NBC "Today" - Interview with Senator Barack Obama

Interview

MR. LAUER: Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, is also a veteran of the Russert interview.

Senator, good morning to you.

SEN. OBAMA: Good morning, Matt.

MR. LAUER: Was it a make-or-break occasion when you'd show up for "Meet the Press"?

SEN. OBAMA: (Laughs.) Well, let me put it this way. We prepared a lot more for "Meet the Press." You know, we made sure that we'd covered our bases before I went on that show.

I remember the first time I interviewed him was during the 2004 convention, which was one of my first times appearing in the national press. And somewhere in the middle of the interview he suddenly pulls out a quote from a Cleveland Plain Dealer article that I had completely forgotten about, an interview I had done maybe four, five, seven years earlier. And it talked about how I had complained about all the big-money access at these Democratic conventions, except, of course, now I was the keynote speaker. And it showed me he had the best research on television. But we also talked football afterwards. He was just a terrific interview.

MR. LAUER: It occurs to me, Senator, that you've done so many interviews, not only with Tim, but with so many other reporters along the campaign trail. And I wonder if you even know, at least here at NBC, how many of the times that I asked you a question or someone else here at NBC asked you a question, that it was actually suggested by Tim Russert. We turned to him as a resource time and time again.

SEN. OBAMA: Well, I don't know if you remember, Matt; one of the last times you and I did an interview, I called you Tim --

MR. LAUER: Yeah. (Laughs.)

SEN. OBAMA: -- because I was still traumatized from doing "Meet the Press" that weekend. I was still thinking about him. But, you know, he loved politics. He loved the give and take. But I think, as was already noted by Mr. Barnicle, he was never mean-spirited about it. You know, he would hold you accountable, but you always had a sense that he was fair, that he wasn't trying to make himself more important in the process. He was just trying to get information for the American people.

MR. LAUER: That is such an important distinction to make, because there is such a thing as a tough question and there is such a thing as a "gotcha" question. And Tim knew the line between the two.

SEN. OBAMA: He really did. And as a consequence, you know, even though sometimes he would pin you down and you would have some tough times on the show, you always came away from there feeling like this is a stand-up guy. And everybody I talk to who knew Tim, I think, understood that he had inherited those values from Big Russ. He was passing them on to Luke. He was an example of a good man. And if you read every obituary, what you read about is not just that passion and joy of life and politics, but also a core decency to the guy that is something that is going to be sorely missed by everybody.

MR. LAUER: And maybe as we head into these next months of this presidential campaign, one of the things we should all pledge, from your point of view and our point of view, is that we'll conduct ourselves the way Tim always did. We can be tough, but we have to be fair over these next several months.

SEN. OBAMA: Listen, as I said yesterday, he set the standard not just for journalism, but I think he made the people he covered better as well. And so it's a huge void that is going to be very difficult to fill.

MR. LAUER: Senator Obama, it's nice of you to share your time with us and your thoughts as well this morning. Thank you very much.

SEN. OBAMA: Thank you so much.

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