Fallout from Gen. McChrystal's Firing; Kagan Confirmation Hearings
WHITFIELD: All right. Today top lawmakers are suggesting President Obama need to - needs to make more changes in its Afghanistan team now that General Stanley McChrystal is out. Let's go live to CNN's Sandra Endo in Washington - Sandra.</s>SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, there are strong words of criticism and confidence from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. The confidence is for General David Petraeus, who is taking over command in the war in Afghanistan. But now some say a shake-up militarily may be a good opportunity for some on the civilian side to go as well. Now, that should include the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry, or National Security Adviser James Jones, and the president's point man to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke. Here's what some lawmakers are dishing out today.</s>SEN. DIANE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: I think you put the general in, he should make the call. If he can't work with the ambassador, the ambassador should be changed. If he can't work with Holbrooke, that should change. I mean, I think we put all of our eggs in the Petraeus basket at this stage.</s>SEN. SAXBY CHAMBLISS (R), GEORGIA: Right now, as General Petraeus comes in with his team of military leaders, they've got to work hand in hand on the - with the civilian side, so I think it's an opportunity for the president to take a look at it.</s>ENDO: So, clearly, frustration is bubbling up over getting some real success in Afghanistan - Fred.</s>WHITFIELD: And so also another bone of contention seems to be the president's July, 2011, next year, troop withdrawal deadline.</s>ENDO: Yes. That is going to be an interesting topic, because with General Petraeus on the hot seat on Tuesday, it will be a chance for lawmakers to really raise the debate over the president's deadline to begin withdrawing troops in July, 2011. It's a deadline General Petraeus supports, but critics argue why telegraph strategy with an arbitrary debate. So many lawmakers now are saying a troop drawdown should be based on conditions in the war and shouldn't be set in stone.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Sandra Endo, thanks so much, joining us from Washington. All right. The political stage is set for tomorrow's Senate confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. The White House is confident that when all is said and done, she will get the votes to be confirmed. But her lack of experience as a judge and her political history have some concerned.</s>ELENA KAGAN, SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: I look forward to working with the Senate in this next stage of this process.</s>KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Elena Kagan has been quietly working with White House lawyers to prepare for her big moment in the political spotlight. Every aspect of her academic career and government service scrutinized for clues about the kind of justice she would become. The president who nominated her last month thinks he knows.</s>PRES. BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: That understanding of law, not as an intellectual exercise or words on a page, but as it affects the lives of ordinary people has animated every step of Elena's career.</s>BOLDUAN: Republican senators for their part promise a fair but tough examination of her record in two Democratic administrations, past and present. Possible areas of concern? Her resistance to allowing military recruiters on campus when she was dean of Harvard Law School, this because of the Pentagon's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy on gays in the military. Kagan called the policy a quote, "profound wrong". Also, her often politically focused views as a top aide in the Clinton White House on a range of hot button issues like abortion, gun rights and executive power. Then, there's Kagan's lack of judicial experience which worries both Liberals and Conservatives.</s>CARRIE SEVERINO, JUDICIAL CRISIS NETWORK: The only thing she's ever done is politics, and so the concern is that she'll just continue that in the bench and continue to be a rubber stamp of the agenda for the administration she works for now.</s>BOLDUAN: The White House publicly insists Kagan will be a fair and impartial judge and has quietly assured Liberals she will be a liable vote on the left. Bipartisan prays as well for her consensus building skills with those of differing viewpoints and assets some analysts think will benefit her on a divided high court.</s>THOMAS GOLDSTEIN, FOUNDER, SCOTUSBLOG.COM: President Obama couldn't really hope to appoint somebody who's going to really change the views of the Conservatives on the Supreme Court. They have very strongly held opinions on lots of important legal questions. What he could hope for and what he may well have gotten is a nominee who has the skill set to find accommodations between the left and the right, to find the common ground for them, and in that way, maybe pull the court a little bit to the left.</s>WHITFIELD: And that was Kate Bolduan reporting. As a backdrop to the drama on the Capitol Hill, the Supreme Court will issue this term's final opinions on Monday. The justices will rule on a blockbuster case over the right to bear arms and may overturn a strict handgun ban in Chicago. CNN's live coverage of the hearings for Elena Kagan, President Obama second Supreme Court nominee begins tomorrow at noon Eastern. All right. So what's in store for the Gulf of Mexico? We'll talk with ocean explorer, Jean-Michel Cousteau about the environmental legacy of the worst oil spill in this nation. Plus, the latest on the remnants of tropical storm Alex and how what's happening today just might impact that storm.