by Here’s part of the transcript from his interview with Linda Douglass of NationalJournal.com:
Q: But do you think that voters should be concerned about whether she’s telling the truth?
Obama: I think that the voters should be concerned that she is running the textbook, classic Washington campaign, which is to avoid giving clear answers and getting pinned down, for fear that somehow you’re going to be tagged, either in the primary or the general election. I think that’s an old way of doing business. I think that’s the kind of politics that has lead to gridlock and an ineffective Washington. That’s the kind of politics I want to change.
…
Q: And finally, you said some very interesting things to the crowd here in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, tonight. In answer to the question why you rather than Hillary, what is that argument?
Obama: I believe I can bring this country together in a way that she can’t. I think that half the country has a set view of her, and if we can’t get that half of the country engaged and involved in solving problems, they’re not going to be solved.
I have a track record of changing how business is done in Washington and pushing against special interests — something that she’s shown no interest in doing. And I believe that I’ve got a track record of being clear and consistent with the American people about how I would approach problems that she has avoided. And that sort of truth-telling, I think, is going to be important for the next president of the United States.
I also believe that I can be a more effective agent of change in the diplomatic sphere in repairing the damage that’s been done by George Bush, partly because I haven’t fallen in to some of the conventional thinking that Senator Clinton did, which led her to authorize the war in Iraq and to at least give George Bush the benefit of the doubt when it came to his approach on Iran.
Q: But you also mentioned you might change the image of the United States in the world in the talk that you gave tonight.
Obama: Well, and I believe that’s true. I think that the day I’m inaugurated, the world will look at America differently. America will look at itself differently. And that’s more than just symbolic, that is political capital that can be used to make America safer, and to restore its standing in the world.
Obama says he can unite the country better than Hillary can, something that may be true considering the depth of the distaste that many Americans have for Mrs. Clinton. But Obama is just as capable of dividing people, as when he said that drug laws were specifically aimed at inner city minorities. And while his plan to further reduce the U.S.’s nuclear capability might enhance our image around the world it would do so at the expense of our national security.
As I said earlier, I think Barack Obama is the wrong man for the job, or is at least running at the wrong time.
