Barack Obama On The Road Ahead
One day after Barack Obama made history by announcing he'd secured enough delegates to be the Democratic nominee for president, CBS News anchor Katie Couric talks with the Illinois senator about his plans to unite the party … and his strategy to take on Republican nominee John McCain.
What follows is a partial transcript of the interview.
Couric In our latest poll, 59 percent of Democratic primary voters, including 46 percent of your voters, think … you should select Sen. Clinton to be your running mate. So, in the spirit of Kennedy picking Johnson, and Reagan choosing Bush, why not pick Sen. Clinton? And please don't tell me it's premature to ask that question.
Obama: Well, it's not premature to ask. It's premature to answer (laughter), because … literally got the nomination last night. So we're gonna go through a process. We've got a committee that's gonna go through all the names. You know, the truth is that I haven't had enough time to think through … how we want to approach … the selection process entirely.
But it's gonna be deliberate. I this is an important decision. It's not one that I take lightly.
It's not one that you want to make in the heat of the moment right after you got out of a nomination. So we're gonna take our time. Sen. Clinton would be on anybody's short list, obviously.
Couric: So you're not ruling her out.
Obama: No. But what I'm saying … is that we're gonna go through a deliberate process. And think this thing through.
Couric: As you know, a lot of it is about chemistry. So, just now, sitting here, talking about it, do you think you're chemically compatible?
To view the entire interview, click on the player below:
To see the CBS Evening News piece, click below:
Couric appeared on The Early Show and introduced a condensed version of the interview. She then talked with Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith about what she took from her interview of Obama.
To see that segment, click on the player below: