'Meet the Press' transcript for May 4, 2008

MR. RUSSERT:  The National Journal says that in 26 of the 29 contests you've been involved in you have lost white voters who do not have college degrees. How do you connect with them?  What's wrong?

SEN. OBAMA:  Well, you know, first of all, I think we got to give Senator Clinton some credit.  I mean, she's a pretty formidable candidate, and she possesses the best brand name in Democratic politics.  And her and her husband have been campaigning actively.  People have fond memories of some of the work that they did in the '90s.  And so the fact that she has won some of those contests in some demographic groups shouldn't be surprising.  I mean, I'm the underdog.  I, I came into this thing with everybody anticipating that we would be blown away.  And if I was worrying about polls and, you know, some of this, some of this analysis, I probably wouldn't have gotten into the race in the first place.  What's remarkable is how well we've done.

Now, what I do believe is that it is important for the American people to understand my story and how it connects to theirs.  I think it's important for people to understand not only that I was raised by a single mom and, and my grandparents, and the values of hard work and decency and honesty that they've passed on to me, that those are values that are rooted in the heartland of America and small-town America.  My, my wife, Michelle, you mentioned earlier, you know, when I think about her father, who worked as a shift worker for the city of Chicago, despite having MS, got up every single day and went to work, was able to raise a family and send his two kids to college and, and support a family of four on a single salary.  I think about your father and the fact that, that your dad, Tim, looked nothing like Michelle's dad, but they lived that same American dream and, and they had those same core values.  And those are the values of millions of people all across the country.  And my job in this campaign is to communicate the fact that not only are those values at the core of what this country's about, not only are those values what make me patriotic, but those are the values that have to be fought for because that American dream is slipping away.

Those same individuals who are like Michelle's dad, who are like my grandparents, who are like your dad, they can't make it now doing the same things that they used to do.  No matter how hard they work, they're falling behind.  No matter how hard they work, they're at risk of losing their home or losing their pension.  That's what this campaign's about, and that's what we've been fighting for, and, and that's why, ultimately, I'm confident not only are we going to win this nomination, but I also believe that we're going to win this general election because that is what the American people understand.  Unless we are able to create the kinds of opportunities for ordinary Americans that have been slipping away over the last seven years, with wages and incomes actually going down even during an economic expansion, then, you know, we're not going to pass on the kind of America to our children that we want to.

MR. RUSSERT:  One issue that has really defined the two campaigns here in Indiana is this debate over gasoline...

SEN. OBAMA:  Right.

MR. RUSSERT:  ...the price of it and whether there should be a tax holiday...

SEN. OBAMA:  Right.

MR. RUSSERT:  ...from the federal taxes.  This is Hillary Clinton's ad talking about you.  Let's watch.

(Videotape of political ad)

Narrator:  Now gas prices are skyrocketing, and she's ready to act again. Hillary's plan, use the windfall profits of the oil companies to pay to suspend the gas tax this summer.  Barack Obama says no, again.

People are hurting, it's time for a president who's ready to take action now.

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT:  Why are you against giving taxpayers in Indiana, North Carolina, a relief from federal gasoline tax this summer?

SEN. OBAMA:  You're right, Tim, this defines, I think, the difference between myself and Senator Clinton.  This gas tax, which was first proposed by John McCain and then quickly adopted by Senator Clinton, is a classic Washington gimmick.  It, it is a political response to a serious problem that we have neglected for decades.  Now, here's, here's the upshot.  You're looking at suspending a gas tax for three months.  The average driver would save 30 cents per day for a grand total of $28.  That's assuming that the oil companies don't step in and raise prices by the same amount that the tax has been reduced.  And, by the way, I have some experience on this because in Illinois we tried this when I was in the state legislature, and that's exactly what happened.  The oil companies, the retailers were the ones who ended up benefiting.

MR. RUSSERT:  You voted for it, too.

SEN. OBAMA:  I did.  Exactly.  And that...

MR. RUSSERT:  When gas was only $2 a gallon.

SEN. OBAMA:  And, and that's my point.  I voted for it, and then six months later we took a look, and consumers had not benefited at all, but we had lost revenue.

MR. RUSSERT:  So you learned from a wrong vote.

SEN. OBAMA:  Yeah, I learned from a mistake.  And, in addition, what happens is, is that this would come out of the Federal Highway Fund that we use to rebuild our roads and our bridges.  And if we don't have that fund, then we're looking at thousands of jobs being lost in Indiana and in North Carolina.

Now, Senator Clinton says that she's going to use the windfall profits tax to fill it.  First of all, she's already said that she's going to use the windfall profits tax for something else, as I have, and, and that is to invest in clean energy and, and other important measures.  So that money, she's already spending twice.  More importantly, nobody thinks that George Bush is actually going to spend--or is actually going to sign a law for windfall profits taxes, so that's not going to happen this summer.

