Face the Nation this Sunday: 2011 year in review
This Sunday is Face the Nation's annual Correspondent Roundtable, looking back on 2011 and looking ahead to 2012 -- with Chief White House Correspondent Norah O'Donnell, Congressional Correspondent Nancy Cordes, National Security Correspondent David Martin, Justice and Homeland Security Correspondent Bob Orr, Senior Business Correspondent Anthony Mason, Correspondent Elizabeth Palmer and Political Director John Dickerson.
This was a year marked by turmoil and tragedy. It started overseas with uprisings in Egypt, Syria Tunisia, Yemen and Libya, and playing out domestically as Washington came to standstill, paralyzed by partisan bickering that brought the country to the brink more than once.
January started with the awful news of the shooting in Tucson, Arizona that left six people dead and Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords fighting for her life.
The worst came in March. As Bob Schieffer started the broadcast on March 13: "A triple disaster of unimagined proportions in Japan. First an earthquake, then the tsunami and the damage from what now looks like has set off a meltdown in one of the country's nuclear reactors,"
As Japan began to rebuild, the tragedy further slowed down a global economy struggling to get back on track. As unemployment hovered around 9 percent for most of the year, the country turned to politics as Republicans began their quest to find the best nominee to take on President Obama in 2012. In early June, Schieffer said it all: "The White House scrambles to explain a bad economy and Republicans look for a candidate they at least like," he said.
The most embarrassing moment for the U.S. came in August when after barely avoiding default with a painfully negotiated raise of the nation's debt ceiling, the major rating agency, Standard and Poor's downgraded U.S. credit for the time ever.
"Bad just got worse. Now what? It is an embarrassment and that's just the half of it--US securities are no longer the safest place to invest your money," said Schieffer. For his part, President Obama said it was just a bump in the road. "We are going to get through this, things will get better," he said.
As for the Republicans, almost all of the candidates visited Face the Nation this year. Newt Gingrich, now a frontrunner, defended his line of credit from the jewelry store Tiffany's in a visit in May.
"It's odd to me that someone would run up a half million dollar bill at a jewelry store," presser Schieffer. "You go talk to Tiffany's. All I'm telling you is we were very frugal, we live within our budget," said Gingrich, a former Speaker of the House.
Later in the year, Gingrich was back on the Face the Nation set, this time defending his policy to rein in the judicial branch.
"They've had this run of 50 years of pretending judges are supreme, that they can't be challenged. The lawyer class defines America. We've had rulings that outlawed school prayer, we've had ruling that outlawed the cross, we've had rulings the outlawed the 10 Commandments.... There's something profoundly wrong with the judicial system that has moved to that kind of extreme behavior," he said.
Herman Cain was on the broadcast twice as he was introducing himself to the country. In his last visit, as he was leading the polls, he had to explain to Bob Schieffer just what he meant with his quirky campaign ad showing his campaign manager smoking a cigarette.
"This wasn't intended to send any subliminal signal whatsoever....We weren't trying to say it's cool to smoke," said Cain.
After being pressed by Schieffer, Cain made it clear his campaign was not endorsing smoking.
"Young people of America, all people, do not smoke. It is hazardous and it's dangerous to your health. Don't smoke. I've-- I've never smoked and I have encouraged people not to smoke. So, I don't--.." said the one time front runner Cain. "And it's not a cool thing to do," questioned Schieffer. "It is not a cool thing to do. And that's-- that's not what I was trying to say. Smoking is not a cool thing to do," said Cain, who has since suspended his campaign.
With 2011 in the books, what will 2012 bring? Can the Republicans unify behind a candidate to take on President Obama? Can the President win a second term even with an economy still sputtering? Can Congress act to get anything accomplished? What will the foreign policy challenges bring? Will Iran's pursuit of a nuclear weapon bring the world to the brink of war, or will the winds of change in the Arab world bring down the renegade regime there or in Syria? Will Iraq and Egypt continue on the path to democracy or turn back into oppressed societies? And finally, will the unknown new leader of North Korea continue that country's push for a nuclear weapon further destabilizing Asia?
Those will be among the issues as our team of CBS News Correspondents, Norah O'Donnell, Nancy Cordes, Elizabeth Palmer, Anthony Mason, David Martin, Bob Orr and John Dickerson take a look back and a look forward on our special correspondent roundtable on Face the Nation.
