Transcript: Gibson Interviews Barack Obama

GIBSON: The kids at Bowling Green, I watched the debate with them last night.

OBAMA: Right.

GIBSON: And other kids that we talked to during the day. They said they're not talking about our issues.

OBAMA: Student loans.

GIBSON: Right. They're not -- they don't believe the money's going to be there to pay for their loans to get them through four years of college. And then on top of that, I said to them, well, if you don't have any faith in that, how many of you believe Social Security will be there when you get to be 65. Twenty-one kids, three held up their hand.

OBAMA: Yes.

GIBSON: That, again, is a -- is a great doubt of faith in the system.

OBAMA: Although here's what I'll say. I mean, first of all, we've been talking about student loans probably every day during course of this campaign. I mean, I've got a very specific plan to make sure that students are able to afford to go to college in exchange for community service or military service.

So we are going to make sure that every young person in America can go to college. They have a right to be worried about social security and Medicare because those entitlement program are going to be running out of money unless we make some fundamental changes. And those are going to be tough choices. You know, I have offered what I think is the best approach on Social Security, for example, which is raising the cap on the payroll tax, keeping the tax rate the same, but saying, you know, somebody like myself or Warren Buffet can afford to pay a little more in payroll tax to make sure the system is solvent.

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Medicare is a whole different problem. I mean, that is a big nightmare. Our health care costs are escalating so quickly that we may not be able to do anything about it. But one thing I've got say, though, despite the expressions of concern and skepticism on the part of young people, I wouldn't be sitting here a month away from the election with a pretty good shot at getting elected president had it not been for the extraordinary idealism and hopefulness of young people.

We have seen an outpouring of involvement and passion on their part that I don't think we've seen in a generation. And that makes me optimistic.

GIBSON: Change the subject for a moment. John McCain has unloaded on you in the last 72, 96 hours as has Sarah Palin. McCain is saying, essentially, we don't know who Barack Obama is, where he came from. I'm an open book, he's not.

OBAMA: Right.

GIBSON: Were you surprised, A, that he didn't bring it up last night at the debate and use that line of attack? And, B, since you must have prepared for it, what were you going to say?

OBAMA: Well, I am surprised that, you know, we've been seeing some pretty over-the-top attacks coming out of the McCain campaign over the last several days that he wasn't willing to say it to my face.

But I guess we've got one last debate. So presumably, if he ends up feeling that -- that he needs to, he will raise it during the debate.

The notion that people don't know who I am is a little hard to swallow. I've been running for president for the last two years. I've campaigned in 49 states. Millions of people have heard me speak at length on every topic under the sun. I've been involved now in 25 debates, going on my 26th. And I've written two books which any -- everybody who reads them will say are about as honest a set of reflections by, at least, a politician as are out there.

So, you know, I think that, you know, Senator McCain's campaign has been focusing on me primarily because they don't want to focus on the economy. And they've said as much. I mean, you've had their spokespeople over the last couple of days say if we talk about the economic crisis, we lose.

I mean, you can't be much more blatant than that. They want to change the subject. And I understand it because the fact is that John McCain has subscribed, for the most part, to the same economic philosophy as George Bush, the same economic philosophy that has governed over the last eight years and has helped to get us in this mess.

GIBSON: And, finally, she's come at you, Sarah Palin has come at you because of the Bill Ayers connection.

OBAMA: Right.

GIBSON: Are you going to have to address that again? How are you going to explain it? Have you had a continuing connection with it? And why didn't you just cut it off once and for all once when you knew?

OBAMA: Why don't we just clear it up right now. I'll repeat again what I've said many times. This is a guy who engaged in some despicable acts 40 years ago when I was eight years old. By the time I met him, 10 or 15 years ago, he was a college professor of education at the University of Illinois. And we served on a school reform board together, by the way, that was funded by Walter Annenberg, who had been an ambassador and close friend of Ronald Reagan. And so I have talked to him about school reform issues.

And the notion that somehow he has been involved in my campaign, that he is an adviser of mine, that he -- I've palled around with a terrorist, all these statements are made simply to try to score cheap political points. And, you know, the idea that the McCain campaign would want to make this the centerpiece of the discussion in the closing weeks of a campaign where we are facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and we're in the middle of two wars, I think makes very little sense not just to me but to the American people.

And if, you know, look, I can handle these attacks for the remaining four weeks, but it's certainly not serving our democracy right now. We need to be having a debate about how we're going to yank ourselves out of a very difficult situation. And that's what I'm going to spend my time talking about.

GIBSON: Senator, thanks.

OBAMA: Thank you, so much.

GIBSON: Appreciate talking to you.

OBAMA: Thank you.