Barack Obama on Meet the Press: Part 2

By GottaLaff

Tom: Vice Presidential candidates? You need one with good national security credentials.

Obama: I made a pledge not to discuss this until I choose someone. Criteria: Integrity, independence, tell me when I'm wrong, who shares a vision of the country... to change politics and policies.

Tom: You pick one for votes in weak regions, or policy.

Obama: Someone who can help me govern, compatibility, shared vision, provide knowledge or expertise that is useful... we have a lot of problems, work to do. I want someone who will do some work with me.

Tom: Mike Murphy said Dems choose white male southern... True?

Obama: You can keep fishing... not gonna happen.

Tom: Hillary?

Obama: She'd be on anyone's short list, so yes, I can answer that one. [compliments]

Tom: You said we don't know what to do about Bill.

Obama: I want them both campaigning with me.. things get characterized... but I'm not gonna spill the beans here. I'd love him to campaign... effective in the primary.

Tom: Timing... next week are the Olympics. Wait till convention to announce v.p.?

Obama: We'll announce when we announce. What's important is the economy. On Monday I'm meeting with my economic advisors and we'll examine our policies [lists them]. That is what is driving people: worries, concerns about paying gas bills, food bills. We have to fundamentally shift economic policy from what we have.

Tom: Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, etc... Why should the taxpayers bail out speculators?

Obama: They shouldn't. Assistance should be focused on making sure we have liquidity in the housing market, not windfall to investors. They have 5 trillion $ worth of mortgages, so do we want to take that to the federal balance sheet? Complicated. Some made bad decisions, but will benefit, but many were not speculators, but in over their heads. We're better off helping them than have them foreclose and have property values go down. We need a floor in the housing market. Restore confidence, which affects businesses who need good credit.

Tom: High gas prices make us face energy issues ...

Obama: No easy answers... We should have been planning for this day over the last 20 years. I've always said, raise fuel efficiency standards, McCain opposed that. Going forward: Push to make cars much more fuel efficient, hybrid plug-ins... industrial use of oil should change... 15 billion $ a year toward new technology, like when Kennedy said go to the moon, we should cut our oil consumption drastically.

Tom: Race, an issue in this election.

Obama: Based on my life experience: profound changes since I was born. We still have work to do. There's still discrimination. Most Americans want to do the right thing. The biggest problem is dealing with the legacy of PAST discrimination: Wealth, income... Less assigning blame or rooting out active racism, but rather, figure out if we're willing to make investments to deal with past history. Fix schools, education, job retraining... and responsibility of black community, fathers reengaging with their kids...

Tom: Jesse Jackson.

Obama: I haven't heard from him. He used to preach similar issues, about the need for responsibility... it's not either or.

Tom: Finally, appearing in regular town hall meetings...

Obama: We have 3 debates scheduled... they take time. I had 22 of them, so I can say something about debates.. At a point, they become less of a serious exchange than competing talking points or press releases. We need some, but spend time talking directly to voters, and that's what I intend to do.