Feb. 26 Democratic debate transcript

Williams: And because our first segment went long and we are in a large arena... cooperation of the audience. We're back live tonight in Cleveland, Ohio.

Senator Obama, we started tonight talking about what could be construed as a little hyperbole. It happens from time to time on the campaign trail.

You have recently been called out on some yourself. I urge you to look at your monitor. We'll take a look.

Sen. Clinton: Now, I could stand up here and say let's just get everybody together. Let's get unified. The sky will open. The light will come down. Celestial choirs will be singing and everyone will know we should do the right thing and the world will be perfect.

Sen. Obama: Sounds good.

Williams: Of all the charges... of all the charges and counter-charges made tonight, we can confirm that is not you, Senator Obama. That was Senator Clinton.

But since we played that tape, albeit in error for this segment, how did you take that? How did you take those remarks when you heard them?

Sen. Obama: Well, I thought Senator Clinton showed some good humor there. I would give her points for delivery.
And, look, I understand the broader point that Senator Clinton's been trying to make over the last several weeks. She characterizes it typically as speeches, not solutions, or talk versus action.

And as I said in the last debate, I've spent 20 years devoted to working on behalf of families who are having a tough time and are seeking out the American dream.

That's how I started my career in public service. That's how I brought Democrats and Republicans together to provide health care to people who needed it. That's how I helped to reform a welfare system that wasn't working in Illinois.

That's how I've provided tax breaks to people who really needed them as opposed to just the wealthy. And so I'm very proud of that track record and if Senator Clinton thinks that it's all talk, you know, you've got to tell that to the wounded warriors at Walter Reed who had to pay for their food and pay for their phone calls before I got to the Senate, and I changed that law, or talk to those folks who I think have recognized that special interests are dominating Washington and pushing aside the agenda of ordinary families here in Ohio.

And so when I pass an ethics reform bill that makes sure that lobbyists can't get gifts or meals or provide corporate jets to members of Congress and they have to disclose who they're getting money from and who they're bundling it for, that moves us in the direction of making sure that we have a government that is more responsive to families.

Just one point I'll make. I was in Cincinnati, met with four women at a table like this one. And these were middle-aged women who, as one woman put it, had done everything right and never expected to find themselves in a situation where they don't have health care.

One of them doesn't have a job; one of them is looking after an aging parent; two of them were looking after disabled children; one of them was dipping into their retirement accounts, because she had been put on disability on the job.

And you hear these stories, and what you realize is nobody has been listening to them. That is not who George Bush or Dick Cheney has been advocating for over the last seven years.

And so I am not interested in talk. I'm not interested in speeches. I would not be running if I wasn't absolutely convinced that I can put an economic agenda forward that is going to provide them with health care, is going to make college more affordable, and is going to get them the kinds of help that they need not to solve all of their problems, but at least to be able to achieve the American dream.

Williams: And let me ask you, Senator Clinton. What did you mean by that piece of videotape we saw from the campaign?

Sen. Clinton: Well, I was having a little fun. You know, it's hard to find time to have fun on the campaign trail, but occasionally you can sneak that in.

But the larger point is that I know trying to get health insurance for every American that's affordable will not be easy. It's not going to come about just because we hope it will or we tell everybody it's the right thing to do.

You know, 15 years ago, I tangled with the health insurance industry and the drug companies. And I know it takes a fighter. It takes somebody who will go toe-to-toe with the special interests.

You know, I have put forth very specific ideas about how we can get back $55 billion from the special interests, the giveaways to the oil companies, the credit card companies, the student loan companies, the health insurance companies.

These have all been basically pushed onto these special interests not just because of what the White House did, but because members of Congress went along.

And I want to get that money back and invest it in the American middle class -- health care, college affordability, the kinds of needs that people talk to me about throughout Ohio -- because what I hear, as I go from Toledo to Parma, to Cleveland to Dayton, is the same litany, that people are working harder than ever, but they're not getting ahead. They feel like they're invisible to their government.

So when it came time to vote on Dick Cheney's energy bill, I voted no, and Senator Obama voted yes. When it came time to try to cap interest rates for credit cards at 30 percent -- which I think is way too high, but it was the best we could present -- I voted yes, and Senator Obama voted no.