CBS News Election Night 2004 - Dan Rather interviews Barack Obama

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:04] Uh the Democrats obviously now face uh

[0:06] an extremely difficult battle to win the

[0:09] control of the Senate. Will any of the

[0:11] issues on the Democratic mustd do list

[0:15] get done if, as it now looks going to be

[0:18] the case, the Republicans control the

[0:19] Senate?

[0:20] >> Well, you know, my hope obviously is the

[0:23] Democrats can retain a slim majority.

[0:25] But my understanding of the Senate is is

[0:27] that you need 60 votes to get something

[0:29] significant to happen. Which means that

[0:31] Democrats and Republicans have to ask

[0:33] the question uh do we have the will to

[0:36] move an American agenda forward, not a

[0:39] Democratic or Republican agenda forward.

[0:40] And I think that when you look at issues

[0:43] like healthcare uh or the war on

[0:45] terrorism or the education of our

[0:48] children, we should be able to find some

[0:50] common ground and be as constructive as

[0:52] possible regardless of who's in power.

[0:55] >> Well, that's obviously the hope, but we

[0:57] heard a lot of talk along those lines

[0:59] after the last presidential election and

[1:01] it didn't work out that way. And again,

[1:03] coming back to the reality with the

[1:05] Republicans having control of the House

[1:07] and the House leadership being, if

[1:09] anything, more aggressive than the

[1:10] Republican leadership in the Senate, we

[1:12] get back to is it really possible for

[1:14] the Democrats to get anything done?

[1:16] >> Well, you know, the thing I'll note,

[1:17] Dan, is is that this past Congress was

[1:20] probably one of the least productive in

[1:22] recent memory. And I think it was not

[1:24] very productive because uh there wasn't

[1:26] a honest recognition on the part of

[1:29] those in control of the levers of power

[1:32] that uh it's possible for you to

[1:35] overreach and to alienate uh the

[1:38] opposition. So my hope would be that in

[1:40] this circumstance we recognize and this

[1:42] is certainly something that the people

[1:44] of Illinois said to me very clearly in

[1:46] my race. What people want is not a lot

[1:49] of slash and burn politics, but what

[1:52] they want are practical common sense

[1:54] solutions to the problems that we face.

[1:56] And I certainly would give that advice

[1:58] to if Democrats were in control to Tom

[2:01] Dashel in the same way that if Bill

[2:03] Frist is in control for the Republicans,

[2:07] you'll be the lone uh American of

[2:10] African uh heritage in the US Senate

[2:13] bound to place uh all kinds of

[2:15] expectations and responsibilities

[2:18] along with that. How do you feel about

[2:20] that? Well, you know, my first

[2:22] responsibility will be to the people of

[2:24] Illinois who are sending me there. And

[2:25] I'm a junior senator coming in making

[2:28] sure that I learn the ropes, that I

[2:30] understand uh how the Senate operates as

[2:33] an institution, and that I do my very

[2:36] best to deliver for the people of

[2:37] Illinois. But to the extent that I can

[2:39] serve a role in in framing the debate

[2:42] around issues that are important to

[2:44] African-Americans uh to help unify the

[2:46] country and heal some of the wounds that

[2:49] date back for centuries in this nation

[2:52] uh and to the extent that I can be a

[2:53] role model for those coming behind me,

[2:55] I'm happy to do that as long as I'm

[2:57] doing that in the context of serving the

[3:00] people of Illinois.