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'Meet the Press' transcript for Nov. 9, 2008
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 Netcast Nov. 9: A look ahead at the Obama presidency with Valerie Jarrett, the newly appointed co-chair of the president-elect’s transition team. Plus, former RNC Chair Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL) & House Majority Whip Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) and a political roundtable with Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jon Meacham & Mary Mitchell. |
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MS. GOODWIN: And you know what Lincoln understood? He said once, "With popular sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed." So to educate and shape the country, I mean, I thought what was most remarkable about his victory speech was that it echoed FDR during the World War II time. He said, "The climb will be steep, the road will be long. But, America, we will get there." When this famous speech that Roosevelt gave in the middle of the terrible aftermath of Pearl Harbor, he said, "We're going to have failures before we have successes, but I promise you, we will get there." Both men, I think, had a sense of history, which Obama has, to know that we may be in tough times now; we've been in much worse times before. Take solace from the strength of this country.
MR. BROKAW: Mary Mitchell, you told me when we first met about a year ago, I guess, that you came out of the projects of Chicago and you were a little suspicious of Barack Obama, because of where he came from, Ivy League education and all that. But then you came to the conclusion that was a great strength of his because he represented, in so many ways, so many cultures.
MS. MITCHELL: Yes, he does. The first column I wrote about the possibility of Barack Obama, now President-elect Barack Obama becoming president, is because he embodied so much that we needed in this country at this time. He's--has a white mother, he was raised in a white household. So he understood just what--how whites feel about the race issue. He also honed his skill as a community organizer in poverty--and in impoverished areas of Chicago, so he understood how black people feel about the race issue. And he was able to look at that whole situation--waters that most people don't want to even dare wade in, he was able to, when that flood came with the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, he was able to give the speech--the race speech of his life and of any candidate's life to bring the country together. So I, I knew that he has a special gift, and that gift is he's a man of the time. He was able to look at the white side of things and the black side of things and bring us together. And I think that's what's going to serve him well throughout his campaign.
MR. BROKAW: Well, here's a pretty striking observation from Charles Krauthammer who was one of the most conservative columnists writing today and was very much on McCain side, obviously, during the campaign. He said, "With Obama we get a president with the political intelligence of a Bill Clinton harnessed to the steely self-discipline of a Vladimir Putin. (I say this admiringly.)" He says. "With these qualities, Obama will now bestride the political stage as largely as did Reagan."
Those are very high stakes for a president coming in facing what he's facing, Jon.
MR. MEACHAM: I think that that's, that's very insightful because we are in the midst of a great national moment about this candidate of hope, this candidate of change. This is a very tough man. He is a very tough politician. The main thing he remembered from growing up in Indonesia was his stepfather teaching him how to box and how to hit back. And so I, I think people who "misunderestimate" him, to use a term from the era now past--that is one legacy we will keep, I hope, and enjoy--you know, and, and people like me, I, I was very skeptical of this. I'm a Southerner. I, I thought it was a very long shot. Until the market collapsed, I thought it was a better than even chance that Senator McCain, who ran, I think, in all a noble campaign and we should, I think, mark that. It could've been a lot worse out there in the past couple of months. He knows how to fight and "See Rahm Emanuel."
MR. BROKAW: Doris, you wrote "Team of Rivals," and he's reading that, we're told. These were the people that Abraham Lincoln ran against and then pulled into his Cabinet to help him govern. One of the most gracious speeches we've heard in the course of the last nine months was given by John McCain the night that he was defeated. Should he find a place, specifically, for John McCain? If not in the Cabinet, necessarily, but reach out to him in Congress? And, and shake up Washington in a way that we have not seen it shaken up in a long, long time?
MS. GOODWIN: I think he's going to try to do something like that, and I think it's in McCain's interest to respond. McCain has a certain number of years left in public life. He's had such a noble career before him. He is a person who brings people together, that's what he was before. And that concession speech, I think, was his beginning road on that journey. It was so classy. You're so exhausted, your eyes are puffy, you've had this terrible rejection, you almost reached this White House. And to give that kind of a graceful speech was an extraordinary moment. And I think that Obama will be able to think beyond the normal. I think that's why he talks about Lincoln all the time. It wasn't just that Lincoln brought his chief Republican rivals in. He brought Democrats, former Whigs, they're fighting all the time, but he was able to bring them together in the most unusual team in history, and I'll bet you Obama will do that. I'd love to see McCain in some big position.
MR. MEACHAM: He...
MS. GOODWIN: Maybe, go ahead. No, I was just going to spout, so go ahead.
MR. BROKAW: One historian to another here.
MS. GOODWIN: Go for it.
MR. MEACHAM: Well, there was a rumor Walter Mondale asked George McGovern, "When does it stop hurting?" And he said, "I'll tell you when it does."
MR. BROKAW: Right. That's exactly right.
MS. MITCHELL: Oh.
MR. MEACHAM: And I think McCain has the personality, as you say, to rise about that.
MR. BROKAW: And, Mary Mitchell, how many of your friends want to come to Washington and be a part of this?
MS. MITCHELL: Oh, everybody I talk to. They're planning on coming to Washington. They're calling their friends. They're, you know, I, what I warn them about is don't fall for the Internet scams. You know, call your congressman, call your representative. Find out if you can really get a ticket for January 20 before, before you get on that bus.
MR. BROKAW: And how many of them want to come here and work?
MS. MITCHELL: Oh, well, a lot of them. But you know, I, I think that what we'll see is that President-elect Barack Obama will put a team together of qualified people; and, unfortunately, we love him, but he's--the ship is moving off.
MS. GOODWIN: But how wonderful, Churchill said to Roosevelt, "It's a great hour to live." What a fun decade to share together. I think people are feeling that right now. It's a great hour to be part of this and a lot of young people are going to want to come.
MR. BROKAW: More than anytime I can remember, since 1960, people are coming up to me and are genuinely excited and want to be in on it.
We have to leave it right there for now. Thank you all for being with us.
And for more on Jon Meacham's book, you can find an excerpt to "American Lion: Andrew Jackson at the White House" on our Web site, which is mtp.msnbc.com.
(Announcements)
MR. BROKAW: That's all for today. A special day for MEET THE PRESS, the longest-running television show in the world. We're celebrating our 61st birthday. We'll be back next week because if, it's Sunday, it's MEET THE PRESS after 61 years.
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