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Obama Pushes for Normalized Relations with Cuba; Rep Jim Hines Agrees with Obama's Plans on Cuba, Free College; Possible Deal between Yemeni Government, Shiite Houthi Rebels; Obama's Tone During SOTU.

Aired January 21, 2015 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting from Washington.

Let's turn to Cuba right now. The historic meetings between American diplomats and Cuban diplomats in Havana are under way right now. Their meeting is part of the larger push to fully normalize relations between the United States and Cuba. It's been more than half a century since the U.S. cut off diplomatic ties with Cuba. But before the two governments restart the dialogue, look at this, a Russian spy ship is seen docked in Havana. What does that mean? President Obama is calling on Congress to get behind his plans to re-establish full diplomatic relations with Cuba. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When what you're doing doesn't work for 50 years, it's time to try something new.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: And our shift in Cuba policy has the potential to end a legacy of mistrust in our hemisphere, it removes the phony excuse for restrictions in Cuba, stands up for Democratic values and extends the hand of friendship to the Cuban people. This year, Congress should begin the work of ending the embargo.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Strong words from the president.

Joining us from Capitol Hill is Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros- Lehtinen. She's a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, just named. Also to be a member of the Intelligence Committee, the first Cuban-American elected to the United States Congress.

You're not very happy with this at all. But do you see the train leaving the station, that it's only inevitable that within the next few weeks or months, the U.S. and Cuba will have full diplomatic relations and an American embassy in Havana, a Cuban embassy in Washington? REP. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, (R), FLORIDA: I was deeply disappointed in

hearing the president's remarks about Cuba last night. Wolf, I was staring right into the eyes of two dissident leaders from Cuba who were the guests of Speaker Boehner last night, one who spent 17 years in Castro's jail, his wife, who heads a pro-human rights movement in Cuba named for Rosa Parks, and they are the face of the new Cuba. What the president is talking about is re-establishing diplomatic ties with a regime that has put people like this in jail. I asked her, how many times have you been arrested? She says, after the 100th time, I stopped counting. That's the reality.

We are establishing diplomatic ties with a group that keeps silencing its opposition. And the president gave no hope to that opposition. That's what I found really discomforting.

Now, one thing is the president saying, we're going to establish diplomatic ties. He can do that without Congress' blessing. He's not going to get an embassy. Lindsey Graham is not going to fund that with his subcommittee. Marco Rubio is going to make sure that we don't confirm an ambassador to Cuba while the Castro brothers are in control.

I favor lifting the embargo, as the president asked for, once three conditions are met: free multi-party elections, freedom of speech and freedom for all political --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: The argument the president makes, and his supporters in public opinion polls are showing that he has the backing of a majority of the American people who want him to normalize relations. For 50- plus years, the U.S. has engaged in this isolation, this embargo against Cuba. It really hasn't worked. It's time to try something else. You have a whole bunch of Americans showing up in Havana, elsewhere in Cuba; maybe that will improve the human rights condition there.

ROS-LEHTINEN: Well, the reality tells us the opposite. Every country in the world has been going to Cuba for all these years that we supposedly have had an embargo. Sort of like Swiss cheese, there are so many holes in it. But every other country has been doing that for cheap sex, cheap booze and cheap cigars.

Has that brought the Cuban people any closer to freedom, democracy and human rights? Quite the opposite. There have been more arrests by the Castro regime in this past year than in previous years. We have got to wake up to the reality that Castro and his thugs are in cahoots with folks who are adversaries, to put it lightly. As you pointed out, there's a Russian spy ship docked in Havana harbor today. What does that tell you about the intent of Raul Castro? He doesn't care about the United States. He wants the cash to keep him afloat. That's all.

BLITZER: So I take it, Congresswoman, now that they're easing travel restrictions, people are going to be able to fly much more easily from Miami or elsewhere to Havana, you're not about to get on any flight to Cuba anytime soon, is that right?

ROS-LEHTINEN: Well, I don't think that Raul Castro is going to let me come in. When we had a great human rights leader in Congress, like Frank Wolf, every year he petitioned the Cuban regime to let him go to Cuba, they denied it. Chris Smith, a great human rights leader in Congress, who is here serving now, he keeps applying to Cuba and they don't let him in. They are very selective about who gets to go. I just think we need to re-evaluate this position and really use our leverage when it counts.

And when you talk about travel --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Hold on, Congresswoman. We have to wrap it up because we're out of time. But if they give you a visa, will you go?

ROS-LEHTINEN: Well, yes, if I'm going to talk about human rights and democracy and visit the prisoners in jail, that would be an opportunity for all of my colleagues to do. Let's do that. Go on a human rights mission. I'm not sure that I'm the right person. But I think my colleagues should do it.

