Barack Obama: Full Interview

COURIC: Let me ask you this question. I've just a couple of really quick sort of questions to ask you.

OBAMA: Sure.

COURIC: Inevitably when a president leaves office, they show the before and after pictures.

OBAMA: Right.

COURIC: Because this is a very stressful and aging job.

OBAMA: Are you about to point out (LAUGHTER) my gray hair here?

COURIC: (LAUGHTER) No, I feel sort of like the -- the grim reaper suddenly.

OBAMA: Go ahead.

COURIC: How will you deal with the stress?

OBAMA: I have been very consistent about working out. Some people have teased me about it in the press. But it is a great stress reliever for me -- is just to make sure that I get in an hour a day to just break a sweat. So I will be doing that.

COURIC: Plus, you're such a healthy eater.

OBAMA: Yeah.

COURIC: I hear it's pretty annoying.

OBAMA: No. You know, this is a little overstated. I mean, my favorite foods are, you know, chicken wings or you know, I can scarf down pizza with the best of them. But --

COURIC: I hear you're Mr. Salmon.

OBAMA: But what is true is that I don't eat that stuff every day 'cause if I do then I start falling asleep after lunch. (LAUGHTER) So that helps with stress. The kids help relieve stress. You know, I think you were asking earlier about what I'm looking forward most to in the White House is, look, I've got a home office basically. And what that means is that when the girls come home, they can run and say hello to their daddy. I will have dinner with them every night that I'm home, you know, even if I have to go back to work. And that is a huge shift from the campaign where I was away five, six days a week. And that was by far the biggest hardship that I've gone through.

COURIC: You don't really think of this job as working at home, do you, necessarily. (LAUGHTER) But speaking of stress, what's going on with the smoking thing?

OBAMA: You know, we're doing fine with it. I know everybody likes to poke, you know. I haven't had an interview yet where this one doesn't get raised.

COURIC: Well, I think people just wanna know how it's going. And I think -- they feel for you.

OBAMA: Yeah, we're doing fine. I'll do better if people don't keep on bringing it up. (LAUGHTER)

COURIC: Okay. I can't make any promises for my colleagues, but enough said. Have you figured out a way to keep your BlackBerry?

OBAMA: I'm still negotiating. But I think we may have found a solution that satisfies people.

COURIC: And if your mom could be here and could be standing near you as you're sworn in--

OBAMA: She'd be crying. You know, she was a real softy. She'd cry at movies, you know? Born Free, she'd start -- you remember that with Elsa --

COURIC: Yeah, of course.

COURIC: What would you say to her?

OBAMA: Thank you. 'Cause me being here is a testimony to her love. I, you know, by all sensible odds, I shouldn't be sworn in as the 44th president. It was very unlikely, born to a single mom who was 18 at the time. And it is a testament to just her fierce determination to give her kids everything that they needed to succeed and then to give them a set of values and a belief in public service. So I'm a reflection of her. And wherever she is right now, I think she knows that.

COURIC: Let me ask you, if I could a couple of news-of-the-day questions because I'm sure you're briefed as soon as you wake up in the morning.

OBAMA: Right.

COURIC: A new Osama bin Laden tape was released. And in it he taunted President Bush -- and basically called for a new jihad to stop the aggression on Gaza. What will you do differently to bring Osama bin Laden to justice?

OBAMA: Well, I think I talked frequently during this campaign that we took our eye off the ball when we invaded Iraq. And now it's done. My job is to withdraw in a responsible way from Iraq and stabilize the situation there. But our real focus has to be on Afghanistan, the border regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan. And we have to put as much pressure on them as possible. And I've already spoken to my National Security team about how we're going to do that. And I'm confident that we can keep them on the run and ensure that they cannot train terrorists to attack our homeland. That's my number one priority as President of the United States.

COURIC: How important do you think it is, Mr. President-elect, to apprehend Osama bin Laden?

OBAMA: I think that we have to so weaken his infrastructure that, whether he is technically alive or not, he is so pinned down that he cannot function. My preference obviously would be to capture or kill him. But if we have so tightened the noose that he's in a cave somewhere and can't even communicate with his operatives, then we will meet our goal of protecting America.

COURIC: A renewed ceasefire seems pretty elusive at this juncture between Hamas and Israel. What would you say to leaders on both sides to break through the stalemate?

OBAMA: Right. Well, I know this is gonna run after I'm sworn in.

COURIC: No, this will run tonight actually.

OBAMA: It will? Oh--

COURIC: Yes, yes, I'm sorry.

OBAMA: Well, okay.

COURIC: These are like news of the day.

OBAMA: All right. Gotcha. So let's start that one over.