by John McCormick
WILMINGTON, Del. – Sen. Barack Obama is about to appear here for his only public campaign appearance of the day, before returning to Chicago to watch the Super Bowl at home.
Before flying here, he appeared this morning on “Face the Nation” on CBS.
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The transcript from the show is below the jump.
02.03.08 Face the Nation – Sen. Obama interviewed by Bob Schieffer
Bob Schieffer: And with us now from St. Louis, Missouri, Senator Barack Obama. Senator, thank you for joining us. I want to show you something I think you’re going to like to see here. The front page of the Washington Post today and what it says is that Obama and Clinton are now even in the national polls. Senator, since the Democrats, when they go to the polls in all these primaries on Tuesday, it’s proportional representation. Nobody is going to get all the delegates. What would you consider a good night?
Barack Obama: Well, as you said, I think the race is close all across the country. There will be some states where I anticipate Senator Clinton will do well. Her home state of New York, in California, she had a big lead that we’re chipping away on. My home state of Illinois, we’ll do well. But I think that we want to make sure that we’re getting a good chunk of delegates and we think that we can win a lot of states that traditionally haven’t taken a look at Democrats. I was in Idaho yesterday. We were up in Boise. We had 13,000 people come out to a rally. Keep in mind that four years ago, only 5,000 people participated in the Democratic caucus. I think that’s one of the untold stories of this campaign, is the enormous turnout that we’ve been seeing in the first four early states. If we continue to bring people who haven’t been voting, younger voters, Independents and even some disenchanted Republicans, then I think we’ll do pretty well.
Bob Schieffer: Let me ask you about what you said in Colorado. You asked Democrats to avoid choosing a nominee that would galvanize Republicans. Why do you think Senator Clinton would galvanize them more than you would?
Barack Obama: Well, I think there is some history there. Not all of Senator Clinton’s making. But I don’t think there’s any doubt that the Republicans consider her a polarizing figure. Now, keep in mind I don’t expect that, should I become the Democratic nominee, that I’m going to be immune from some of the attacks that I think the Republican spin machine is so accustomed to. But what we have found—this was true in Illinois when I was running for the United States Senate, I think it’s going to be true nationally—is that the tone that I take, the ability to disagree without being disagreeable, the willingness to listen to Republicans about some of their ideas even though I may not agree with all of them, I think that creates a different climate. I think that we can attract Independents and Republicans in a way that Senator Clinton cannot. I thought it was pretty revealing when you look at the Nevada race, for example, where Senator Clinton won the caucus vote. But if you look at where votes came from, she got a lot of votes from Clark County, from traditional Democrats that I think would easily gravitate to my candidacy. On the other hand, I got a lot of votes in northern rural Nevada, where you’ve got a lot of Independents and a lot of Republicans. We did very well there. So I think I can get some votes that Senator Clinton cannot get. That broadens the political map. I think it bodes well for the election, but more importantly, it bodes well for us being able to govern and actually deliver on promises like health care for all people or making college more affordable or trying to put together an energy policy that actually makes sense for America. Those are going to be the kinds of difficult issues where we need a working majority for change. That’s something I think I can put together.
Bob Schieffer: You brought up Nevada, which is why I bring this up. Nevada, as we’ve all learned to say it now, she got the Hispanic vote. She got a lot of the Hispanic vote. Do you think there is a brown-black divide, Senator?
Barack Obama: You know, I really don’t see it. In Illinois, when I ran for the United States Senate, I got 75% of the Hispanic vote. In Iowa, where we had time to campaign and Hispanic voters knew my track record of working on issues that help with the education of Hispanic kids and have a comprehensive immigration strategy that will deal with the problem in a way that isn’t just having it used as a political football, we actually won in Hispanic precincts. So my challenge has always been to make sure that the Hispanic voters know who I am. In Nevada, we didn’t have as much time as we needed. I think that we’ve made considerable progress partly because of terrific support from Hispanic elected officials around the country. I think Ted Kennedy’s support was important because he was able to highlight the work that I had done on comprehensive immigration reform. We just recently received the endorsement of La Opinion, the largest Spanish-language newspaper in the country. So I think we’re closing the gap. There’s no doubt that Senator Clinton is still more familiar with them than they are with me but I think that that is changing. I think we’re making enormous progress.
Bob Schieffer: All right. We’re going to take a one-minute break here, Senator. We’ll come back and talk about … we’ll continue talking about this very thing in just a second.
Video: Barack Obama: So they told me there weren’t any Democrats in Idaho.