BLITZER: Let's see if they're watching in Havana and see if they --

ROS-LEHTINEN: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: -- will send you an invitation, Congresswoman.

(LAUGHTER)

ROS-LEHTINEN: I won't hold my breath.

BLITZER: Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, from Florida, thanks very much. Congratulations on being named a member of the House Intelligence Committee as well.

ROS-LEHTINEN: Thank you.

BLITZER: Up next, we'll hear from a member of the president's party and ask about the message on middle class economic issues. Stay with us. Much more coming up right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: President Obama certainly laid out his wish list in his State of the Union address last night. We just spoke about Cuba. He wants to normalize relations with Cuba. On the domestic side, he has a plan to try to make community college tuition for two years free, increased tax credits for the middle class.

Jim Hines, of Connecticut, is joining us. He's a member of the Financial Services Committee and the Intelligence Committee, as well.

Your quick reaction on Cuba. You support what the president is doing, wanting to normalize relations with Cuba? REP. JIM HINES, (D), CONNECTICUT: I do. The president laid it out

exactly right. Fifty years, this policy has not only not worked, it's contributed to the resilience of the Castro brothers because they've blamed the United States embargo for a lot of their local problems.

Look, I understand where the Florida Cubans are coming from. But if they want to not change the policy, they probably have to come up with one that actually works, which we're not hearing.

BLITZER: The current policy hasn't worked for 50 years. So the president says try something different.

All of this tax increase proposals that he's putting out, those are dead on arrival in this Republican majority in the House and Senate, right? Republicans are not going to raise taxes on rich people or increase banking fees or whatever on financial institutions to pay for increased tax benefits, let's say, for the middle class. They say that's a nonstarter.

HINES: Right. That's probably true. But I think the point of a speech like what the president said last night was to get people talking about the idea of making community college or just education generally more available to more people. If you get enough people asking that question, you can create alignment in the Congress that we ought to do that, at which point, you have the question of how do you pay for it? And, look, there's other ways --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: I think everybody will agree, high school is free, why not two years of community college? You increase it a little bit, given the fact that people need more education to compete in the international environment right now. Maybe make two years of a community college free. But where does the money come from?

HINES: Absolutely. I think people could accept that. Back when high school was made free and mandatory for everybody, high school was a big deal. If you had a high school education, that was more than most Americans did. Today, the situation is very different. Without some post-high school education, you'll have a hard time staying in the middle class.

BLITZER: Where does the president want to get that money to pay for free community college?

HINES: He talked about a couple of things. As you pointed out, he talked about raising the capital gains tax. He talked an idea that came from a Republican, David Camp, when he was chairman of Ways and Means, proposed a tax on the big banks. The pay-fors are usually the last thing you talk about. There's more than one way to skin that cat. Instead of raising taxes, if that's what the Republicans don't want to do, find programs we can eliminate to pay for something that we all agree, if we do agree that it's a good idea --

(CROSSTALK) BLITZER: I think everybody agrees, there's still a lot of waste in the government, you could find ways to cut spending to pay for something critically important like this.

HINES: Yeah, but that's the easy way out for people like me. Everybody likes talking about waste, fraud and abuse. Who would be for that? The tough stuff, if you're going to meaningfully change the budget, you're going to eat into somebody's cheese, right, whether it's defense or education or Medicare or Social Security. There are people who care a lot about this.

BLITZER: I know you have to get back to the Hill and vote. Congressman, thanks very much for coming in.

HINES: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: Good luck to you.

There was a moment last night during the president's speech that's getting a lot of attention. It's a moment I'll show you right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I have no more campaigns to run. My only agenda --

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: I know, because I won both of them.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Has the president regained some of that political mojo or, as some suggest, is he missing the point entirely? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Got breaking news coming out of Yemen. I want to go to Nick Paton Walsh who's in Sanaa for us, the only Western journalist there.

What are you learning, Nick?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, what we have now are the early signs of a deal potentially between the current Yemeni government and the Shiite Houthi rebels who have taken over the key institutions here. This is the first time we've seen something laid out that looks like a road map out of the crisis. We don't know if these are agreed to yet. We've seen a draft of the deal. I've spoken to an official that outlined key points. In short, it's who would get edits, changes to the new draft of the new constitution. They would effectively see that altered to suit their demand. In exchange, the government would have key institutions released by the militia that have swept into the presidential palace, around the presidential residency as well. They would have the immediate relief of chief of staff who, over 72 hours ago, was kidnapped from the capital city, Sanaa.

