'Meet the Press' transcript for June 8, 2008

MR. RUSSERT:  Should we stay?  Should we go?  Should we talk with our enemies or not?  This is a big difference on these issues.

MR. ALLEN:  I think foreign policy--and I love foreign policy--is going to be really crucial for Barack Obama.  And the, the speech about Israel that Andrea mentioned also jumped out at me, about this notion of Jerusalem being divided or undivided.  Obama has, has gotten where he is, in large part, by opposition to the war.  There's not been a lot of debate about specific things.  Yes, will we talk to dictators or not.  But what are we going to do in Iraq?  What happens when you remove these troops one month at a time?  What do you do in Israel?  What do you do in Iran?  In, in very specific terms, I'm sure that's where John McCain feels like he can make a lot of ground.

MR. RUSSERT:  Unanswered questions.  We have to go.  Before we do, once again, Upper Deck baseball cards, trying to capture the history of this race. Here's Barack Obama, number 42, the Dodgers, that's Jackie Robinson.  John McCain trying to block that plate and hold on.

MR. GREGORY:  Yogi Berra.

MR. RUSSERT:  Which, which leads me to Robert F. Kennedy.  We're going to talk about him in our "Meet the Press Minute."  But look at this.  He gave a speech to the Voice of America all around the world 40 years ago.  And despite what was going on in the country, particularly in Alabama, Bobby Kennedy said this:  Things are "moving so fast in race relations a Negro could be president in 40 years." This is in 1968, we're now in 2008.  "`There's no question about it,' the attorney general said.  `In the next 40 years a Negro can achieve the same position that my brother has.' ...  Kennedy said that prejudice exists and probably will continue to ...  `But we have tried to make progress and we are making progress.  We are not going to accept the status quo.'" Extraordinarily prescient, which leads us to our "Meet the Press Minute."

Just after midnight on June 5, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy proclaimed victory in the California primary.

(Videotape)

SEN. ROBERT F. KENNEDY (D-NY):  Now it's on to Chicago, and let's win there.

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT:  But Robert Kennedy never made it to Chicago.  Moments after that speech, he was shot in a kitchen corridor of the Ambassador Hotel and died the next day.

He appeared on MEET THE PRESS March 17th, 1968, the day after he announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States.

(Videotape)

MR. LAWRENCE SPIVAK:  Our guest today on MEET THE PRESS is Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York, who yesterday declared his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for the presidency of the United States.

SEN. KENNEDY:  I intend to talk about what I feel needs to be done for this country to heal the deep divisions that exist between races, between age groups, and on the war in Southeast Asia.  I think that we're more divided now than perhaps we've been in 100 years.

I'm going to have a very, very rough road ahead of me.  I have five months even before the convention comes.  I have to go to all of the states.  I have to go to the very--various primaries.  I have to present myself and my policies and my programs not just in opposition to President Johnson, but what I think can be done for this country and for the rest of the world and for mankind, because we are the leader.  I have to present that to the rest of the American people.  Then they will judge and the Democratic Party will judge.  I don't think I'm asking for a free ride.  I don't think I'm asking for an easy road.

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT:  Robert Kennedy's brother John was killed in 1963, also by an assassin's bullet.  Their youngest brother, Ted, is the senior senator from the state of Massachusetts and is bravely battling brain cancer.  And we'll be right back.

(Announcements)

MR. RUSSERT:  And my thanks to the NBC News political dream team.  You had an easy Sunday in the cushy studio, now back out on the road, all right?

That's all for today.  We'll be back next week at our regular time.  If it's Sunday, it's MEET THE PRESS.

MORE FROM MEET THE PRESS

Meet the Press Section Front

July 12: McCain, Schumer, roundtable June 28: Axelrod, Romney, Graham, roundtable June 21: Netanyahu, Nunn, Thompson, Easton, Todd June 14: Biden, Murphy, Scarborough May 31: Leahy, Sessions, Owens, Schmidt, Mulcahy, roundtable May 24: Durbin, Gingrich, political roundtable May 17: Kaine, Steele, Haass, Noonan, Brownstein   Slideshow: A look back at 60 years of 'Meet the Press' Find ‘Meet the Press’ in your area Take Two: Web only video from 'Meet the Press' Meet the Press Section Front   Add Meet the Press headlines to your news reader: