 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. You're watching STARTING POINT.
Bill Clinton makes the case for President Obama. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Their number one priority was not to put America back to work. It was to put the president out of work.
I hate to break it to you. But we're going to keep President Obama on the job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: The former president's charisma and eloquence on display. Did he hit the mark?
Also, how Republicans are rebutting this morning.
Tonight, the culmination of the Democratic National Convention, President Obama will get his opportunity to tell the American people why they should give him four more years. We'll tell you what he needs to accomplish with his speech tonight.
And then, chaos on the convention floor. A last-minute change to the Democrats' platform to add a mention of God and to declare Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, after President Obama intervened. We'll take a look at what really happened.
We'll ask the DNC boss herself, Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz who will be our guest.
Also joining us this morning, Senator Majority Whip Dick Durbin, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, NBA star Dwyane Wade, who is taking up one of the president's causes. And we'll chat with political activist and Black Eyed Peas front man Will.i.am.
It's Thursday, September 6th. And STARTING POINT begins right now.
(MUSIC)
O'BRIEN: Welcome, welcome, welcome, everybody. Let's introduce you to our team.
Dana Bash is with you, CNN congressional senior correspondent.
Democratic Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland is with us, in person. Usually we chat by remote. Nice to have you in person.
Michael Crowley is the deputy Washington bureau chief of "TIME" magazine. Same thing, I think we met yesterday for the first time in person.
MICHAEL CROWLEY, TIME: It was very exciting, yes.
O'BRIEN: And David Frum, who we know in person. He's with "The Daily Beast" and with "Newsweek," joining us at the end of the table there.
Our STARTING POINT this morning, of course, is the speech from last night. Rousing endorsement of his economic policies, Bill Clinton really teed it up for President Obama's convention closing speech. So tonight, Mr. Obama will make his own case for a second term in office.
But last night, the former president rocked the convention hall, a speech that was vintage Clinton -- fiery and kind of long.
Dana Bash was there.
Many say home run.
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly that is what the Obama campaign thinks. He definitely gave a long speech. And he did a lot of ad libbing, but he didn't do any freelancing when it came to the message. And that is why the Obama campaign is thrilled this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BASH (voice-over): This is the lasting image of the evening, an embrace just four years ago few could imagine.
But the former president made clear -- bitterness over the bruising battle between his wife and Obama is ancient history, repeatedly making the case for four more years as only Bill Clinton can.
CLINTON: If you want a winner-take-all, you're on your own society, you should support the Republican ticket. But if you want a country of shared opportunities and shared responsibility, a we're- all-in-this-together society, you should vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
BASH: The man who could famously feel your pain vouched for Obama's empathy.
CLINTON: I want to nominate a man who's cool on the outside -- but who burns for America on the inside.
(APPLAUSE)
BASH: He eagerly reminded people he presided over historic economic prosperity as he pushed back on GOP arguments that Obama could have done more.
CLINTON: No president, not me, not any of my predecessors, no one could have fully repaired all of the damage that he found in just four years.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: But he has -- he has laid the foundations for a new modern successful economy, a shared prosperity. And if you will renew the president's contract, you will feel it.
BASH: And he tore apart the Romney economic plan.
CLINTON: We simply cannot afford to give the reins of government to someone who will double-down on trickle-down.
BASH: Bill Clinton was not alone in primetime. Democrats trying to widen an already gender gap chose two female speakers, liberal icon and Massachusetts Democratic Senate candidates Elizabeth Warren.
ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: The system is rigged. Look around. Oil companies guzzle down billions in profits. Billionaires pay lower tax rates than their secretaries.
BASH: A strong finish for an evening that started out rough. A day earlier, Democrats approved a party platform that removed the word "God" and dropped the goal of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Permit an amendment to the platform --
BASH: After what sources say was a private revolt among many Democratic officials and activists, party leaders decided to fix it, which caused a flash of embarrassing chaos.
MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA (D), LOS ANGELES, CA: All those in favor of suspending the rules, say aye.
CROWD: Aye.
VILLARAIGOSA: All those opposed, say no.
CROWD: No.
BASH: The Los Angeles mayor and convention chair took the vote three times until finally declaring the change is approved.
VILLARAIGOSA: I'll do that one more time.
All those delegates in favor say aye.
CROWD: Aye!
VILLARAIGOSA: All those delegates opposed say no.
CROWD: No!
VILLARAIGOSA: In the opinion of the chair, 2/3 have voted in the affirmative. The motion is adopted. And the platform has been amended as shown on the screen.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: And that was an unscripted moment of drama. Not one the Democrats had hoped for. But they are definitely happy that Bill Clinton overshadowed that and pretty much everything else yesterday in his speech.
And I just want to show our viewers one thing we just got in, and that is a photo of where his wife was watching his speech. She was in East Timor traveling for her day job, which of course is secretary of state, and I believe we have a photo from the State Department.
