Obama disappointed in McCain language
Posted: Thursday, July 24, 2008 11:07 AM by Mark Murray
From NBC's Mark Murray
Below are some excerpts of Brian Williams' interview with Obama from Berlin, which will air later tonight on NBC Nightly News:
VIDEO: Watch portions of NBC's Brian Williams as he interviews Sen. Barack Obama in Germany. Obama talks about being pegged as the "riskier" choice for president and the need for international cooperation against terrorism.
Williams: I have to begin by getting your reaction to a piece in this morning's International Herald Tribune. It's by Elizabeth Bumiller. And it reads, "Senator
John McCain and his campaign have sharply stepped up criticism of Senator Barack Obama as a craven and naïve traveler to the Middle East, who, as McCain put it at a raucous town hall style meeting, quote, 'would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign.'" That's -- that's tough language.
Obama: Yeah, I-- I was disappointed by that language. You know, John McCain and I disagree on policy. You know, we disagreed on going into the war in Iraq. We disagreed, until recently, about the need to get more troops into Afghanistan. But I've never questioned-- that he wants to make America safer. And for him to suggest that I don't-- for him to suggest that somehow -- I'm less concerned about the safety of my wife and daughter-- than he is I think -- was -- was unfortunate.
Williams: Forty-five minutes in Ramallah. No electoral votes in Berlin. Is the trip worth it?
Obama: It is because I have firmly believed -- since the beginning of this campaign and -- for the last several years that we can't solve the problems we face in the United States alone. We can't solve the problems of terrorism without support from the international community. We can -- go after al-Qaeda as we have and we must. We can hunt them down. But we are gonna be more effective if we've got an international coalition. If we wanna pressure Iran -- something that has to be at the highest priority to back down from nuclear weapons -- then we've gotta impose very tough sanctions.
Williams: NBC News poll we released just last night, 55 to 35, you against Senator John McCain. American respondents are telling us they view you as the riskier choice for President. Do you understand that? To what do you attribute that?
Obama: Well, I do understand it. I'm new to the scene. John McCain's been around 25, 30 years in public life. I have -- just recently emerged in terms of our national politics. And so it's not surprising that people would say that -- the guy we're more familiar with -- is the less riskier choice. That doesn't answer the broader question, though, which is what do Americans think we need right now?
And can we afford to have -- four more years or eight more years of the same types of policies that we've had for the past eight? And in some ways, I guess that would be safe. It's the devil you know versus the devil you don't. But -- but I think the American people understand that we're in a -- a -- a time of profound challenge and that we've got to make some significant changes -- in how our economy works, in how our tax policy is structured, in our energy policy and our foreign policy if we're gonna meet those challenges.