Commercial.
Bob Schieffer: We’re back now with Senator Barack Obama. Senator, the Clinton campaign has let it be known that Bill Clinton is going to be watching the Super Bowl today with Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico. Do you think they’re trying to make this a de facto endorsement by Bill Richardson? And again, is this a play for the Hispanic vote, do you think?
Barack Obama: Well, Bill Richardson has run a terrific campaign. He is an extraordinarily well-regarded governor. I suspect that they’re going to be watching the game. That’s what I’m going to be doing. So probably for at least three hours you’re not going to see too much politics going on. As I said earlier, I think we’re making enormous progress with the Latino vote. I feel confident that we can do well. The important thing, whether it’s Latino voters, African American voters, white voters, there’s enormous economic anxiety in the country right now. People are worried about losing their homes because of the subprime lending crisis and the impact it’s having on the housing market generally. We have seen that from the job numbers and the growth numbers that just came out this week that we are definitely moving into a slowdown and probably a recession. And so it’s important that we get a tax stimulus package done quickly, that we extend unemployment insurance for the long-term unemployed, we get money into people’s pockets so they can start spending. But more importantly, we have a long-term strategy to create more fairness in our economy, that we have tax breaks not for the wealthy but for working class Americans. I’ve proposed a middle class tax cut, $1,000 for every family making less than $75,000 a year, eliminating taxes for seniors who make less than $50,000, extending the mortgage deductions so that homeowners who have modest homes are more likely to be able to pay a lower interest rate. Those are the kinds of things that I think all voters are going to be concerned about. That’s what we’re emphasizing in these last few weeks of the campaign.
Bob Schieffer: I want to get back to that in just a second, but since we were talking about Bill Clinton, he does seem to have tamped it down a little bit since South Carolina. Do you think he may have… may believe that what he said down there backfired?
Barack Obama: I think you’d have to ask Senator Clinton or President Clinton that. I know that we were very pleased to see the people of South Carolina push away some of the politics of the past. There had been a lot of emphasis during that week of campaigning in South Carolina about race and the divide between black and white voters. And it turned out that, in fact, you had voters, I think, make a judgment about who can take this country to the future. We have always believed that people want to get past some of these divisions to actually solve problems. That’s one of the premises of my campaign. And I think that the people are responding in a way that gives me confidence. We can have a politics that is less based on black versus white, or young versus old, or even rich versus poor, but is more based on how we’re going to move the country forward to get things done.
Bob Schieffer: Senator, after the recent debate, a lot of people started talking about what—or the Democrats did at least—about what they called a dream ticket with you and Senator Clinton. People were saying the two of you on one ticket would be stronger than either one of you on a ticket. How does that sit with you?
Barack Obama: Well, I think it would be presumptuous for me to think that Senator Clinton was interested in taking a vice presidential slot at this point. I think she is running actively for the presidency, as I am. But I think that there’s no doubt that Democrats are eager to unify against the Republicans. It looks at this point like Senator McCain may end up being the nominee. There is a vast difference between my philosophy and John McCain’s. He essentially wants to continue the Bush economic policy that has led to such big problems here in this country. He has staked his presidency on following the Bush agenda when it comes to foreign policy. I think in both cases there is going to be a sharp contrast between an Obama candidacy and a John McCain candidacy in terms of where we want to take the country. John McCain is going to want to continue the Bush program. I want a clean break from it so we can move the country forward.
Bob Schieffer: Senator, do you think it’s going to wind up that if you get the nomination that it’s most likely you’re going to be running against John McCain?
Barack Obama: Well, it looks like that at this point. But as we’ve learned, predictions are very difficult in this political season. It’s volatile. We’ve got a lot of strong candidates. I’m sure Mitt Romney is going to continue to try to campaign vigorously. Right now McCain seems to have the advantage. Whether it’s McCain or Romney, both of them have essentially embraced a Bush economic policy that extends tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans to the exclusion of solving a lot of the domestic problems like health care. On foreign policy, both have suggested that we should continue the war in Iraq. John McCain suggested that we should be there 50, 60, 100 years. I think that’s not the kind of change that the American people are looking for.
Bob Schieffer: All right. Well Senator, thank you very much. I must say, we’ve had many interviews along the way. I’ve noticed that no matter what question I’ve asked you this morning, you’ve managed to get a little bit of your message into it, no matter what the question was. Thank you very much for joining us. We wish you the best.
Barack Obama: Bob, thank you so much. Enjoy the Super Bowl.
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