And there you go. Look at that smile, watching her husband. I guess it must be an odd thing to watch from East Timor. But someone like Hillary Clinton is probably used to doing that.
O'BRIEN: Probably does that all the time. And as we mentioned, his speech was long, 48 minutes, 30 seconds long. And the last one he got criticism for, for being long was shorter than that.
BASH: Thirty-three minutes. So, it was 15 minutes longer than the one everybody said was rambling and at the time a career ender for him when he was a no-name governor. So, I guess it depends on where you sit, who you are, and what you're saying.
O'BRIEN: Context is everything.
Remember those texts from Hillary we were talking about?
BASH: Yes.
O'BRIEN: So you saw a moment ago of the real picture of her watching her husband. There's a photo from "Text from Hillary" photo on Facebook. It's hilarious. Originally, it was on "BuzzFeed". The Tumblr blog, they are still up.
Take a look. Can we show the picture up? Text for Hillary, not the real one. Come on, people, help me out here. There we go.
BASH: Wrap it up.
O'BRIEN: Wrap it up.
BASH: It's like the producers in our ears.
O'BRIEN: Exactly, wrap it up, Bill. We're getting on 48 minutes here. It's time for everybody to go.
It was I guess apparently the #Hillary2016 was the top trending topic during her husband's speech, which is interesting. And as you mentioned, she was in East Timor but obviously watching it.
Coming up this morning on STARTING POINT, we're going to talk a little bit more about the political confusion on the floor with the changes to the Democrats' platform. Debbie Wasserman Schultz who said, confusion? What confusion? What are you talking about?
We'll discuss that with her this morning. She, of course, is the Democratic national committee chair.
First, though, some news to get to. Christine has got that for us.
Hey, Christine.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Hurricane Leslie is on course now with Bermuda. Officials there are urging residents to prepare for the worst. Right now, Leslie is a very slow-moving category 1 storm but could become a category 2 hurricane by tomorrow.
Hurricane Michael is now the first major hurricane this season that's a category 3 in the mid north Atlantic. Category 3 -- it's not a threat, though, to land.
A 13-mile stretch of Louisiana beaches remains closed this morning as sheens of oil and tar balls keep washing ashore in the aftermath of hurricane Isaac. The Coast Guard reports finding three oiled birds, and locals say they can't afford another financial hit so soon after the 2010 BP oil spill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEITH BERGERON, CHARTER, BOAT CAPTAIN: We can overcome a hurricane. But to deal with all of this on top of it is really hurting us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: BP officials say they are heading to the area to test the tar balls to confirm whether they came from the Deepwater Horizon spill. The company says it's prepared to help clean up the mess, either way.
We now know who bought a once lost recording of Martin Luther King Jr. and where it's going to be kept.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., CIVIL RIGHTS ICON: If one is truly nonviolent, that person has a loving spirit.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
ROMANS: Superstar illusionist David Copperfield bought the rare view. He says he's donating the reel to reel tape to the Lorraine Motel, the site where Dr. King was assassinated. It now houses the National Civil Rights Museum. The tape was discovered in the attic of a home in Tennessee. Remarkable quality of the tape.
Copperfield won't say how much he paid for it, but certainly, Soledad, it's a piece of history. He bought it, and it will be in that museum -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: I'm so happy it's going to go there. I spent a lot of time at that museum. They have an amazing collection for people who haven't had a chance to go. They should go. But to have it there, it's a perfect spot. That's great for him to do.
All right, Christine. Thank you. Appreciate it.
All right. Back to our top story this morning.
I want to bring in Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, second highest ranking Democrat in the Senate.
It's nice to have you, sir.
SEN. DICK DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: Good to be here.
O'BRIEN: Thank you. Thank you.
Give me an assessment of the speech last night.
DURBIN: Well, I'll tell you, Bill Clinton always hits it out of the park. It was a shorter speech than usual.
(LAUGHTER)
DURBIN: Only 50 minutes.
Gene Sperling, I saw him afterwards, and he said I spent 10 hours with him. I cut that speech in half. He put it all back in. Just can't stop him.
O'BRIEN: So, the issue, of course, is the undecideds. And some people have said the undecideds are a tiny sliver, maybe 4 percent, maybe 10 percent, but something like that. Did what he say last night really connected to those people, who will really decide the election?
DURBIN: Well, that was his focus. If nothing else, he has so many good qualities. Bill Clinton is a great teacher. He was kind of telling the class, now listen to this part. This is the important part. This is going to be on the final.
O'BRIEN: It was like a PowerPoint without the PowerPoint.
DURBIN: Right. This will be on the final. Check this out.
And he walked right through each and every major issue, analyzed it in simple terms, even a politician could follow, and folks at home, if they're interested in that explanation, nobody did it better.
