Jan. 15 Democratic debate transcript

Williams: Senator Obama, same question?

Sen. Barack Obama: Well, I think Hillary said it well. You know, we are, right now, I think, in a defining moment in our history. We've got a nation at war. Our planet is in peril. And the economy is putting an enormous strain on working families all across the country.

Now, race has always been an issue in our politics and in this country. But one of the premises of my campaign and, I think, of the Democratic Party -- and I know that John and Hillary have always been committed to racial equality -- is that we can't solve these challenges unless we can come together as a people and we're not resorting to the same -- or falling into the same traps of division that we have in the past.

I think our party has stood for that. Dr. King stood for that. I hope that my campaign has inspired that same sense, that there's much more that we hold in common than what separates us.

And that is how I want to move this campaign forward and I hope that's how it moves forward.

Williams: Senator Edwards, you waded into this topic tangentially yesterday.

Former Sen. John Edwards: Well, the only thing I would add is I had the perspective of living in the South, including a time when there was segregation in the South.

And I feel an enormous personal responsibility to continue to move forward. Now, we've made great progress, but we're not finished with that progress.

And the struggles and sacrifice of Dr. King and many others who gave blood, sweat, tears, and in some cases, their lives to move America toward equality.

And I saw it. I saw it when four young men walked into a Woolworth luncheon counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, and sat down, had the courage and strength to do the right thing. And they literally stood up, stood up on behalf of African Americans, on behalf of southerners, on behalf of Americans helped move this country forward in a really serious way.

And having seen the pain and the struggle and the sacrifice of so many up close -- because I lived with it. I lived with it in my years growing up -- I think we, all of us, have an enormous responsibility not to go back but to go forward.

And I would just add, I think it goes far beyond the Democratic Party. This is about America and about creating real equality in America across the waterfront.

Williams: Questioning continues with Tim Russert.

Tim Russert: In terms of accountability, Senator Obama, Senator Clinton on Sunday told me that the Obama campaign had been pushing this storyline. And, true enough, your press secretary in South Carolina -- four pages of alleged comments made by the Clinton people about the issue of race.

In hindsight, do you regret pushing this story?

Sen. Obama:  Well, not only in hindsight, but going forward. I think that, as Hillary said, our supporters, our staff get overzealous. They start saying things that I would not say. And it is my responsibility to make sure that we're setting a clear tone in our campaign, and I take that responsibility very seriously, which is why I spoke yesterday and sent a message in case people were not clear that what we want to do is make sure that we focus on the issues.

Now, there are going to be significant issues that we debate, and some serious differences that we have.
And I'm sure those will be on display today.
What I am absolutely convinced of is that everybody here is committed to racial equality -- has been historically. And what I also expect is that I'm going to be judged as a candidate in terms of how I'm going to be improving the lives of the people in Nevada and the people all across the country, that they are going to ultimately be making judgments on can I deliver on good jobs at good wages; can I make sure that our home foreclosure crisis is adequately dealt with; are we going to be serious about retirement security; and are we going to have a foreign policy that makes us safe.

If I'm communicating that message, then I expect to be judged on that basis. And if I'm not, then I expect to be criticized on that basis. That's the kind of campaign that we want to run and that we have run up until this point.

Russert: Do you believe this is a deliberate attempt to marginalize you as the black candidate?

Sen. Obama:  No. As I said, I think that if you've looked not just at this campaign, but at my history, my belief is that race is a factor in our society, but I think what happened in Iowa is a testimony to the fact that the American public is willing to judge people on the basis of who can best deliver the kinds of changes that they're so desperately looking for.

And that's the kind of movement that we want to build all across the country, and that, I think, is the legacy of Dr. King that we need to build on.