Obama: My Cabinet Would Be Bipartisan

Oct. 29, 2008— -- With Election Day less than a week away, presidential candidate Barack Obama said if elected he would choose a bipartisan Cabinet and criticized John McCain's campaign's recent attacks on his economic plan.

Obama told ABC News' Charlie Gibson that he didn't have a list of people he wanted to bring into the government but said "I've got some pretty good ideas about the senior Cabinet of government officials that I think could perform very well for the country. ... I have a good idea of who the candidates would be."

Obama said he would reach across the aisle on a range of issues, from energy independence to health care to education.

"On a whole host of these issues, I think we need Republicans, not just as show pieces," Obama told Gibson. "In some cases, Republicans have good ideas. And, you know, I've always been more than happy to steal good ideas from whatever the source."

WATCH CHARLIE GIBSON'S INTERVIEW WITH BARACK OBAMA ON 'WORLD NEWS'

Obama told Gibson that his campaign was "not taking anything for granted" and that his "singular focus is winning this election," but also said that whoever wins needs to be prepared to "hit the ground running."

He said he would encourage Democrats to "draw the right lesson from any victory" and "come in with some modesty and humility" if they win.

In recent weeks, the McCain campaign has criticized Obama's tax plan as a socialist effort to redistribute wealth, but Obama told Gibson that his plan was "as American as apple pie."

"I want everybody to succeed," he said. "I want everybody to have the opportunity at grabbing the brass ring. And we need to grow our economy and expand the pie. So this notion that somehow I'm interested in punishing wealth or success is nonsense.

"There's no class warfare involved in that," Obama said. "That's just basic American common sense and fairness."