Obama Explains His Choice, Reacts To Palin

Tells 60 Minutes Biden "Can Step In And Become President," Calls McCain's VP Pick An "Up-And-Coming Public Servant"

(CBS)  "Well, one of the reasons that I love Joe and one of the reasons I think he's gonna be such an effective vice president is he's blunt when he's right, and he's blunt when he's wrong. And that means that I can trust his counsel. And that's what, I think, a president needs from a vice president," Obama explained. "Look there is no choice I could have made where the person's gonna agree with me a 100 percent of the time. And I wouldn't want that person. Michelle doesn't agree with me a 100 percent of the time. You know, in fact with Michelle, if I can get to 50 percent, I'm feeling pretty good. What you want is somebody whose core values you believe in, who you trust, who you think is a straight shooter."

Biden acknowledged that from time to time, he had put his foot in his mouth.

"There was an issue in 1988 involving plagiarism which I'm sure the Republicans are working on a campaign commercial now about it," Kroft pointed out.

"I'm sure that's probably true," Biden acknowledged.

Asked what he's learned about politics and running for office in those 20 years, Biden said, "I made a mistake. I made a mistake 20, 21, 22 years ago. I was arrogant. I didn't think I had to prepare. I showed up at the debate and I failed to quote somebody. A guy named Neil Kinnock. And I just ask people and everyone else, look at the last 20 years of my career since that allegation occurred."

"But, I think that I have a record that people can go back and examine and decide whether or not I mean what I say. No matter how I say it whether I'm consistent with what I've asserted I care about. That's all I care about. But, you know, there's gonna be a lot, I'm sure a lot of things said about it," he added.

"I like who he is. And I think the American people will. And I think, together we're gonna win this election. And Joe's gonna end up being one of the finest vice presidents we've ever had," Obama said.

"Have you talked? Have you spoken specifically about what your role would be in an Obama administration?" Kroft asked.

"Yes, he had just a few questions that were important to him, but were threshold questions. If we didn't pass that threshold, he wasn't interested," Obama said.

"I don't want to go and just hang out. I can help Barack a lot more from chairman from the Foreign Relations Committee or from the United States Senate," Biden explained. "But, when he indicated to me he was lookin' for me to give my best judgment and for him to consider it, that's good enough for me. I'm not lookin' for a portfolio. I'm not lookin' for anything other than to be able to be part of the change this guy's been talkin' about. And I very bluntly, I've been talkin' about."

"What's your role in the campaign? Can you make a difference in this race? And how do you do that?" Kroft asked Biden.

"The thing I can do is hopefully go into Scranton and Wilmington and Sacramento and other places and say, 'I know the guy,'" Biden replied. "Politicians know quality when they see it in other politicians."

Biden said he meant that as a compliment.

"'Cause he's spent most of his campaign trying to separate himself," Kroft pointed out.

"He is separate. But here's the bottom line: the thing about him that everybody misunderstands and this boss, here we go. We may have our first difference here. But, all kidding aside, here's the deal: everybody knows the way he's caught on to this yearning in the American public. But, the second piece of that is it's not only the idealism - you gotta be tough. You got to be tough to be the president of the United States of America. And if you don't have political good sense, if you're not politically tough, let me tell you something, I don't want you being my president," Biden said.

"And you think he is?" Kroft asked.

"Absolutely," Biden said.