MSNBC "Morning Joe" - Transcript

Interview

MSNBC "Morning Joe" - Transcript

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL, Democratic presidential nominee): (From videotape.) You know, back in 1980, Ronald Reagan asked the electorate whether you were better off than you were four years ago. At the pace things are going right now, you're going to have to ask whether you're better off than you were four weeks ago.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Welcome back to "Race." That was Obama in Indiana today invoking the line that Ronald Reagan used to define the 1980 campaign and defeat incumbent President Jimmy Carter. Obama had a solid debate performance last night, but has he made the case to undecided voters going to the polls in just 27 days?

Joining me now, Claire McCaskill, Democratic senator from Missouri and the national co-chair of Obama's presidential campaign.

Senator, thanks very much for being with me tonight.

SEN. MCCASKILL: Thank you.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: All right, I'm going to go right to it. I'm going to read from The Wall Street Journal. I want you to respond to this. "One of Mr. Obama's gifts is his ability to glide over contradictions with the greatest of ease. He spent minutes explaining that we spend $10 billion a month in Iraq that should be spent here in the U.S., but a short time later he was promoting what sounded like a surge in Afghanistan and vowing to spend even more money to assist the economies of Eastern Europe. He also proposed to provide free health care while claiming he'd cut more spending from the overall budget than his new ideas would cost."

First of all, doesn't he need to be more clear about how tough it's going to be, once the next president takes over, given the economic crisis we face? And is he resting on this economic crisis to get by in the polls and not doing more to define what he's about?

SEN. MCCASKILL: Well, I think the reason that he is doing well is because his economic policies and philosophies are much different than John McCain's and George Bush's. I mean, you have to understand that George Bush and John McCain have the same view on how you fix the economy. It's called more tax breaks for very wealthy people, more tax breaks for big corporations. It's not about building a green sector economy. It's not about middle-class tax cuts. So that's why Barack Obama's plan is resonating with Americans. It's why he's doing well, because they know that what Bush did didn't work. It got us in this ditch in the first place.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Well, there certainly are a lot of things that are going on right now that are helping Barack Obama. The question is, what can he do to close the deal? What can he do to make those polls show a huge gap? I want to show you an ad that the McCain campaign put out about Barack Obama's liberal record. Take a look.

(Begin videotaped segment.)

ANNOUNCER: Who is Barack Obama? The National Journal says he's the Senate's most liberal. How extreme. But when pressed, how does he defend himself?

SEN. OBAMA: (From videotape.) They're not telling the truth. I hate to say that people are lying, but here's a situation where folks are lying.

ANNOUNCER: Mr. Obama, we all know the truth.

SEN. OBAMA: Folks are lying. Folks are lying.

ANNOUNCER: Not presidential.

(End videotaped segment.)

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Senator McCaskill, your response?

SEN. MCCASKILL: You know, I think this is probably one of those Internet ads they keep doing to try to get media talking about it. I don't think it's a very effective ad. I think what Barack Obama is saying is that there have been distortions, and things have been done by the McCain campaign that are not truthful.

And I'll tell you how he's going to close this deal, Mika. He's going to continue to talk about change. This is somebody who was forceful and factual in the debate. He was clear and concise, whether it was domestic policy, foreign policy, energy, health care. And you know what? He was downright presidential. And he's lifting people up. And if John McCain thinks he's going to get there by being petty, small and personal and attacking his character, he's mistaken. It's not going to work.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Well, let me ask you this, then, because we have an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll among independent voters that shows that McCain is bleeding some independent voters, but Barack Obama doesn't seem to be picking them up.

Do you think the McCain campaign is perhaps helping -- whether it's distortions or reality, being effective in not letting people really see Barack Obama as someone who could be the commander in chief? Look at these numbers.

SEN. MCCASKILL: Well, Barack Obama has had a statistically significant lead now for nine, 10 days. And the independent voters are going to, at this late date -- as we get closer and closer to the election, they're independent and undecided at this date for a reason. They're having a hard time making up their mind. And they will make up their mind between now and Election Day.

But I really think that this notion that this country is ready to embrace the same economic policies that have us in this crisis just doesn't make sense. I know it doesn't make sense in the heartland. It doesn't make sense in Missouri.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Certainly people are looking for answers. I don't think they're looking for a friend in their next president. I think they're looking for someone who can guide us through this economic crisis. And I wonder if Barack Obama needs to do more to explain exactly how. Even John McCain talked about the foreclosure situation and put out some ideas last night. Barack Obama, it seems to me, some could argue, is resting on his laurels and letting this situation take care of itself, monitoring the situation, keeping out of it because it's politically safe to do so. Is that leadership?

SEN. MCCASKILL: I think that if you contrast not just their policies but their leadership style over the last few weeks, one candidate has been steady, consistent, constructive. The other has been all over the map. And, you know, one day the economy's strong; the next day, no bailout; the next day, bailout. And he supposedly was shaping this agreement.

Well, we did this agreement last week, and then he throws out, almost like throwing a bone to people who are hurting, throws out something different last night. That's not well thought out. It's almost like he's searching. He is erratic when it comes to --

MS. BRZEZINSKI: That's a campaign word. I've heard that all across the board.

SEN. MCCASKILL: No --

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Come on, now.

SEN. MCCASKILL: But Mika, you know, it's an accurate word. When someone is jumping all over the place -- maybe I should just say he's jumping all over the place. I won't use the word "erratic." He's jumping all over the place. He is not steady on the tiller like he said last night -- anything but.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Okay, but when you see parallels in strategies that the campaigns put out and the words being used by similar campaign folks, I've got to call you on it. But, okay, "jumping all over the place" works as well.

Senator Claire McCaskill, thank you very much for joining me this evening.

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