Pakistan President Says Bin Laden May Be Dead
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Pakistan's president is grabbing headlines this morning. He says that intelligence officials think that 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden may be dead. But he also said there's no proof. Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is live on the ground in Islamabad. What do you make, Nic, of the comments from the president? He was asked about this and that's how he responded.</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, it's not unusual to hear from Pakistani officials that Osama bin Laden may be dead. They've said it many times since -- since 9/11. One of the reasons they said is because they feel under pressure because Osama bin Laden is believed to be in Pakistan to say something about him. And what was interesting about President Sardari's comments was that within a couple of hours, the prime minister here completely contradicted the president. These two men, the two leaders of the country are very, very close. So the complete contradiction and really for many analysts here who are looking at this right now, it's indicative, this contradiction over Osama bin Laden's death is indicative of the confusion of the leadership at the helm of Pakistan right now. And one of the reasons many analysts say that the country is sort of floundering and how to deal with the Taliban. So I think really the overall read right now is that there really wasn't a lot of base to what the president had actually said -- Kiran.</s>CHETRY: Yes, and it's very interesting because he seemed to sort of lay it on the U.S. in a way. He said that the U.S. is much more informed. They've been after him for a longer time. They've got more equipment. And they tell us they have no trace at the moment.</s>ROBERTSON: You know, which is also interesting. I mean, one can never rule out something happening with Osama bin Laden. It's a big dark secret. You know, how close people are to catching him. And any moment of any day, we might find out that's happening. I was talking to a Saudi source recently who said that they didn't have any current information over the last few weeks. But you can't read too much in to this stuff. There are a lot of different sources out there who will tell you a lot of different information. And I think because we've heard this so many times from Pakistani officials, because they don't have a basis from their own intelligence gathering to say this, I think we just have to read it very, very carefully, Kiran.</s>CHETRY: Nic Robertson for us in Pakistan this morning. Thank you. Twenty-nine minutes past the hour. Here are the top stories on our agenda that we'll be breaking down for you in the next 15 minutes. Officials are on high alert as the swine flu outbreak spreads. Here in the U.S., 50 confirmed cases. Now earlier on AMERICAN MORNING, the head of the CDC saying that if you don't have to go to Mexico, don't. In fact, he said if he had a trip planned, he'd cancel it. In just hours, the Senate subcommittee will hold an emergency hearing and officials from the CDC are expected to testify there. Well, one crew member of the Maersk Alabama, the U.S.-flagged cargo ship taken hostage by Somali pirates is suing the company. He's accusing Maersk of knowingly putting the sailors in danger. Richard Hicks says Maersk ignored request to improve safety measures for ships sailing near the Somali coast. And protest against Bank of America, coast-to-coast demonstrations planned too at hundreds of branches of B of A. The move coincides with the bank's annual shareholders meeting. Many are planning to protest and they're upset, they say, with the Bank of America CEO, Ken Lewis. They're calling for him to be fired.</s>ROBERTS: It has become customary for the media, the administration, and the voters to use the president's first 100 days in office as a measuring stick. Today is President Obama's 99th day in office. And a brand new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll shows 63 percent of you approve of the job that he's doing as president so far. Exactly one-third disapprove. But the man may be more popular than some of his policies. Joining me now from Washington to talk more about this is conservative columnist and author of "American Grit" Tony Blankley and as well the founder and editor in chief of the dailybeast.com, Tina Brown. So if the White house called this a hallmark holiday, the first 100 days, later decided to embrace it with the primetime press conference. But in recent days, it looks like the 100 days has been overshadowed by the spread of the swine flu. Tina Brown, do you think it will take some of the examination off of the 100 days?</s>TINA BROWN, FOUNDER, DAILYBEAST.COM: Well, we've really been having the festival of 100 days for the last five days. So, I think in a way we're all kind of fully competent that this is the big moment. One thing I do think is true, though, is that I think Obama's 100 days is showing we already have other very competent people in this administration. I mean we have Janet Napolitano, I think, the secretary of the department of Homeland Security has already shown that she's going to be no brownie and have done a hell of a job. You know, she's actually been very, very reassuring to the public, very measured, very sort of together about her responses so far. And I think that is also very reassuring because Obama has to have more than just himself out there. I also think that throughout the whole thing, he showed a very calm demeanor as he has throughout.</s>ROBERTS: Tony, do you want to respond to that?</s>TONY BLANKELY, AUTHOR "AMERICAN GRIT": Well, yes, I mean, first of all, 100 days really doesn't indicate much. Clinton had a bad start and got re-elected. Carter had a good start and didn't. I think the thing that Obama has accomplished the most - and it's an important thing, is he's gotten off on the right foot with the American public. The number I looked at is right track/wrong track for the country. On election day is about 20 percent of the country thought we were in the wrong direction. Now about 45 percent. That's a huge increase. Based not on any improvement in life. I mean the economy is bad, boards are bad. But I think confidence in the president, the danger for the president is he has to manage that expectation level which is going up quickly even though there's some almost intractable problems in our path ahead.