'Meet the Press' transcript for June 28, 2009

MR. DAVID GREGORY: This Sunday, the Obama agenda: health care, energy,
the economy. Where does it go from here? Where will the president push
and where will he compromise? And on Iran, the president talks tough...

(Videotape)

PRES. BARACK OBAMA: I would suggest that Mr. Ahmadinejad think carefully
about the obligations he owes to his own people.

(End videotape)

MR. GREGORY: ...but is the administration still prepared to talk to Iran
about nuclear weapons? This morning, an assessment at a key moment of the
Obama presidency. Our guest, the president's senior adviser David
Axelrod.

Then, the future of the GOP after the downfall of another Republican
leader.

(Videotape)

GOV. MARK SANFORD (R-SC): It's going to hurt, and we'll let the chips
fall where they may.

(End videotape)

MR. GREGORY: Rising political star South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford admits cheating on his wife, misleading his staff and the state, and is now fighting for his job. Thoughts this morning on the present and the future for Republicans. With us, former Governor of Massachusetts and GOP presidential candidate in 2008 Mitt Romney and Republican senator from South Carolina Lindsey Graham.

Then the take from our roundtable: New York Times columnist David Brooks,
Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne, Republican strategist Mike Murphy
and former White House press secretary for President Clinton, now a
contributing editor at Vanity Fair, Dee Dee Myers.

MR. DAVID GREGORY: But first, here with us live now, the president's
senior adviser David Axelrod.

Welcome back to MEET THE PRESS.

MR. DAVID AXELROD: Great to be here.

MR. GREGORY: An important victory for the president Friday night on the
climate change bill, he gets it through the House. But there were signs
of division among Democrats. Forty-four Democrats voted against this. Is
this a red flag about whether this massive energy bill is going to fail
in the Senate?

MR. AXELROD: No, I don't think so. David, understand that a few weeks ago
people wouldn't have given you a dime that this was going to pass the
House. And I think there's two things. One is there's a growing awareness
that we need to move on energy. We've been waiting for decades. And this
bill will create millions of clean energy jobs, it will deal with this
energy--our dependence on foreign oil, and we have to deal with that,
and, and it deals with this deadly pollution and global warming that we
have to, that we have to move on. So the House acted. I think the Senate
will come to the same conclusion. But the bill that was crafted helped
ameliorate some of the hard edge of--that people were worried about, and
I think that will carry the day in the Senate as well.

MR. GREGORY: But Republicans say it's not going to create jobs, it's
going to kill jobs, and they say it's dead in the Senate.

MR. AXELROD: Well, the Republicans then have to come up with an answer to all
these questions: What are we going to do about our dependence on foreign
oil? What are the new industries of the future? Are we going to let these
energy jobs go to China and India, or are we going to command the future?
What are we going to do about pollution and global warming that threaten
our health and our planet? You know, what we've heard from the Republican
Party is a lot of what we can't do. The question is, are we going to step
up and deal with the big problems facing this country?

MR. GREGORY: Do you have unity among Democrats in the Senate?

MR. AXELROD: Well, I think that, as always, the legislative process is,
is filled with twists and turns. But I believe that there is a strong
desire to deal with these issues.

MR. GREGORY: But you're facing the prospect--the very real prospect of a
filibuster by Republicans in the Senate. Do you have the votes to
overcome that?

MR. AXELROD: Well, the vote is not tomorrow. The vote will come sometime
in the fall, and I think that we will fashion an energy package that will
move this country forward and carry the day.

MR. GREGORY: There's a lot on the agenda, and health care is the
centerpiece of all of this. But again, that fact of 44 Democrats opposing
you on climate change in the House, is this a shot across the bow that
applies to health care? Do you think the president will get a healthcare
reform bill that includes a public plan this year?

MR. AXELROD: I think we're going to get a healthcare reform bill this
year, and I wouldn't assume that the 44 who, who weren't with us on
energy will not be with us on health care. Indeed, many of them told us
that they will. So I think people understand that, that families,
businesses and the government itself is getting slammed by this
inexorable climb in healthcare prices, and we have to deal with it.

MR. GREGORY: But you're confident about getting that bill with a public
plan this year.

MR. AXELROD: I'm confident that we're going to get a healthcare reform
bill. I think a public choice will be part of it. I think the public
wants to have that option and wants to see that kind of competition, and
I think we will, we will have that.

MR. GREGORY: Well, let's be clear what we're talking about as well.
You're talking about a public sponsored, a government sponsored
healthcare plan that can exist side by side with private insurance plans,
and that allows Americans without insurance to make a choice between a
private and a public plan.

It's interesting. In the press conference this week, the president said
any opposition to that is illogical. But at the same time, he won't draw
a line in the sand, nor will you in your previous answer. And yet
supporters of that public plan, including Howard Dean, doctor, former
governor, former head of the Democratic Party, said it's got to be in
there. This is what he said as reported by The Hill newspaper on Friday:
"We are here;" he said at a rally, "we're not going away. We voted for
change a few months ago. We expect change. And if we don't get it,
there's going to be more change." That's what Howard Dean said. "`Success
on healthcare reform is a must for Democrats,' Dean told The Hill. `I
think it's going to be a catastrophic problem for the Democratic Party if
they can't get this bill out.'" And what he means is with a public plan.

MR. AXELROD: Well, first of all, I think that if we don't pass healthcare
reform it's going to be a catastrophic problem for the country, not just
the Democratic Party; for families, businesses and the country itself.
Look, we believe strongly in, in a public choice; not one that's
subsidized by the government, but one that will embrace the best
practices, that will reduce healthcare costs and give people the best
quality care. What the president said was illogical were the same people
who say that the government is incompetent, the government can't run
anything, the government shouldn't be involved in, in anything say, but
we can't let that be one of the choices because it'll be an unfair
advantage against the, against the insurance companies.

MR. GREGORY: When it comes to a public plan, though, no ultimatums from
the president?

MR. AXELROD: Well, the president believes strongly in a, in, in a public
choice, and he's made that very, very clear. He's made that clear
privately, he's made that clear publicly, and we're going to continue to
do so.

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