Transcript of Obama’s Interview on “NewsHour” & his comments about Wright

Transcript of Obama’s Interview on “NewsHour”

http://thepage.time.com/transcript-of-obamas-interview-on-newshour/

THE NEWSHOUR WITH JIM LEHRER

INTERVIEW WITH
BARACK OBAMA,
U.S. SENATOR,
DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

INTERVIEWED BY
GWEN IFILL,
THE NEWSHOUR WITH JIM LEHRER

MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2008

Transcript by
Federal News Service
Washington, D.C.

GWEN IFILL: Senator Obama, welcome.

SEN. OBAMA: Thank you.


Snip-->

MS. IFILL: Anybody watching this campaign for the last week to 10 days would think it was all about gender and race between what Geraldine Ferraro said and what your former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, said. Do you look at this and think that maybe with a woman and a black man running against each other that this was going to be an inevitable conversation?

SEN. OBAMA: You know, I’m not sure if it was inevitable. I think that there’s no doubt that race and gender are powerful forces in our society. They always have been. And I think it would have been naïve for me to think that I could run and end up with quasi-front runner status in a presidential election as potentially the first African-American president that issues, race wouldn’t come up any more than Senator Clinton could expect that gender issues might not come up.

But, ultimately, I don’t think it’s useful. I think we’ve got to talk about it. I think we’ve got to process it. But we’ve got to remind ourselves that what we have in common is far more important than what’s different and that if we’re going to solve any of these problems, we’ve got to come together and bridge our differences in ways that we just have not bridged them before.

MS. IFILL: Is that the speech you’ll be giving tomorrow in Philadelphia?

SEN. OBAMA: That will be a major focus of it.

MS. IFILL: You have also cast this as a generational distinction of the sort of things that Reverend Wright said being the baggage of a fiercely intelligent African-American man of his generation and Geraldine Ferraro’s as well. When does one person’s baggage become another person’s memory/history?

SEN. OBAMA: Well, you know, look, there’s a continuum. But I think that, you know, when you look at somebody like a Reverend Wright who grew up in the ’50s or ’60s, his experience of race in this country is very different than mine in the same way that Geraldine’s experience being an intelligent, ambitious woman, you know, is very different than a young woman who’s coming up today and potentially has a different set of opportunities.

Now, we benefit from that past. We benefit from the difficult battles that were taken place. But I’m not sure that we benefit from continuing to perpetuate the anger and the bitterness that I think, at this point, serves to divide rather than bring us together. And that’s part of what this campaign has been about, is to say, let’s acknowledge a difficult history, but let’s move forward in a practical way to get things done.

MS. IFILL: Has this been damaging to your campaign?

SEN. OBAMA: You know, the – I would say that it has been a distraction from the core message of our campaign. I think part of what has always been the essence of my politics, not just this campaign, but my life is the idea that we’ve got to bring people together. Now, part of that is biographical as somebody who comes from a diverse background with a white mother and an African-American father growing up in Hawaii and Asia. You know, it’s in my DNA to believe that all of us have something fundamental in common.

And that’s part of what makes America so special. And so, to the extent that, you know, the conversation over the last couple of days has been dominated by some stupid statements that were made by Reverend Wright, but also caricatures of Reverend Wright and Trinity United Church of Christ – which, by the way, is part of a denomination that is overwhelmingly white – you know, I think that that has distracted us from the possibilities of moving beyond some of these arguments.

MS. IFILL: When Senator Clinton sat down with my colleague Judy Woodruff for a conversation like this, she said that her election would be shattering the highest and hardest glass ceiling. Would yours be doing the same?

SEN. OBAMA: Oh, you know, I would say, you know, it would be pretty significant – (chuckles) – if we had an African-American president. You know, I don’t want to get into a contest in terms of which would be more significant. I think that either one would be significant. So, ultimately, the question for the American people is, who do they think is best equipped to actually solve the problems that we face right now? And if you as a voter, regardless of your race or gender, decide that it’s Senator Clinton, then you should vote for Senator Clinton. If it’s me, you should vote for me. And if it’s John McCain, you should vote for John McCain.

MS. IFILL: But you don’t think so?

SEN. OBAMA: I don’t think what?

MS. IFILL: John McCain.

SEN. OBAMA: Well, no. John McCain and I have some very real differences. He’s somebody I admire greatly. He is somebody who is obviously an American hero. But he essentially wants to perpetuate George Bush’s policies both on the economy and continuing tax cuts for the wealthy and on Iraq where he’s stated he’s willing to stay for as long as 100 years.

