'Meet the Press' transcript for July 20, 2008

(Announcements)

MR. BROKAW:  Our political roundtable with David Gregory and Chuck Todd, after this brief station break.

(Announcements)

MR. BROKAW:  Chuck Todd, David Gregory, welcome to both of you.  Let's begin with Al Gore.

He's tan, rested, but apparently not ready to go back into government, Chuck. Let me just offer a proposition.  No one is better informed on this issue of energy conservation and global climate change than he is, no one is more passionate about it.  But this issue breaks along party lines as you go across the country.  Do you think it is, in part, because in the eyes of Republicans and those on the right, he is still very much a radioactive political figure, and he would be better off if he appeared on stage making these presentations surrounded by Newt Gingrich and other like-minded Republicans?

MR. CHUCK TODD:  He probably could use that.  But I thought what was interesting about what he did this week was that he did make sure the McCain campaign was aware of what he was going to say beforehand, and what did that translate into.  And, and the vice president referred to this in the interview earlier, and that is McCain had kind words about the plan.  Didn't necessarily endorse specific parts of it, and I think a lot of the business community is not going to like the, the speed with which that Gore is calling for some of these things.  But I, I think that he feels comfortable that he likes both candidates, and he thinks that his agenda has a chance even if McCain gets elected, sure he's endorsed Obama.  So I think that's the role he's hoping for.  He wants to be--I think he does want to be the unofficial energy tzar. He doesn't want to have to do the work, but he wants to be the unofficial energy tzar.  And I'll tell you this, if McCain gets elected president, he's going to have a Democratic Senate and House that's even more Democratic than it is now, and I think the first thing he'll tackle is climate change.  It's the first thing that they'll all agree to.

MR. DAVID GREGORY:  Can I make one point related to this?  I do think that, you know, inside the White House, there's always been a feeling that Al Gore thinks he's got the monopoly on this debate, and so there is sensitivity among conservatives about this that he, he commands the microphone, and nobody else can, can be an entrant into this debate.  So I think he's, he's politically divisive in that way.  I--I'm hard-pressed to believe that he wouldn't necessarily go in the administration if he got the platform, but I also take seriously the idea that working outside, "so I can keep making money in all of this," but he can also have a really profound impact on the flow of the debate both here and overseas.

MR. BROKAW:  Well, I guess my point is that he can't be a soloist preaching to the choir, he has to be a choir preaching to a wider audience...

MR. TODD:  Right.

MR. BROKAW:  ...and you get more people around him.

A lot of things going on as we're sitting here.  Barack Obama is obviously on the highest-profile trip yet overseas.  Here's the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll on would he be a commander--good commander in chief as opposed to John McCain.  McCain wins overwhelmingly on that question.  But who would improve America's image abroad, more likely, and Obama is the clear winner by more than a 2-to-1 margin there.  At the same time, while Obama is overseas, John McCain has rolled out his first negative ad, David, and let's take a look at that for just a moment.  This is what he had to say about Obama before he went overseas.

(Videotape)

Narrator:  (From McCain political ad) Barack Obama never held a single hearing on Afghanistan, he hasn't been to Iraq in years, he voted against funding our troops--positions that helped him win his nomination.  Now Obama is changing to help himself become president.

(End videotape)

MR. BROKAW:  At the time that that ad rolled, President Maliki of Iraq told a German publication that he agrees with Obama's 16-month troop withdrawal timetable, and then an official spokesperson for his government pulled all that back.  I have a feeling there might have been a rocket from the White House to Baghdad over the telephone.

MR. GREGORY:  Yeah.  I talked to White House officials who were quick to point out that Maliki is still on board with not setting any particular timetable.  It would have to be conditions-based, that he's still, he's still speaking the language of this White House when it comes to troop withdrawal. This trip is very important in tone and in substance.  You spoke about the image numbers abroad.  That's what Barack Obama being overseas is in part about, which is that his vision of foreign policy is change.  "You didn't like the Bush years, you didn't like what a lot of people thought was cowboy diplomacy, the invasion of Iraq, etc.  I'm going to have a different view.  I have a different life story, a different approach to the rest of the world." But the commander in chief proposition is important.  You often say, you know, to, to, to groups, "Close your eyes, imagine a crisis happening, and who do you picture in the Oval Office." Barack Obama's not winning that test right now, so he's got to have these commander in chief moments, and I think one of the things you saw this week is he's taking on McCain as a guy who will fight the last war, but who doesn't necessarily understand the new threats--fighting terrorism, fighting national security threats--and that's why getting the backing of Maliki on some kind of troop withdrawal is important for his overall vision.

MR. TODD:  Republicans are panicked about this trip because they think that this is going to be a home run.  And arguably, you've got some Obama folks who actually think he ought to come home right now.  It's never going to get as good as it's gotten in the last 48 hours.  You've got McCain suddenly in the White House parroting what Obama has been saying in Afghanistan.  The McCain folks will say, "Hey, we're not parroting.  We've been there before." But they clearly caught McCain flat-footed there.  And then what Maliki did, even in the backtrack statement that the spokes--the government spokesperson over there said, he threw in the word "timetable."