</s>ROBERTS: Do you think that where we are right now with the flu outbreak could have a real impact on how voters view him? And obviously it's going to have political implications, how he responds if this really breaks out. You know, is it going to be a Katrina moment? Will there be a good response? Tony, what do you think? What's the</s>BLANKELY: Unlikely that it is going to affect him a lot. He has inherited as every president does in the first few months of his office. The senior bureaucracy as administered by the previous administration. So this will be carried out without his people in place which is typical in the first three or four months. Some cabinet people are usually not nominated and confirmed yet. So I don't think unless he does some particular mistake, I can't imagine that happening, that it will be plus or minus for him.</s>ROBERTS: All right. Let's look ahead to the 100th day. Tomorrow, we've been asking a lot of our guests to come in and give the president a grade. o Tina, let's start with you. How would you grade the president in his first 100 days?</s>BROWN: Well, I would actually give him really 10 out of 10 for revamping America's image in the world. You know, because after all, that was one of the prime things that he had to do was try to sort of buff up and reposition America as - America's moral authority in the world. And I think that the G-20 trip was really a triumph for Obama outside America as opposed to inside. You know, he really did show that he wants to reach out, he wants to turn a page. He is listening. He's out there for people, listening all over the world And we see this in the incredible popularity that he has outside the United States which was such kind of touted him and also you know he really has to come in on the wings, not only of this Iraq war to the rest of the world but also of the toxic assets. So, America has been exporting it like swine flu to the world. So we had so much to get over. And he has got over and he has repositioned America. I think that's an amazing start.</s>ROBERTS: So 10 out of 10 ten for improving America's image abroad from Tina. Tony, what do you have to say?</s>BLANKELY: I would give him A-minus, B-plus in the transition from candidate to president. I think he's been at a personal level very successful at that. We simply don't know. He hasn't done anything much legislatively other than pass spending bills which are always easy to spend if you want to give free money away. The challenges will come in the next six months and we'll have to wait and see. So it's incomplete as it would be for any president at this point in an administration.</s>ROBERTS: All right. Tony Blankley, Tina Brown, thanks very much for joining us this morning, folks. And be sure to join us tomorrow, President Obama's 100th day in office for the "CNN NATIONAL REPORT CARD." You'll get to grade the president along with the best political team on TV. Then at 8:00, the president will let us know how he thinks he's doing during a live presidential press conference. A CNN primetime event, it all kicks off at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.</s>CHETRY: Well, the spread of the swine flu could bring more pain to the already hurting economy. Our Christine Romans is "Minding your Business" this morning and she joins us now with more on the potential economic impact if this were to spread. Hey, Christine.</s>ROMANS: Hi, there. We've been talking about the green shoots in the economy for some weeks now, right? Hoping that at least the pace of the decline of economic demise is slowing and we're going to have a recovery around the corner. But here - here you have concerns that that might be delayed or in fact blunted. What are the problems that we are already seeing in the economy because of the swine and flu threat trade? This is something that can really hurt global trade. We're already seeing the demand for raw materials to decline and the prices for a lot of raw materials to decline, food, travel, transportation. All of these things get hit. The World Bank calls it avoidance behavior. Why are you going to get on a plane and go on vacation if you're concerned about what's happening with the swine flu and consumer confidence, something incredibly fragile. It's something that a lot of people are concerned about. And certainly adding this on doesn't make things any better. Where are there unbelievably some safe havens from this? The treasuries. You have seen Treasury bond prices have increased. Also drug stocks, and companies themselves and make face masks. You guys, those are things who have benefited over the past couple of days. I think you're going to see these kinds of trends continue in the market for the very near term.</s>CHETRY: All right. Christine Romans for us, thanks so much. Well, new this morning, another state could soon OK same-sex marriage. This time, New Hampshire's state senate is about to vote on a bill to legalize it and to send it to the governor. Now if it passes, it will make New Hampshire the fifth state in the country where gay marriage is legal. The governor, John Lynch has not said whether he will veto the bill but he has expressed opposition to gay marriage in favor of civil unions. Pope Benedict XVI is traveling to Italy's area where the earthquake killed nearly 300 people and left tens of thousands homeless. He's going to be visiting a tented camp for the homeless in a small town devastated by the quake. He'll also meet with local representatives, rescuers and victims. The U.S. and Cuba have their first official meeting since the president eased travel restrictions. What did they talk about and what could it mean for U.S.-Cuban relations?