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[www.apanicaway.com - It changed my life]
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David Letterman: ....much. First guest tonight is the democratic nominee for President of the US.
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Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome your senator for the great state of Illinois,
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Barack Obama.
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Come on out, son (?)
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[music]
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Barack Obama: Here we go.
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Thank you - thank you
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Letterman: How about that?
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Obama: That's a nice group.
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Letterman: the group is always a good group. Please have a seat.
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Obama: Boy! the band was cooking!
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Litterman: Yes, Sir.
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[bald man] Thank you, Mr Senator.
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Obama: The band was on top, I get orange behind me?
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Letterman: Oh, it's a big night. Let me ask you a question here:
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Have you ever actually put lipstick on a pig?
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Obama: You know, once the -
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Letterman: Oh Oh.
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Obama : - the answer would be No. But I think it might be fun to try.
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Letterman: Do you - I know the reaction to that was, you were overreacting. You stand by that?
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Obama: Absolutely. Look, this is a - if you - this is sort of silly season in politics.
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Not that there is a non-silly season, but it gets sillier.
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And yes, it's a common expression in, at least, Illinois. I don't know about New York City
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I don't know what you put lipstick on here.
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But in Illinois, the expression connotes the idea that if you have a bad idea,
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and in this case I was talking about John McCain's economic plans,
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that calling them "change", calling it something different doesn't make them better.
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Hence "Lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig",
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Letterman: Exactly. Now what I like about this scenario is, because they demanded - the Republicans demanded an apology.
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So that means there had been a meeting at some point, somewhere along the line
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Obama: All of them.
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Yeah, they got together and they said:
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"You know what? He called our vice-presidential candidate a pig."
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Well, that seems pretty unlikely, doesn't it?
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Obama: It does. Letterman: Yeah.
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Obama: But keep in mind that technically, she - had I meant it this way, she would be the lipstick.
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Litterman You say - are you - Obama: But now, we're
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Litterman: I don't know, you're way ahead of me.
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Obama: Yeah. The failed policies of John McCain would be the pig.
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Litterman: Now do you feel like, for the last week and 1/2, for the last two weeks, that the campaign
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Obama: I mean, you know, just following the logic of this illogical situation.
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Litterman. Following the logic, the fact that we are talking about this now -
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Do you feel that within the last week and 1/2 or so, that there has been
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- you've derailed a little bit and now you're campaigning against, not necessarily the Republican ticket,
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but to John McCaine, and not him, but to Sarah Palin.
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Obama: What - look, there is no doubt that she has been a phenomenon.
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I mean, as somebody who used to be on the cover of Time and Newsweek, you know -
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Litterman: those were the days - Obama: those were the days.
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I had a recent offer with Popular Mechanics, they'd make it a centerfold, with a wrench.
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But - look, she is on a wild ride and there is no doubt that she has energized the base.
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But ultimately, what we have seen over the last week, is a concession on the part of the McCain campaign
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that this election is going to be about change.
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You recall that for the last 2 years we've been talking about needing to change how Washington works,
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of how the country is managed, and people were saying: "No it's about experience - experience, experience, experience".
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And over the last week and half, I think they've recognized that now, the American people want something fundamentally different,
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and for a good reason, because when you travel, it doesn't matter whethere here in NYC or a tiny hamlet somewhere in the Midwest,
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what you find is, people are just having a tough time right now.
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The economy is not working for middle-class families, incomes have gone down,
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people don't have health care, you've got foreclosures all across the country, and so people want something different.
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And whoever makes the better case that we have had enough of the last eight years,
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we need something fundamentally new, whoever makes that case to the American people will be the next President.
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Litterman: You are campaigning now, aren't you?
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Obama: I am - I had to throw a low.
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Litterman: But now, Labor day week-end, we hear that John McCain has selected Sarah Palin
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and nobody knows, except maybe people living in Alaska, who that is,
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and we think - in the beginning we think: "Oh my God, this is the worst decision the man could make."
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And then, subsequently, it turns out to be a pretty good decision for the man, for the party, certainly for the ticket,
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and calculated: no question about it: calculated.
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And I am wondering: if he had picked Sarah Palin before you picked Jo Biden,
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is there a chance that maybe he would have selected somebody else, would that have affected your choice?
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Obama: You know, the way I thought about this was, who is going to help me govern?
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Who is the person I want with me in the room if we've got a big decision to make.
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Who is going to be able to give me good counsel, good advice, who's able to -
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maybe has some ideas I do not have, or give me a perspective that I haven't seen?
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And I think that nobody can do that better than Jo Biden,
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and I know what he cares about and what he stands for. I think he is going to be a great resource.
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Letterman. But then, when word came out that it was Sarah Palin, what was your personal reaction?
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What was the reaction of the folks around you?
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Obama: You know, we didn't know much about her, and I think that, obviously she is a skilled politician
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and, you know, she has energized their party.
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But what we, I think, are pretty confident about, we'll know if she does (doesn't (?)) more interviews with people,
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and talks too, about what her ideas are - I think that what we are going to see is
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that she shares John McCain's view that the policies of George W. Bush have worked pretty well, right?
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So, McCain has said, we have made great economic progress, the economy is fundamentally sound.
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You haven't seen any separation between them and what we have seen over the last 8 years.
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And so the bottom line is if you think the last 8 years haven't worked,
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if you think that the government can do a better job creating jobs, building the economy,
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making sure that kids can go to college, providing health care to people who don't have it,
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then it's hard to figure why you would want 4 more years of exactly the same policies.
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Letterman: We have - tomorrow is the 7th anniversary of the attack of the United States.
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And when we come back, I want you to tell us what you would have done, knowing what you know now,
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what you would have done had you been president then, what you would do if you are president now and we get another attack.
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So we'll be right back here with Senator Barack Obama.
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[music]