O'BRIEN: Michael Crowley, if they're interested is kind of the key phrase in that. I mean, did this connect to those folks? We know who they are sort of, 35 and under, equally divided, male, female, white, probably no college education is sort of what we know about this particular voter. Did that speech make a difference to them?
CROWLEY: Well, I think it's always hard to say, you know, you kind of practicing black magic trying to imagine whether a speech really connected with people at home. But I would say we do know, first of all, if people are tuned in and watching, they are probably interested. They're probably looking for answers.
There are partisans who re looking for fun, and they want to get fired up.
But I think there's a segment of viewers who want to understand what's happening. I think the senator put his finger on it, which is that independent voters really want to hear about cooperation and solutions in Washington. And I thought that the sign that President Clinton was speaking to that audience was the emphasis he put on that.
I mean, if you look at the polling, it will say voters in the middle, they don't want to hear about fights. They don't want to hear insults. They want to hear how you can come together and get it done.
And the emphasis on theme to me was saying, I'm talking to these people in the middle who are undecided, who are independents, and plenty of red meat for the base. We saw Elizabeth warren, for instance, I thought a real, you know, fired up, ready to go kind of speech. But I think Clinton was trying to give a little bit of a lesson to people to explain, this is how it works.
The line I loved is when he said, he said in effect of now, here are the facts. You be the judge. And I just thought it's such a savvy technique to say, when you're presenting facts in support of your argument but saying to people, I'm going to let you judge the facts for yourself.
Now, of course, he is presenting a favorable argument for his case.
O'BRIEN: You think?
CROWLEY: But he sets it up -- he sets it up as if to say, you make up your own mind.
O'BRIEN: So, let's talk about Republicans. Here's John Sununu apparently was on a call with reporters, and "The Daily Caller" said this is what he said, talking about what the future for the GOP is going to be now once this convention ends. "If I had to give you my own personal technical term for what they are going to do," said John Sununu, Romney campaign surrogate, "They are going to carpet bomb them."
That's what he says is coming up next. How worried should the Democrats be about that strategy, the GOP carpet bombing them?
DURBIN: What's different about that? I mean, the super PACs. We've got 17 angry old white men who are pouring in millions of dollars, carpet bombing every candidate in sight.
I ran into Sherrod Brown of Ohio yesterday, they spent $16 million already in negative ads in Ohio. He is lucky to have $6 million when it's said and done. You know, they have laid out the carpet bombs and he is still standing and strong.
The point I'm getting to is this is nothing new. But I do want to go back to the point that you made. David Maraniss called in this morning from "The New York Times," the horse whisper. Bill Clinton last night.
But when he talked about I disagreed with the Republicans but I don't hate them. There's so much hate coming out from the other side. I think that turns off independent voters more than anything. They know we disagree. They expect us to find some common ground.
O'BRIEN: You think the hate turns them off?
DURBIN: The hate does, and the carpet bombs with negative ads. People just say finally, enough.
I remember when Jon Corzine told me after he was first elected to the Senate, he spent $65 million to get there. And he said, if that campaign had gone on for two more weeks, I would have lost, overwhelmed his opponent, but people reached the point where they said, we're sick of it. There is just too much of it. You've overdone it.
O'BRIEN: What does President Obama have to do tonight? I mean, in a way, tough act to follow.
DURBIN: There will be a lot of love in that arena for the president tonight. Michelle set it up. Bill Clinton explained it. This president is going to deliver it.
BASH: You're going to have to do something, right?
DURBIN: Well, I'll be on the program, a few minutes before he speaks. Maybe slightly different introduction.
But, you know, he's had good luck. I introduced him in Boston. Not too bad. I introduced him when he announced his candidacy in my hometown in Springfield. And I introduced him in Denver. Things turned out pretty well.
BASH: You're his good luck charm? Is that --
O'BRIEN: What's what he's saying, yes. Did you miss that? That's what he's saying.
DURBIN: That's my role.
O'BRIEN: Senator, nice to have you with us this morning.
DURBIN: Good to be with you. Thanks, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Thanks for being with us.
Got to take a short break.
Still ahead this morning, NBA superstar, Dwyane Wade, is teaming up with President Obama for a special cause. Mr. Wade is going to join us live up next to explain.
You're watching STARTING POINT. We're coming to you from Charlotte, North Carolina. And there he is, nice to see you. Sorry, we're not in New York with you this morning, Dwyane. We're back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome to STARTING POINT. We're coming to you live from Charlotte, North Carolina. President Obama is going to accept his party's nomination tonight. A key theme that he's touched upon during his presidency is the importance of fatherhood. Something our next guest agrees with.
You know him as an NBA superstar, a two-time championship winner, a former MVP, but the Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade says his most important title is dad. He's the father of two little boys, a 5-year-old Zion and a 10-year-old Zaire. He talks about fatherhood in his new book, which is called "A Father First."
And Dwyane joins us live from New York, where I'm not this morning. I'm in charlotte. Nice to have you. Congratulations on the book. Tell me a little bit about why a fatherhood has been such an important title for you, especially when you consider sort of all the incredible accolades and things that you've accomplished on the sports side.
You constantly tell people, no, dad is what matters to me. Why?
DWYANE WADE, NBA BASKETBALL PLAYER: First of all, thank you. You know, I just feel that being a father, being a parent, in itself is the greatest gift that we're given. And, it's so important to me. I feel like since I was a kid, I've always wanted to be a great dad. You know, it's kind of like I've been molding (ph) my whole life to be a great dad.
So, given the opportunity with two boys, with Zaire and Zion, also (INAUDIBLE) to be that role model to them at home, it's an unbelievable challenge, but it's so rewarding and so fulfilling. Nothing feels better.
O'BRIEN: You know, you talk a lot about your childhood in you're your book. You were raised in the south side of Chicago. You had a tough upbringing. Your mom on drugs for a lot of your childhood. I know she's clean now. How do you -- what advice do you give other men and maybe even just women, too, for parenting, about how to be a great parent in spite of some serious adversity?
WADE: Well, I think the first thing I let them know is I don't have all the answers. And, that I'm continuing to learn myself. I think the biggest thing that we have to learn as parents is that just as much as our kids learn from us, that we learn from them. Everyday, Zaire and Zion and (INAUDIBLE) teach me how to be a parent, how to be a father.
And, so, we have to be open minded. And I have learned and experienced that I don't have all the answers at all. But I think the biggest thing that I always try to come across and when my mother always told me is, no matter what, always tell your kids how much you love them. Always tell your kids how great they are.
You don't want them to search for it from someone else. They need to know it at home first. So, I'm just excited that I have the opportunity every day now to be able to tell them that. And the little things is what really matters.
O'BRIEN: You were involved in a very bitter and very ugly custody dispute with your now ex-wife. I think it was the longest custody trial in the history of Cook County. What it was like to go through that? And what did you get out of it that taught you something about being a father? It ended, I should say, in your favor. You got full custody of your boys.
WADE: Yes. It was tough, you know, to go through something so personal in a public eye. And to be so many things to come out, you know, maybe some being truth, you know, maybe a lot being not the truth, and having to deal with the public perception of what's real and what's not. But, at the end of the day, I kept my focus on my kids.
I never really put myself in front of them or in front of the situation. I didn't make myself the most important person involved in the whole divorce and custody battle. So, I can go to sleep easy at night knowing that my actions and everything I did was about doing what's best for my kids.
And it's unfortunate that our relationship didn't work out. But, you know, what was important for me is that we still became and still were, you know, great parents to our kids. And they shouldn't suffer because of our relationship failure. So, that's what I try to continue to do.
O'BRIEN: Dwyane Wade, the new book is called "A Father First: How My Life Became Bigger Than Basketball." I'm sorry I'm not there with you in person this morning, but it's nice to have you with us. Thanks for being us, Dwyane. Always great to see you. WADE: Oh, thank you. Great to see you, too.
O'BRIEN: Still ahead this morning on STARTING POINT -- you bet. You bet. "God" and "Israel," well, forget the harmony on the floor yesterday. Democratic National Committee chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, is going to join us to explain what exactly happened yesterday to those controversies over the changes to the Democrats' platform. We got to take a short break. We're back in just a moment from Charlotte, North Carolina.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Still ahead this morning on STARTING POINT, convention chaos. Democrats at odds over adding back in the word "God" and recognizing Jerusalem in the platform. Why the discord? We're going to check in with party chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Straight ahead.
Plus, former president, Bill Clinton, says the "Republicans left America in a mess." That's a quote, back in 2008. We'll see what the GOP thinks. Up next, Virginia governor, Bob McDonnell, is going to sit down with us to give us his take on President Clinton's speech from last night.
You're watching STARTING POINT. We're coming to you live from Charlotte, North Carolina. Back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching STARTING POINT. We're live covering the final night of the Democratic National Convention here in Charlotte, North Carolina, where President Barack Obama is going to accept the nomination for a second term tonight.
He follows a powerful endorsement from President Bill Clinton, who told Americans they're better off now than they were four years ago. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: When President Barack Obama took office, the economy was in freefall. It had just shrunk nine full percent of GDP. We were losing 750,000 jobs a month. Are we doing better than that today? The answer is yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Virginia governor, Bob McDonnell, is a Mitt Romney supporter joining us this morning. Nice to see you, sir.
