February 11, 2009 5:22 PM

Transcript Excerpt: Sen. Barack Obama

By
Daniel Schorn
(CBS)  On February 6, 2007 - just days before announcing his candidacy for president - Illinois Senator Barack Obama sat down for an interview with 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft. The interview took place in Obama's office in the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, DC.

STEVE KROFT: What qualifies you to be President of the United States?

BARACK OBAMA: Something that I think I bring to bear to this process is the capacity to bring diverse people together around a common goal. And I think more than anything, that's what America needs right now: the ability for us to unite around a common-sense, practical, non-ideological effort to solve some very big problems that we face.

KROFT: I'm a voter looking at your resume, and you served seven years in the Illinois legislature, two years in the U.S. Senate. No executive experience in government and no real credentials in international affairs. It's a tough job. What qualifies you?

OBAMA: If you look at my track record, not only in Washington, but prior to Washington, I think what you'll see is a diverse set of experience that prepares me well for the particular challenges that we face right now. Let's take the issue of foreign policy. You know, I've served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. I've worked with colleagues like Senator Dick Lugar of Indiana, a Republican, on the issue of nuclear proliferation and actually passed last year a piece of legislation dealing with proliferation on conventional arms. On issues dealing with Africa, a major area where we've got to deal with a potential terrorist threat, we passed legislation to make sure that we are stabilizing countries like the Congo that are currently ungoverned and are vulnerable to terrorist infiltration. So on the international front, I've got a body of work that I think is relevant to the job. But more importantly than that, I've got a set of experiences prior to joining the Senate, including having lived overseas and having family overseas and understanding, I think, in a very intimate way, both the challenges that we face in America's image abroad, but also the opportunities to win back the hearts and minds of people who I think over the last six years have felt entirely alienated from how our administration's operated and, I think, that has actually made us less safe than we should be.

KROFT: Anything else in your background that you think serves as a qualification for this job?

OBAMA: You know, here in Washington, people don't take experience outside of Washington seriously. Seven years in the Illinois Senate actually prepares pretty well, because Illinois is a wonderful microcosm for the country. You know, it's north/south. It's east/west. It's black/white/Hispanic. There are a whole host of issues that have a direct impact on people's everyday lives. So when I pass legislation that expands healthcare for kids; or struggle with welfare reform on the ground where it matters; or bringing together opponents of the death penalty with law enforcement to come up with the first in the nation videotaping of interrogations and confessions in capital cases -- those are all issues that matter deeply to people. They are similar to the issues that we deal with at a national level.

KROFT: You touch people's imagination with your campaign.

OBAMA: Absolutely.

KROFT: People are worried about your experience.

OBAMA: Right.

KROFT: Why are you in such a hurry?

OBAMA: You know the truth is I'm not. If I was on my own internal timetable, then I would be happy to wait ten years before I was running for higher office. This is not something that I've engineered. It's something that presents itself as an opportunity to make a difference right here and right now. We have a narrow window to solve some of the problems that we face. Ten years from now, we may not be in a position to recover the sense of respect around the world that we've lost over the last six years. Ten years from now, we may have dug ourselves such a deep hole when it comes to our fiscal health that some of those problems are irreversible. Certainly when you look at our energy policy and environment and the prospects of climate change, we've got to make some decisions right now. And so I feel a sense of urgency for the country. It's possible that, you know, after we go through this whole process, the voters conclude: You know? He's not ready. And I respect that. I don't expect that simply because I can move people in speeches that automatically qualifies me for this job. I think that I have to be tested and run through the paces, and I have to earn this job


Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved.
Add a Comment
by iFooBar February 12, 2007 2:26 PM EST
Great answers. I've read the whole transcript and couldn't find any gaping holes. He's said a lot of things that can make people think one way or the other about him, but he's right: Obama says who he is and doesn't wash with a lot of rhetoric.

I sense rhetoric in the arguments that mean nothing to how we live day to day: on the issues if he's really "black," or the issues regarding his inexperience in Senate.

I'm from Illinois and had a great time watching him run for Senate. Even though he ran against Keyes, and it was an obvious blowout, Obama was still talking in his eloquent manner and delivering solid answers to his stance of real issues (i.e. terrorism and education).

I don't like Hillary because she runs on both sides of the fence. I can't see her being elected by the US. However, if Obama can survive the primaries then I have hope that the people in the US will elect someone like him. Say it how you will, I still do think the US people have a lot of hope to bring back a country that we've felt like we lost. Or maybe we've never had the country America claims to be - maybe he can introduce a powerful and trusting world power that's a little better and less racist from it's hey-days of the 60's.
Reply to this comment
by iFooBar February 12, 2007 2:25 PM EST
Great answers. I've read the whole transcript and couldn't find any gaping holes. He's said a lot of things that can make people think one way or the other about him, but he's right: Obama says who he is and doesn't wash with a lot of rhetoric.

I sense rhetoric in the arguments that mean nothing to how we live day to day: on the issues if he's really "black," or the issues regarding his inexperience in Senate.

I'm from Illinois and had a great time watching him run for Senate. Even though he ran against Keyes, and it was an obvious blowout, Obama was still talking in his eloquent manner and delivering solid answers to his stance of real issues (i.e. terrorism and education).

I don't like Hillary because she runs on both sides of the fence. I can't see her being elected by the US. However, if Obama can survive the primaries then I have hope that the people in the US will elect someone like him. Say it how you will, I still do think the US people have a lot of hope to bring back a country that we've felt like we lost. Or maybe we've never had the country America claims to be - maybe he can introduce a powerful and trusting world power that's a little better and less racist from it's hey-days of the 60's.
Reply to this comment
by wt0729 February 12, 2007 2:09 AM EST
How do you TRULY prepare to be President of the United States? The answer is that you can't! Serving as a long-term senator or governor doesn't because neither position can truly prepare you for the pressures associated with making decisions that affect the lives of Americans AS WELL AS citizens around the world! The only trait a great president truly needs is excellent judgment...knowing when to heed advice or make a decision alone! The ability to listen, critically weigh options & evaluate consequences, as well as find common ground with myriad people are the traits of a true leader!
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