MS. IFILL: The distinction between you and Senator Clinton that’s been drawn by both of you over the last several weeks has been judgment versus experience. So let me ask you about your judgment on some issues, not only Reverend Wright and your association with him over the years but also Tony Rezko who you’ve talked a lot about recently, the Chicago developer who is now on trial on federal charges. Do you think that your association with those two people or people we don’t know about would raise questions about your judgment?

SEN. OBAMA: Well, no, look, all of us have people in our lives who we meet, we get to know, in some cases form friendships with, who end up getting themselves into trouble or say things that we don’t agree with. And probably what’s true is because I haven’t been in Washington as long as Senator Clinton or others that I have not distanced myself from these people for as long a period of time as somebody more steeped in Washington politics might have. But keep in mind, on all these issues, there is no allegations that I’ve done anything wrong, just as in the situation with Reverend Wright there is no allegation that I’ve said something that was inappropriate. And so I think the American people recognize that all of us have friends or associates or people who we meet along the way who are not ideal or perfect. But that’s part of what life is about.

MS. IFILL: But let’s talk about political judgment. Neither of these are new issues. Are these things you could have laid to rest some months ago?

SEN. OBAMA: Well, no, I mean, part of the reason that I went into talk to the Chicago papers about the Rezko matter was there was the suggestion that we hadn’t laid it to rest. And in fact, I was before the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune sometimes for a combined three hours. And in fact, we had answered almost every question that they had raised previously. And the Chicago Tribune issued a very lengthy editorial afterwards indicating the fact that, well, you know what? He has actually disclosed exhaustively what this relationship was. And it was in which I had nothing to do with the wrongdoing that Mr. Rezko is accused of.

I understand though that I’m now a presidential candidate. So having done this six or nine months ago, it was probably important for us to do it again. And I suspect when I’m the nominee of the Democratic Party, the same crop of questions will come up. We’ll have to do it again three months from now.

MS. IFILL: On Iraq, ....

More.....

True words.

I agree! He did good but that's to be expected imho.
He has a way with words, that's for sure.

"So I’ve talked about not only increases in humanitarian aid, but also getting the international community to set up a commission to monitor potential war crimes, to ensure that those who engage in them are prosecuted. Those are the kinds of concrete steps and planning that should have been done, have not yet been done, and unfortunately neither Senator McCain nor Senator Clinton seem to recognize what an enormous strain this has placed on our efforts in Afghanistan as well as our efforts around the world."

People have been gathering evidence all along against the * Crime Syndicate about this Iraq War.

Thanks for sharing.
:thumbsup:

:kick:

I didn't think transcripts would be released before the actual interview but I was wrong.

We've all known people or had relatives or friends that made
us cringe, at one time or another, by what they said or did.

I'm thinking back to Jimmy Carter and "Billy Beer" and his brother. :P

:)

SEN. OBAMA: Well, you know, look, there’s a continuum. But I think that, you know, when you look at somebody like a Reverend Wright who grew up in the ’50s or ’60s, his experience of race in this country is very different than mine in the same way that Geraldine’s experience being an intelligent, ambitious woman, you know, is very different than a young woman who’s coming up today and potentially has a different set of opportunities.

Now, we benefit from that past. We benefit from the difficult battles that were taken place. But I’m not sure that we benefit from continuing to perpetuate the anger and the bitterness that I think, at this point, serves to divide rather than bring us together. And that’s part of what this campaign has been about, is to say, let’s acknowledge a difficult history, but let’s move forward in a practical way to get things done.

and we need a lot more of that in America and in GD-P. ;)

:hi:

Obama is Presidential in every way!

Now to get others to read this.... ;)

;)

And

:kick:

thanks for the K&R too! :hi:

has been the despicable tool of the right for years and that we need to stop being manipulated to mistrust, hate, or fear those on the other side of an artificial divide. This HAS to be a central message...that RWrs and their pundits are, EVERY DAY, trying to tell us who to fear or hate FOR A POLITICAL REASON AND FOR CONTROL.

But they aren't campaigning to alienate people. They have to use PR principles.
Don't you agree? There are plenty of others calling out the RW in their lies
and twists of the truth. Let them do their job and we are helping too here on DU. ;)

Feel free to read and mull over.

;)