MR. GREGORY:  Yeah.

MR. TODD:  He's used not just "time is right," but he...

MR. GREGORY:  Right...

MR. TODD:  ...threw in the word "timetable," which is--the Obama campaign said, you know, that, that--"Thank you for that release."

MR. GREGORY:  It is important, though, McCain and the president will argue, if not for the surge, there--you would have never been at a point where you could have...

MR. TODD:  That's a big shock...

MR. GREGORY:  ...this sort of parity between Obama and the Iraqis.

MR. TODD:  That's a big shock for Joe Voter, though.

MR. BROKAW:  Yeah.

MR. TODD:  Joe Voter in Rolla, Missouri, is sitting there going, "You know, I really would like to get out of Iraq.  Oh, and hey, Iraq wants us out."

MR. GREGORY:  Yeah.

MR. TODD:  "Let's go."

MR. BROKAW:  But is Iraq going to be the fault line in the fall, or is it going to remain the economy, Chuck?

MR. TODD:  I think it absolutely remains the economy, and I think it's possible we will see how both candidates use their vice presidential choices to make that emphasis.

MR. BROKAW:  And speaking of a vice presidential choice, we have a little slideshow we'd like to share with everyone because this comes under the heading "the company that they keep." Here are some of the images that we have seen this week.  Barack Obama on his trip is with Chuck Hagel, a Vietnam veteran and a Republican from Nebraska; and Jack Reed, another combat veteran, a U.S. military academy graduate, a senator from Rhode Island.  He also appeared this week, however, Senator Obama did, with Evan Bayh, who backed Hillary Clinton--he represents the state of Indiana, which could be a battleground state this time--and Sam Nunn, a former Democratic senator from the deep South state of Georgia, a national security figure.  And one more of our photo album slides, this is John McCain with Mitt Romney, who was a very strong contender for the Republican Party nomination.  That has created a lot of buzz.

I think if Barack Obama goes into a Starbucks and orders a latte and spends an extra moment with a barista this week, that person will probably be on the list for vice president.

MR. TODD:  Well, but there, there's a, there's a, there's a real reason why. Look, the timing.  I've got it on pretty good authority, this is not going to be done right before the convention, and it's not going to be done during the Olympics.  Well, you start backtracking when Obama's going to pick his running mate...

MR. GREGORY:  Two weeks.

MR. TODD:  Exactly.

MR. BROKAW:  Yeah.

MR. TODD:  The minute he gets back from this trip, that's what they're going to be in is in VP mode.  And so this trip matters.  There is some comfort level that he wants to see if he has with Jack Reed.  But I'll tell you, it is--this is, this is going to happen a lot quicker than I think people realize.

MR. GREGORY:  But on, on this choice--and you brought up the economy--Obama's got a huge advantage among, among voters in terms of handling the economy.  I do think this is still a, a, a blank area for him.  I think he could be doing a lot more to try to own this issue, to demonstrate that he's got the energy to deal with the economic crisis that the country's facing, from housing to joblessness to the energy demands.  And if it's an advantage for him now over John McCain, he ought to be getting up every morning and thinking about how he seeks the energy and conveys the energy to really take command of this issue. And he may be able to do it with his number two choice.

MR. TODD:  Well, I mean, let me just--one thing I think we're both overlooking about these two men, John McCain and Barack Obama, is that they're, they're creatures of comfort.  They don't like to have--while they always talk about reaching across the aisle, they like to surround themselves with people they're very comfortable with.  And I have a feeling one or both of them is going to pick running mates that we smart alecks here in the political world are going to say, "Oh, boy, this person doesn't help with this part of the resume, and this person doesn't help bring a state.  What were you thinking there?" These guys are, I think, are both in that, in that governing mode.  I'm guessing the advice that George Bush, Bill Clinton would give to these two, pick somebody you're comfortable with first, don't try to pick, pick a constituency.

MR. BROKAW:  And if Obama does pick in the next two weeks, will that force John McCain's hand as well?

MR. TODD:  I don't--everything we're understanding is that they realize the only thing they have to control in this process is timing, and maybe they step on the bounce.  Maybe they step on Thursday of the Democratic convention will be the big speech in the football field there in Denver, and, and I wouldn't be surprised if Friday or Saturday is when we see McCain roll his running mate out, just to at least slow down the Obama freight train coming out of Denver.

MR. BROKAW:  Thank you very much David Gregory, our NBC White House correspondent, and of course star of MSNBC, "The Road to the White House." Chuck Todd, our political director, we'll be seeing a lot more of you here on MEET THE PRESS and, of course, on all the platforms of NBC News and MSNBC in the weeks to come.

We have to leave it there.  We'll be right back.

(Announcements)

MR. BROKAW:  That's all for today.  We'll be back next week.  I'll have an exclusive interview with Senator Barack Obama from London.  It'll be the last stop of his overseas trip.  That's Barack Obama right here next Sunday, because if it's Sunday, it's MEET THE PRESS.

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