GOV. BOB MCDONNELL, CHAIR, REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS ASSOCIATION: Hi, Soledad. Good morning.
O'BRIEN: -- do a remote. So, it's great to have you in person.
MCDONNELL: Yes, thank you. O'BRIEN: What did you think of that speech?
MCDONNELL: Very few people can deliver a speech like Bill Clinton. It was very well done, very different than Bill Clinton four years ago when he was harshly critical of President Obama or then candidate Obama's ability to be president.
But at the end of the day, speeches don't create jobs. Good policies do. And this week, while all these good speeches are going on here, we've got the highest gas prices ever for a Labor Day on Monday. Tuesday, we come out with the debt numbers, $16 trillion in debt. That's $200,000 per family of four. And after the president is going to deliver a great speech tonight, I'm sure it will be one of the best we've ever heard, we'll wake up tomorrow morning with a job report that will show 43 consecutive months over eight percent.
So the bottom line is speeches make you feel good, but at the end of the day the American people don't think we're better off than four years ago, and they are going to want to change.
O'BRIEN: Speeches can motivate people to vote and lay out an agenda. What you saw last night is here is what we are here to believe, and we are here to protect the middle class. And here's what they, meaning Republicans --
MCDONNELL: I know who they meant.
O'BRIEN: Everybody knew who they meant. Isn't that going to be especially delivered by someone like Bill Clinton who has a high approval number, that both candidates would love to have, isn't that a problem for the GOP?
MCDONNELL: No. Listen, we had good speeches last week. I thought Ann Romney was good. Mitt was good. Paul Ryan was good. They are going to have great speeches. Again, I'm expecting a very good speech tonight from president Obama. But at the end of the day, people are hurting right now. And they don't want platitudes. They want leadership. We have a surplus of rhetoric and a deficit of results in Washington right now.
And there is no way you can sugarcoat the fact that there are 23 million people, Soledad, that are unemployed or underemployed. Minorities, college students who supported the president in a big way, have done the worst in the Obama economy. This is the worst recovery we've ever had since the great recession -- great depression. People don't want to hear platitudes. It's results that matter.
O'BRIEN: What Bill Clinton was saying, we started off in a terrible place. The current president started off in a much worse place --
MCDONNELL: We did. And he made it worse. That's the problem.
O'BRIEN: Bill Clinton says he has not made it worse, he is on a great path. People should stick on the path. MCDONNELL: Bill Clinton did his very best to try to put some sugar on it, but the bottom line is he knows, his rhetoric about we're having a good energy policy and we're better off than four years ago, people aren't buying that.
O'BRIEN: Someone said it was a mistake. Redstate.com said Bill Clinton asked the crowd if they were better off, and they said, yes, that's not wise. Romney campaign groups are going to use that, but the Democrats trying to paint the RNC as out of touch or denying reality.
MCDONNELL: Yes, because anywhere from 52 percent to 72 percent of the people in the recent polls say we're on the wrong track and not better off than four years ago. They can say it all they want, but it's just not true. It doesn't resonate with people, because at the end of day, they not they are having a harder time getting a job. Gas prices have doubled. Incomes are down $4,000, college tuition has gone up 25 percent. And this crushing unemployment rate for 43 months, every month in the Obama presidency over eight percent.
O'BRIEN: The Democrats are saying it's been in positive territory, they were handed an economy that was imploding. As I like to tell people, I remember going to the gym and I had to stop to watch what the Dow was doing was horrific. It was horrible.
MCDONNELL: No question about it. He did not create the problem. He just doesn't have a plan to get us out of that. I think he's made it worse. If you look at any data, from gas, cost of living --
O'BRIEN: Well, that's not true. Not any empirical measure.
MCDONNELL: Well, the big numbers that people will vote on.
O'BRIEN: The stock market is a big number. I would say it's a mixed bag. It's a very much mixed bag. Which element of it is going to resonate with the voter is kind of the $64,000 question.
MCDONNELL: I agree with you. And here is the question. Which candidate has got the best ideas to get America out of debt and back to work? I think that's what this is all about. And if you look at unemployment, eight percent unemployment every month of the Obama presidency. We have never had a chronic four years like this, $200,000 of debt per American family of four, $16 trillion. That's just unacceptable. And so I said that Mitt Romney has got a plan. It will be compared to Barack Obama's record. I think Bill Clinton -- I mean, president Obama would love to have a record to run on like Bill Clinton.
O'BRIEN: Everybody would love to have it Bill Clinton's approval numbers and a record that Bill Clinton had.
MCDONNELL: But here is the difference. When Mitt Romney was the governor of Massachusetts, unemployment went down. Deficits went down. The credit rating went up. It's just the opposite of president Obama as the president of the United States. Bill Clinton gave a good speech and had a record to run on in 1996. President Obama doesn't. He has a lousy record, so it's all about speeches and rhetoric. We'll hear a great speech tonight. Tomorrow morning, eight percent unemployment for 43 months. The independent voter will say I want to change.
O'BRIEN: Governor Bob McDonnell, thank you.
MCDONNELL: Thank you, appreciate it.
O'BRIEN: We have new jobs numbers just in. Let's get right to Christine Romans with an update on that. Christine, good morning.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. This just in to STARTING POINT -- 365,000 unemployment claims were filed for the first time last week. That's down 12,000 from the week before. That's according to the Labor Department. This is a positive surprise before what is expected to be an anemic jobs report tomorrow. Economists think the economy grew by 120,000 new jobs in August. In honor of the "are you better off than four years ago?" storyline of the week, let's flash back to four years ago. In September of 2008, Lehman collapsed and the economy was shrinking at a rate of 3.7 percent. In that month, the economy lost 432,000 jobs. Soledad?
O'BRIEN: All right, Christine. Thank you very much.
MCDONNELL: Still ahead this morning on STARTING POINT, the 2012 Democratic platform has not gotten a lot of attention until now, and not because of what was in it, but because of what it was missing. The lack of a reference to God, omitting Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Next we'll check in with Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz about the political blunder.
You're watching STARTING POINT. We're coming to you live from Charlotte, North Carolina. Back in just a moment. Good morning. How are you?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: And welcome back to STARTING POINT. Tonight, President Obama is going to accept his party's nomination. But Democrats hit a snag on the floor yesterday. They amended their party platform, reinserting language on god and Israel that was in the 2008 platform but was not in this year's platform. They had to vote three times by voice, with many delegates yelling "no" at each attempt. Here's how it sounded.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA, (D) LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: All those delegates in favor say aye.
CROWD: Aye.
VILLARAIGOSA: All those delegates opposed say no.
CROWD: No.
VILLARAIGOSA: In the opinion of the -- let me do that again. All of those delegates in favor say aye.
CROWD: Aye!
VILLARAIGOSA: All those delegates opposed, say no.
CROWD: No!
VILLARAIGOSA: I'll do that one more time. All those delegates in favor say aye.
CROWD: Aye!
VILLARAIGOSA: All those delegates opposed say no.
CROWD: No!
VILLARAIGOSA: In the opinion of the chair, two-thirds have voted in the affirmative. The motion is adopted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Joining us this morning, Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, from Florida. She heads the Democratic National Committee. What happened? Explain that whole thing to me. That was a bit of a mess yesterday. The platform in 2008 had "God" and had Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. It was out in 2012. Why?
REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, (D) FLORIDA: Well, here's what happened. On Tuesday, we adopted a 100 percent strongly pro-Israel platform that I was so proud to support. Does, Soledad, I'm the first Jewish woman to represent Israel in congress. I was proud of our platform already. It has stronger language than the Republican platform in supporting a nuclear free Iran. And the president said my personal view is that Jerusalem is and always will remain the capital of Israel. And that was the language we had in 2008. And he felt that the platform should reflect his personal view.
O'BRIEN: Why was it out? There was a change from 2008 to 2012 where the word "God" was missing and the capital of Jerusalem was missing.
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Essentially with Jerusalem, it was a technical omission and nothing more than that. There was not any -- through the drafting process and the platform committee process, there was never any discussion or debate or commentary over adding or subtracting it. President Obama, when he realized that the language was not in there and it wasn't there from the 2008 platform --
O'BRIEN: And that came after there was criticism of the platform. He didn't wake up one morning and doesn't it wasn't there.
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Let's not make more of this than it is. There was not any discussion about the --
O'BRIEN: You mean on TV, right? WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: No, no, no. I'm saying there wasn't any discussion beforehand or even since the commentary afterwards. This was President Obama's belief. See, the difference between our platform and the Republican platform is that president Obama knows that this is his platform. And he wants it to reflect his personal view. And Mitt Romney --
O'BRIEN: I hear you. I get it. We're not talking about the Republican platform for a moment.
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: There's a big difference.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: There is a big difference, but I want to focus on the Democratic platform. So when there was a sort of backlash about these words not being in it, the president then said, this is my vision and added it back in.
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: No, you can't make the "if-then" statement. What I'm telling you is this was a technical omission. The adding of "Jerusalem" into the platform was making sure that the platform reflected more clarity on what was already a strongly pro-Israel platform.
O'BRIEN: But it was added back in because you were getting backlash about it.
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: No, it was not. It was added back in because President Obama personally believes that Jerusalem is and will remain the capital of Israel and felt that the platform needed to reflect his personal view as well as the language from the 2008 platform.
O'BRIEN: When you listened to that voice vote, part of the chaos was that -- and when I spoke to the mayor, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, I said, you seemed surprised. And he said, no. But he seemed surprised that the ayes were as strong as the nos. It is.
