[...] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAHN: Practically overnight Barack Obama shot from complete obscurity to national prominence. He delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention this summer that was widely hailed as a strong speech even by Republicans.
Obama is a rising star in the Democratic Party, and he is running for one of Illinois's U.S. Senate seats. It is expected he will win the race, one of the stranger election battles of this year.
His original opponent dropped out in a scandal, and now he faces a last-minute replacement candidate, conservative Republican Alan Keyes, a long-time resident of Maryland.
We turn now to Barack Obama.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: I wanted to start off tonight by continuing a subject that we addressed a little bit earlier this evening, and that is when you look at all these national polls that have been done recently, the trend line is not good for John Kerry, even on issues that his own campaign managers thought he would prevail on: on the issue of Iraq, on the issue of healthcare... OBAMA: Right.
ZAHN: ... and education.
OBAMA: Right.
ZAHN: Is John Kerry in trouble?
OBAMA: Well, I think there's no doubt that the Republicans not only had an effective convention, but that the swift boat controversy and the misinformation that was put out there had an impact on John Kerry's campaign.
ZAHN: You think they hurt him?
OBAMA: I think...
ZAHN: You think they slowed him down?
OBAMA: I think there's no doubt about it. But one of the things that I'm encouraged by is that if you look at the history of John Kerry's campaigns, he always comes on strong at the end.
And if you look at the underlying trends, in a state not -- like Illinois, what you see are people who have a great disquiet about the economy, about the war in Iraq, about terrorism.
And if the Democrats and John Kerry make the case clearly, concisely crisply over the next 50 days, then I think we can be successful.
ZAHN: But can you really argue that John Kerry is making the case when you look at numbers like these from the "Washington Post," ABC News, showing George Bush would do a better job, 53 percent of them to 37 percent for Senator John Kerry, this after President Bush admitted that he had made some miscalculations in the post-war plan in Iraq? What does that tell you?
OBAMA: Well, what it tells me is that the White House has been very effective at muddying the waters and that's to their credit. I mean, that's their job in trying to get the president reelected.
We as Democrats have not done as good of a job in clearly laying out the case. And I think...
ZAHN: Do you think John Kerry's been clear?
OBAMA: Well...
ZAHN: You know, he keeps on getting lambasted for voting to authorize the war and then turning around and not voting to fund it.
OBAMA: I think what is necessary now for John Kerry to do and for all of us who are interested in seeing a different direction for the country, is to focus very clearly and specifically on here are the things that we would do differently, not to simply carp on the negatives of George Bush.
ZAHN: But even some of John Kerry aides would admit that he didn't come out swinging fast enough when the swift boat ads started attacking him and that he alone was the guy that could have turned the focus back to healthcare and back to Iraq.
So didn't he get mired in this? Didn't he allow for himself to be boxed in?
OBAMA: We've got 50 days left. And I think John Kerry's task over the next 50 days is to dig deep and look inside himself and say, "Here are the things I care about. Here is the reason that I ran for president, and that is what I'm going to present to the American people."
And if he does that, I think he will be successful, because I think he is imminently better qualified than our current president to lead us through the challenges that we have in the future.
ZAHN: But once again, even some of his advisers would suggest that that voice you're talking about has been drowned out, because he's paying too much attention to focus groups and not drowning out the pollution of these warring factions in the campaign telling him what to talk about.
OBAMA: Well, I think what is absolutely true is that John Kerry cares deeply about America. And his service, his lifetime of service exhibits that. And he has to let himself loose and allow that to come out. I think that one of the...
ZAHN: Why hasn't he?
OBAMA: Well, I think it's difficult when you're running against a White House that is extraordinarily well-organized, well-financed, that they can knock you off your game. I mean I think -- again that's to their credit.
There are enormous opportunities for John Kerry to make the case in the final 50 days that we can do better than we're doing right now and that the direction of this country is one that is not going to deliver on the promise of America that all of us hope for.
ZAHN: But you just conceded to me he has been knocked off his game by this White House.
OBAMA: Well, I think John Kerry and the campaign itself would say that, with respect to the swift boat controversy, that Democrats as a whole could have done a better job responding to that quickly.
I think that one of the challenges that I always have in politics is, how do you vigorously defend yourself against unfair attacks, but not get so distracted that you don't make your case?
And that's difficult because our general instinct is when we've been maligned, is to respond. I mean, that's what all of us do in our day-to-day lives. And so it requires an extraordinary discipline, particularly when you're going up against one of the best political machines that has ever been created, to stay on focus.
ZAHN: I want to move on to the issue of race now, and something that Senator John Kerry had to say before the national Baptist convention in New Orleans.
Let's listen to it together.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The fact is, the wrong choices of the Bush administration reduced taxes for the few, and reduced opportunities for the middle class, and for those struggling to get into it, are taking us back to a two Americas, separate and unequal.
Our cities and our communities are being torn apart by forces that are just as divisive and destructive as Jim Crow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: Even Paul Begala, who is now advising Senator Kerry, said he went way too far with what he said. Did he? Are we living in Jim Crow's America today?
OBAMA: Well, certainly John Kerry doesn't believe that we're living in Jim Crow's America. I think what...
ZAHN: What did he mean?
OBAMA: Well, I think the point that needs to be made is that economic conditions are in a state in which some people have enormous opportunities. My children, your children have unlimited opportunities, whether they're black, white, Hispanic or Asian, but that the economic divide that exists in this country is widening.
ZAHN: But what you said is strikingly different from what Senator Kerry just said. He was playing the race card there, wasn't he?
OBAMA: Well, you know, what I think he is passionate about is making sure that all children have opportunity, a future for our kids.
ZAHN: But as you know, that is not the way those comments were interpreted, not only by conservatives, but even by people within his own campaign.
Let me try one more time. Is he or is he not guilty of playing the race card?
OBAMA: I don't think he's guilty of playing the race card. I think that using the term "Jim Crow" and "separate but equal" has powerful connotations beyond what he intended in that speech.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: Barack Obama's mixed ethnicity has played a powerful role in his life, but has it been a help or an obstacle?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: You're able to use it to strengthen you. Then you're in a unique position, because you can communicate with the majority, but you also have insight into what it means to be on the outside.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAHN: More now with Barack Obama. He is a 43-year-old Harvard-trained lawyer with an interesting family background.
His father was born in Kenya, his mother in Kansas. Obama is not only an Illinois state lawmaker and candidate for United States Senate, he also happens to be the author of the memoir, "Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: Let me ask you about your own upbringing.
OBAMA: Right.
ZAHN: We mentioned in the introduction that you were born of a black Kenyan father, a white mother from Kansas.
OBAMA: Right.
ZAHN: In your new book -- actually, it's not so new, but it's being re-released now that you're -- you're so famous...
OBAMA: Right.
ZAHN: You talk about the ambiguity of the world you lived in.
OBAMA: Right.
ZAHN: You were often described as perhaps the first black man that may ascend to the presidency of the United States?
OBAMA: Well, that's a little over the top at this point. I'm a poor state senator trying to make it to the United States Senate, but I think we have a good opportunity to do that.
ZAHN: But you're always categorized as black.
OBAMA: Right.
ZAHN: How do you view yourself?
OBAMA: You know, I've always been comfortable with describing myself as black or African-American, although since I wrote this book, "Dreams From My Father," that describes the fact that I have feet in many worlds, that it's not -- it's not something I view as in some way rejecting the white side of my family.
I've always viewed the African-American community and African-American culture as a hybrid culture by definition. You know, we're African; we're European; we're Native American.
And when I describe myself as African-American, what I'm embracing are a set of traditions and -- and struggles that I have had to confront in American society.
ZAHN: Given your mixed race, I'm still fascinated that you still identify yourself as a black American...
OBAMA: Absolutely.
ZAHN: ... in spite of your mother having been white. Why is that?
OBAMA: Well, proud of it. Because I think that, you know, one of the things I tell people is if I'm catching a cab right outside this office, the cabdriver doesn't go by and say, "Hey, there's a mixed-race guy." They say, "There's a black guy."
And there's nothing wrong with that, and I'm not ashamed of that. You know, I have been blessed to be part of an African-American culture that is part of the larger American story. You know, I draw on the stories and the songs. I attend church. I'm married to an African-American woman. I'm raising two African-American children.
I don't feel that that definition in any way excludes me from embracing and loving the white side of my family or embracing and loving the broader story of America. I think it's part and parcel of the same thing.
ZAHN: But with this meteoric rise that everybody is focused on, would you say being black has helped you, has enhanced your career?
OBAMA: You know, what I think it has done is it has given me a set of perspectives that I otherwise not -- would not have gotten.
I think that if you are lucky enough to survive some of the challenges and difficulties of being an African-American or a person of color in this country, or any minority group in this country, and you're able to use it to strengthen you, then you're in a unique position, because you can communicate with the majority, but you also have insight into what it means to be on the outside.
And I think hopefully that makes you more sympathetic, more empathetic to all people. Because you recognize that not everybody has my good fortune. There are other people who might be me if it hadn't been for a few lucky breaks. And that makes me a little more concerned about them and hopefully informs my politics and my writing.
ZAHN: Barack Obama...
OBAMA: Thank you so much.
ZAHN: ... a pleasure to meet you in person, a pleasure to have you with us this evening.
OBAMA: It was a great pleasure, Paula. I look forward to being back. Thank you very much.
ZAHN: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE) [...]
| Though we found ourselves in a room with a large television for most of yesterday, we weren't able to hear Paula Zahn's "Paula Zahn Now" interview when it was on
posted in articles on September 14, 2004 6:23 AM | t (0)
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