This is the early stages. We're getting the details from twitter account of the spokesperson of the Washington, D.C., embassy for Yemen and on the state news agencies. These details could change and fall apart. But since this broke out, it's been about who's been in control on the streets. This is the first time we've heard of the deal, points of the deal. If you look at it on the surface, it appears to more or less conform to the full demands put up. We could be seeing some that potentially calms this down, but still early days yet -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Very early indeed. A lot could certainly go wrong.

Nick, we'll stay in touch. Be careful over there.

The President Obama of the United States struck a different tone last night, one some loved and others not so much. More on that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We've talked about the policies in the president's State of the Union address, now we want to focus in on the tone as well. Some call it swagger, others humorous. The columnist, Ruben Nabarette (ph), said, "It was as if President Obama missed the outcome of the November election. Someone needs to tell him tht his party no longer controls even one house of Congress." But Democratic strategist, Paul Begala, says, quote, "America has regained mojo, so has the American president."

Let's bring in our chief political analyst, Gloria Borger; our senior political analyst, Ron Brownstein.

A lot of people are focusing on the upbeat, confident, defiant tone of the president.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: This is a president that feels liberated. He knows he's got a small window he can try to get something done. I've never heard a president lay out his vision for the future at the end of his presidency as opposed to the beginning of the presidency is. That's what we've got from Obama last night. They know most of this isn't going to get through the Congress. I think he was setting the table for 2016 as we've be been telling you about. Also, saying to Washington, you know, I'm so over you. I'm done with you.

BLITZER: Listen to this ad lib here. It's getting a lot of buzz. Let me play it for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I have no more campaigns to run. My only agenda --

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: I know, because I won both of them. (LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: That was not scripted or part of the text. He clearly was giving it to those Republicans who were trying to have fun at his expense.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: There's that edgy core, that "I've got this" core. You hear sometimes from Obama using that phrase internally.

Look, this might have been more appropriate for a president that gained seats in the House and Senate rather than losing them. Pushing 60 percent in the polls rather than getting back to 50 percent. I think the president has at his core a belief that on the big issues that divide him from the Republicans he has put the Democrats on the right side of history, the side of the growing parts of the electorate. While that hasn't translated into congressional success, he believes he if leading the party to an advantage at the presidential level and his agenda is solidifying events. I think you saw that last night.

BLITZER: He wants to convince the American people after six years, eight years, the country is better off than when he took office.

Hillary Clinton tweeted this -- I'll put it on the screen -- "President Obama pointed way to an economy that works for all. Now we need to step up and deliver for the middle class."

(CROSSTALK)

BORGER: -- Elizabeth Warren --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Elizabeth Warren. She's on board with the president.

(LAUGHTER)

BORGER: Totally on board with the president. He delivered the speech that she's going to be delivering when she runs for the presidency. What he's done for Democrats is lay it all out there. What you hear is this reframe from people that work in the White House, OK, we've shown you what we have, show us what you've got. They're trying to coax the Republicans out of the corners there on domestic policy. They know there's certain things they can agree on. The question is whether they can walk together --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Why did he wait until after the midterm elections to do it this? Why didn't he do it leading up to midterm elections? Some Democrats who were defeated, who were reluctant to be seen on the stage with him, they may have had a better chance.

BROWNSTEIN: Well, in the states at risk, not necessarily a better chance -- they were running lower than nationally. He feels deliberation of not being on the ballot again, not worrying about red state Democrats, but also the lift of improving economy that is lifting attitudes. May not be lifting all votes but lifting his vote and giving him a stronger standing with the public.

The key here is difference between the presidential-level coalition and the congressional coalition. The president has been willing to accept losses in Congress to build that national coalition. There's a real price, Arkansas, West Virginia, places like that. You saw the flip side last night. His belief that he's leading the party toward a stronger advantage in the presidential competition.

BLITZER: There was one piece of video -- I don't know if we have it -- when the president said women should get equal pay for equal work.

BORGER: Oh, I know.

BLITZER: Biden stood up. Boehner was sitting. It was an awkward moment.

BORGER: It was awkward. Even if you disagree with the president on the policy, you still stand up and applaud for pay equity for women because Republicans would say what the president is proposing guaranteed equity. The optic of it is bad.

(CROSSTALK)

BORGER: We're in the middle of a campaign.

BLITZER: Or going after women votes.

BROWNSTEIN: It must be exhausting to decide when to stand up for Boehner all night.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWNSTEIN: You see him kind of hesitating, OK, I have to stand for this one.

BORGER: Yeah, and Biden is exhausted because he's standing up all night after applauding.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: All right, guys, thanks very much.

That's it for me. Thanks very much for watching. I'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

For our international viewers, get ready, "AMANPOUR" is next.

For our viewers in North America, "NEWSROOM" with Brooke Baldwin starts right now. BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And we'll take it from here. Thank you so much for being with me. I'm Brooke Baldwin.