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: I've been a legislator for 20 years now. And I can probably count on one hand the number of times that a unanimous vote was held. So, you know, we have 6,000 delegates. You know, for there to have --
O'BRIEN: It was half and half. It sounded almost three times very, very close. And then at the end, he said well, two-thirds majority.
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Soledad, I'll go back to the fact that Tuesday, we adopted a strongly pro-Israel platform that was even -- had even stronger language on Israel than the Republican platform does. And then we added for the purposes of making sure President Obama's personal view on Jerusalem being the capital of Israel always and should remain. Now we have even more clarity in our platform.
O'BRIEN: But last night you said, and Anderson took you to task for this, he wasn't interviewing you but you were on the floor and you said there wasn't any discord. Clearly, there was discord. People were saying "no" and standing. We have video of people being angry.
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Among 6,000 delegates, 6,000 delegates to have a small amount of objection in any essentially legislative process is sort of par for the course. And that's all that was.
O'BRIEN: You were there. Did it sound like a small amount of objection?
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No. It was -- it was -- there was some discord there. I mean, it was kind of hard to tell what they were -- what they were mad about, whether it was God or whether it was the Jerusalem thing. But we did see some delegates there (inaudible). My question is, yes, I think it's -- it's fair to say that there was strong pro-Israel language in the platform.
But you know so well, maybe more than most, that the issue of Jerusalem being a capital is so politically sensitive. Was it just -- how did it happen that that wasn't in there, given the fact that it was such a big deal that it was added four years ago for the Obama campaign to have the olive branch to the Jewish community?
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Like I said, our -- our platform already reflected President Obama's incredible record in support of Israel. Reflected that President Obama has always had Israel's back and will continue, as well as the Democratic Party and he believed, because this was omitted, he believed that it needed to reflect his view on Jerusalem remaining the capital of Israel. And so for purposes of clarity, he felt that it was important to add it in.
YELLIN: Did you?
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Did I --
(CROSSTALK)
YELLIN: Feel it was important to add it back in?
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Absolutely, yes.
O'BRIEN: So David is shaking is kind of shaking his head, no, no, no.
DAVID FRUM: I wasn't at the platform meeting. And it's possible you've done your platform differently from every incumbent president in the history of modern platform writing. But the way it normally works is the President has somebody there. And on any issue the President cares about, the President indicates to the platform writers what the President would like to see.
And on foreign policy issues --
(CROSSTALK)
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Like the Republican platform with the -- with the human life amendment and Mitt Romney?
FRUM: No. The Republicans don't have a President right now.
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Yes I agree, you're right.
FRUM: The Republicans don't have a President right now.
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: A candidate or the President --
FRUM: But presidents have a lot of sway. And on foreign policy -- because they have patronage powers. And Mitt Romney has much less control over his party than a President Romney would do.
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Oh come on.
FRUM: But the President didn't -- ok. The question is did the President not have somebody there? And if the President felt so overwhelmingly passionately strongly about Jerusalem, notwithstanding the fact that he didn't talk about it either in his big Middle East final status speech, if he felt, why didn't he just indicate, people do me a favor, include the language I want? He had a bad representative there?
REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD), MARYLAND: I've been listening to what Debbie has been saying and apparently you're not listening. What she says is this is an election between Mitt Romney and President Obama. And we wanted to make sure that the platform reflected the President's position on this issue.
(CROSSTALK)
FRUM: So they just forgot?
VAN HOLLEN: In your platform -- but in your platform, you have Mitt Romney running away from your platform on some issues. So we wanted to make sure that the President was in sync with the platform and that's why they made sure that his position was in there.
O'BRIEN: But it seems like an important issue to have a mess-up, right? I mean of all the issues, of all of the things that you could have a mistake on, this particular one seems like a really big one to be like, oh, it was a technical issue.
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Let's be clear. Let's be clear.
O'BRIEN: I think that's why people are a little -- are little cynical about that.
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Clarity here is important.
O'BRIEN: I agree.
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: When -- when President Obama realized that an important issue like Jerusalem, which he believes is and should remain the capital of Israel, when he realized that that omission was there, unlike Mitt Romney, who says that he opposes his party's platform on human life and that he wants an exception for rape, incest, and the life of the mother, never insisted, never did anything about it, didn't even try to change it. President Obama when he realized there was this omission said this platform should reflect my personal view.
FRUM: The reason what you're saying is so non-credible is because we all know that President Obama does not feel strongly about Jerusalem. He walked back his APAC speech in 2008. In his Middle -- big Middle East final status speech.
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Excuse me.
FRUM: He made a commitment on borders. He did not make a commitment on Jerusalem. We all know he doesn't feel stronger about it, that's why this is explosive.
