CBS "Evening News" - Transcript
Interview
CBS "Evening News" - Transcript
CBS "EVENING NEWS" INTERVIEW WITH SENATOR BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE INTERVIEWER: KATIE COURIC
Copyright ©2008 by Federal News Service, Inc., Ste. 500, 1000 Vermont Ave, Washington, DC 20005 USA. Federal News Service is a private firm not affiliated with the federal government. No portion of this transcript may be copied, sold or retransmitted without the written authority of Federal News Service, Inc. Copyright is not claimed as to any part of the original work prepared by a United States government officer or employee as a part of that person's official duties. For information on subscribing to the FNS Internet Service at www.fednews.com, please email Carina Nyberg at cnyberg@fednews.com or call 1-202-216-2706.
MS. COURIC: It won't be long now before we know who the next president of the United States will be -- John McCain or Barack Obama. I talked to Senator Obama in Columbus, Ohio Sunday about a number of things, including the possibility, if he wins, that both the White House and Congress will be controlled by the Democrats.
(Begin videotaped segment.)
MS. COURIC: Let's talk about single-party rule for a moment. Some critics describe it as all accelerator and no brakes. There are fears that perhaps an unbridled, unchecked, filibuster-proof Democratic majority will overreach and move the country too far to the left.
How can you assuage people's concerns about that?
SEN. OBAMA: Well, look, I mean, first of all, I think it's important to point out that the critics who make this claim are Republicans. (Laughs.)
MS. COURIC: Right, but even -- but, you know, against one-party rule.
SEN. OBAMA: I understand. I understand. But they weren't making those same complaints -- (laughs) -- a few years ago. On the other hand, we've seen the example of a Republican Congress and president overreaching.
MS. COURIC: And a Democratic one in the Clinton administration.
SEN. OBAMA: And so I think the concerns are legitimate. Look, the benefit of having a Democratic president and a Democratic Congress would be that hopefully you could actually move on some big issues like energy or health care that have been sitting there for decades. And we know they're huge problems. We know we've got to change how we do business there. But we just haven't been able to round up the consensus to get it done.
The flip side of it is that if Democrats come in and say to themselves, "It's our turn, and we're just going to go crazy doing whatever it is that we feel like," I think their majority won't last very long.
MS. COURIC: What are you most afraid of on Election Day?
SEN. OBAMA: You know, I have to say that I feel pretty good about the fact that our campaign has done -- has made as good of a case for change as I think we could have. I have been a highly imperfect candidate, but our campaign as a whole, I think, has delivered on its promise to reach out to people who hadn't been involved in politics, to go into places that hadn't traditionally looked at a Democratic candidate.
But ultimately it comes down to a bunch of people making their own individual decisions in that ballot box. And so I'm sure what I'll feel is great interest in terms of how it turns out.
MS. COURIC: Great interest.
SEN. OBAMA: Great interest.
MS. COURIC: Come on.
SEN. OBAMA: A little bit of anxiety.
MS. COURIC: Aren't you going to be a nervous wreck?
SEN. OBAMA: You know, I am sure that I won't be sleeping in on Tuesday morning. Let's put it that way, yeah.
MS. COURIC: Or maybe not sleeping much on Monday night.
SEN. OBAMA: That's exactly right.
MS. COURIC: The Pennsylvania Republican Party is starting to run an ad in that state which features your former minister, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, saying, quote, "God damn America." Do you think they would have run that ad without the approval of the McCain campaign?
SEN. OBAMA: I think the McCain campaign has generally been pretty restrained on that front, and I think they deserve some credit for that. And on the other hand, I don't know there's anybody in America who hasn't seen those videos that they're running. I don't think that's what the American people are thinking about right now.
MS. COURIC: If things go your way on Tuesday and you become this nation's first African-American president, what will that mean to you personally?
SEN. OBAMA: There are times where you're shaking hands after a rally and you look out over the crowd, and people are telling you their stories. "I just lost my job," or "My wife has ovarian cancer but she's out there campaigning for you," or, you know, "My son, for the first time, has decided that he wants to really apply himself to school because he was inspired by what you're doing," or -- you hear those stories. And you know what you feel is just this enormous sense of obligation and responsibility to really just work your heart out for folks, because they're investing a lot.
Obviously there's a historic dimension when, you know, a 90-year- old African-American woman just grabs my hand and won't let go and says, you know, "I am so proud." You know, you think about what an African-American woman has gone through over the course of a 90-year life, and that will move you deeply.
But it's not just a sense of the history made because of race. There is also just this overwhelming feeling of humility and gratitude where you say, "Boy, I really -- I'd better come through for folks if I win this thing, because they really need it."
END.
Source