A Q&A with Barack Obama

By Linda Douglass

updated 4:08 p.m. ET Nov. 8, 2007

National Journal's Linda Douglass sat down with Sen. Barack Obama. This is a transcript of their conversation.

Q: So, welcome to Senator Barack Obama. Welcome to "National Journal On Air." Let me start right away by asking you about the contrasts that you are drawing between yourself and Hillary Clinton. Her campaign people, the people who support her, say by calling her somebody whose word can't be trusted, by suggesting that she's disingenuous, that that's really a character attack -- that that's the very thing that you said you weren't going to do in this campaign.

Obama: Well, I strongly disagree. Look we are offering our plans for the future on health care, on education, on energy, and the American people have a right to judge how clear and how consistent have the candidates been in their positions. Because if they're not clear and consistent, then it's pretty hard to gage how much they're going to fight on these issues. You know, Senator Clinton says that she's concerned about Social Security but is not willing to say how she would solve the Social Security crisis, then I think voters aren't going to feel real confident that this is a priority for her. And that's the kind of leadership I think that the Democratic Party has to offer in the years to come.

Q: But do you think that voters should be concerned about whether she's telling the truth?

Obama: I think that the voters should be concerned that she is running the textbook, classic Washington campaign, which is to avoid giving clear answers and getting pinned down, for fear that somehow you're going to be tagged, either in the primary or the general election. I think that's an old way of doing business. I think that's the kind of politics that has lead to gridlock and an ineffective Washington. That's the kind of politics I want to change.

Q: Former President Clinton was comparing some of the criticism of her to the Swift Boat ads against John Kerry, to the ads that were run against the disabled Senator Max Cleland. How did you react to that?

Matt Rourke / AP Democratic presidential hopefuls Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

Obama: You know, it was hard to take such a claim seriously. I mean, he was specifically referring to a situation in the debate where Senator Clinton offered an answer on immigration, a perfectly legitimate question. Senator Dodd in very civil tones said, "I respectfully disagree." Senator Clinton then appeared to contradict her own answer, and the notion that somehow that is the equivalent of Swift-Boating, I think is either an indication of some very thin skin or just an attempt to play politics.

Q: You know, some people say the Clintons will do whatever it takes to win. Do you think that's true?

Obama: Oh, you know, I think that they have been around this track a number of times before. I think they are tough competitors. I respect that. Look, we're running for the presidency of the United States of America, and there's going to be some rough-and-tumble involved in this primary. But I have not seen anything said during the course of this campaign, including statements that have been directed against me, that I think are in any way out of bounds or not appropriate questions for voters to be asking.

Q: You know, John Edwards is starting to draw very strong, clear contrasts between himself and you. Are you going to start drawing clearer, sharper contrasts between yourself and him?

Obama: Well, you know, I'm not sure that I've seen those contrasts drawn. I know that today in the New York Times he suggested that somehow he would be tougher with the corporate lobbyists that he's decried, and as I pointed out pretty clearly when I read that statement, he had six years to work on those issues in the United States Senate and did nothing about them. I've got a track record of having done something about them, and passed substantial legislation that curbs their influence. So, I don't just talk the talk, I've walked the walk -- something that John, I don't think, can claim. And I'm happy to have that debate with him.

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