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: I strongly -- strongly object and disagree with you. President Obama as Defense Minister Ehud Barak has said has been a strong friend of Israel.
FRUM: That's true but that's not what I was saying.
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: In fact he could -- well, no.
FRUM: We were talking about how does he feel about Jerusalem and we know.
(CROSSTALK)
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: We have -- we have -- we have a president who strongly supports Israel and who strongly supports -- so strongly that he realized when -- when our platform did not include language that he personally feels strongly about, he insisted that we put it back in.
And let's compare that to the previous administration, who also had a president that said Jerusalem is and should remain the capital of Israel, and that he would move the embassy and didn't. I mean words matter. But deeds matter more. And President Obama has consistently had a record standing by Israel, having Israel's back and making sure, unlike Mitt Romney, that he wants his platform to reflect his convictions. There's a clear choice and a clear difference.
O'BRIEN: Words clearly matter, that's why we're having this debate about what happened on the floor.
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: And now the words are in our platform because President Obama's personal belief was that they should be there.
O'BRIEN: Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz it's nice to have you with us.
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: I appreciate it. We've got to take a short break.
We're back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: And welcome back. We're coming to you live from Charlotte, North Carolina.
Tonight, President Obama will deliver his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention. Four years ago, you'll remember that this was the Obama campaign anthem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we can. Yes, we can it was so --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: The rousing cheer that inspired the music mogul Will.I.Am to lend his talents to the campaign. He created the popular video. It became a symbol of candidate Obama's message. Well, this week at the DNC he continues to show his support. I had a chance to sit down with him and ask him what should today's campaign anthem be for the Obama campaign? Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILL.I.AM, BLACK EYE PEAS ACTIVIST: Today's message should be "We Are One". We are united. And we need to forge a whole new energy and American dream.
What is the American dream nowadays? Freedom? I can go to Holland and be a little bit more free. I can go right up to Canada and they have the same freedoms in Canada. And if I was a teacher I would get paid more money if I went to Australia.
So what is our dream? Because that dream that we made in 1940, we've got to remix that dream. We've got to remix America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: We got to remix that dream. You can check out the full interview with Will.I.Am tomorrow right here on STARTING POINT.
Our "End Point" is up next. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: And it's time for "End Point." I'm going to let Congressman Van Hollen to start us off? What do you think, give me the big take away for the day?
VAN HOLLEN: Well the big take away was that President Clinton last set the table very well for President Obama tonight. And essentially what President Clinton was saying that what Obama is proposing is a 21st century version of economic policies like Clinton had.
He wants to invest in our middle class. He wants to take a balanced approach to reducing the deficit. And if you do that, you'll have the growth and deficit reduction you had under President Clinton as opposed to the economic collapse we had from 2000 to 2008.
The American dream is real for the President. His story is the story of the American dream. He just wants to make sure all Americans can have that dream.
Mr. Crowley, you know the Congressman had stolen about 10 seconds from your 20 seconds.
MICHAEL CROWLEY: A little controversy. Well, that's okay let me catch up. A little controversy on the floor, but basically Democrats have been having a very successful week. And I think the bar is now set high. The question is, can Obama match it? Michelle hit a home run. Bill Clinton hit into the upper deck. I think people are expecting Obama to hit it out of the park.
O'BRIEN: Pressure.
CROWLEY: So the bar is high tonight.
FRUM: Accolades for Bill Clinton's speech. But nobody should forget all of the key decisions leading to the housing bubble were made under Bill Clinton's administration. Not to regulate derivative trading, to allow deposit-taking institutions to gamble with proprietary trading. The expansion of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Those are Bill Clinton's decisions. Housing bubble, he built that.
O'BRIEN: That might be a tough argument, I think, for the GOP as he goes --
FRUM: But true. But true.
O'BRIEN: But true. Dana, you have the last 10 seconds.
BASH: Last 10 seconds. I think we found the difference between a good communicator and a good orator. Bill Clinton is a wonderful communicator. Barack Obama is a wonderful orator. And that's what we'll see tonight.
O'BRIEN: The pressure is on for him tonight.
I think you guys for being with us. We certainly appreciate. You want to check out tonight's coverage of the DNC right here on CNN. We kick off at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time with Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper. I'll be on the floor with the delegates at 10:00 p.m. You'll hear from the President as he officially accepts his party's nomination for re-election.
At midnight, Piers Morgan will wrap it all up from right here at the CNN Grill. And tomorrow morning on STARTING POINT, political activist and actor, Kal Penn will join us; Beau Biden, the son of the Vice President, Joe Biden and attorney general of Delaware is going to join us.
New York Congressman Steve Israel is our guest. He's the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Illinois Governor Pat Quinn will join us as well. And from the Romney camp, we'll talk to Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson.
That is all ahead tomorrow.
"CNN NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello begins right now.