So what this is, is a strategy to get through the next election.  And Senator Clinton's own staff told The Washington Post, "We don't think this is really going to go anywhere.  We don't think it's going to work, but we think it's a good issue to use in a campaign." And that's what Washington does.  We, we, we don't deal with the serious issues that are in front of us, we try to figure out what's going to poll well and what can we do to get through the next election.

And what I've said is, look, people do need serious relief.  They are, are getting hammered.  I mean, people who--can't go on job searches because they can't fill up their gas tank.  And so what I've said is, let's accelerate a--the second half of a tax stimulus proposal that I had put forward that would put, immediately, hundreds of dollars into people's pockets to get through the summer; let's pass a permanent middle-class tax cut, $1,000 per family, to offset the payroll tax to deal not just with rising costs of gas, but also rising costs of food, rising costs of prescription drugs; and, most importantly, let's invest in alternative fuels, raising fuel efficiency standards on cars, and let's get serious about reducing consumption of oil, which is the only way that, over the long term, we're going to reduce, we're going to reduce gas prices.

And, you know, I have to say that if Senator Clinton or John McCain had stood up in previous years for increases in fuel efficiency standards, in getting serious about a--an energy policy that is freeing ourselves from dependence on foreign oil, then we would not be in this same situation in the first place. And I don't want, 20 years from now, to have a bunch of politicians proposing a suspension of the gas tax holiday when gas is $8 or $10 a gallon because we failed to act now.  Now is the time for us to act, and I think the people of Indiana and North Carolina understand that.

MR. RUSSERT:  It's a pander?

SEN. OBAMA:  Yes.

MR. RUSSERT:  Ethanol, very important to your state, very important to, to Iowa.  Here's the reports on that.  "Across the country, ethanol plants are swallowing more and more of the nation's corn crop.  This year, about a quarter of U.S. corn will go to feeding ethanol plants instead of poultry or livestock.  That has helped farmers ...  but it's boosted demand--and prices--for corn at the same time global grain demand is growing.  ...

"Legislation providing for ethanol subsidies is being criticized for making food more expensive while gasoline prices continue to climb.  Rick Perry," the governor of Texas, "has asked the EPA to waive half of the `misguided' ethanol requirements because of rising food costs."

SEN. OBAMA:  Mm-hmm.

MR. RUSSERT:  Would you be willing to change ethanol subsidies or suspend some of these requirements so that people are not using corn for ethanol, but using corn for food and lowering food prices.

SEN. OBAMA:  Well, look, we, we've got a serious food problem around the world.  We, we've got rising food prices here in the United States.  In other countries we're seeing riots because of, because of the lack of food supplies. So this is something that we're going to have to deal with.  There are a number of factors that go into this.  Changes in climate are contributing. The, the fact that in a lot of countries, you know, we've had problems getting food supplies to poor countries because the wealthier countries have reduced their stockpiles in, in serious ways.  And so there're a whole host of reasons why we're seeing problems with food supply.  There's no doubt that biofuels may be contributing to it.  And what I've said is, my top priority is making sure that people are able to get enough to eat.  And if it turns out that we've got to make changes in our ethanol policy to help people get something to eat, then that's got to be the step we take.

But I also believe that ethanol has been a important transitional tool for us to start dealing with our long-term energy crisis ultimately.  Over time we're going to shift to cellulosic ethanol, where we're not using food stocks but we're using wood chips, we're using, you know, prairie grass, we're using...

MR. RUSSERT:  How long...

SEN. OBAMA:  ...other stuff for this.

MR. RUSSERT:  How long before our automobiles are off of gasoline oil and, and using something like an alternative fuel?

SEN. OBAMA:  Well, you know, I, I think that if we decided right now that we were going to make the kind of investment I've proposed--$150 billion over 10 years--then I think at the end of the decade we could have a auto industry that has significantly reduced our consumption of oil by as much as 35, 40 percent.  And the technologies exist right now for plug-in hybrids.  You know, we should continue to investigate the possibilities of electric cars.  The problem is is that we have not been serious about it, and Detroit ended up making investments in SUVs and large trucks because that's where they perceived a competitive advantage and that's where they felt they could make the most profit.  I think it was a mistake for them not to plan earlier.  Now we're seeing a huge growth in fuel-efficient cars that is benefitting the Japanese automakers, and Detroit is getting pounded some more.  And I think that we can make those cars here in the United States.  By the way, that's going to be our expert market over the future.  China already has higher fuel efficiency standards than we do.  If we want to compete for those markets, then we're going to have to invest in technology.  The government can help, but the automakers have to make some changes.  And I didn't say that just in front of environmental groups, I went to Detroit and said it in front of the automakers.  That's the kind of truth telling we need from the next president.

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