Michele Bachmann: Transcript of ABC/Yahoo News Exclusive Interview

The candidate spoke about Obama, Herman Cain and her bid for the presidency

ByABC News
November 8, 2011, 2:06 PM

November 8, 2011 -- RON CLAIBORNE:We're live on ABCNews.com and on Yahoo News for an original series called Newsmakers. And joining me is Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and pr-- candidate for president, Republican nomination for president. I'm Ron Claiborne. And the first question to you, Congresswoman, is when did you first realize that you wanted to be president of the United States?

MICHELE BACHMANN:I think it was during the fight with Obama Care when I realized that the country was headed for a serious decline economically, and we needed to have someone with a strong backbone who would fight against Washington, D.C. and actually repeal Obama Care. I've-- I'm-- I've spent 50 years in the private sector. And I spent five years in Washington, D.C. fighting.

And what I saw is that it's very difficult to repeal something in Washington. But I also know that socialized medicine will be the final rock that could sink our economy. And so, I'm committed to the full scale repeal of Obama Care because it's gonna hurt a lotta people's lives. And I wanna turn that around.

RON CLAIBORNE:Okay, it's-- January-- 2013. You are the president of the United States. What is the first thing you do as president, the very first thing to try to get Americans back to work?

MICHELE BACHMANN:Well, let me-- let me set that table. Because I am president of the United States on January 20th, 2013. But I've also helped elect 13 like-minded Republican senators so that we can actually get something done. Because I'm very committed to doing that. That would give us a 60-member-- filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. And that's how we will actually repeal these bills. So, the very first thing I will do is repeal Obama Care so we can have better quality and access to healthcare. Then I will also--

RON CLAIBORNE:But-- but-- but Con-- that would take months. That would take--

MICHELE BACHMANN:No, no--

RON CLAIBORNE:--at least weeks.

MICHELE BACHMANN:--no, it won't at all--

(OVERTALK) MICHELE BACHMANN:

--no, it won't at all. Because I'll get elected-- and with my 13 exactly-- Republican senators-- and we will meet from election day until we actually have the inauguration day. And we will have the bills ready to go. And Congress actually goes in before the president is inaugurated. And they will pass the bill in the House and in the Senate. And I will take my oath of office, turn right around, head back to the Capitol and sign the paper that will repeal Obama Care. The reason why this is so important, Ron, is because the number one reason why employers aren't hiring right now is because of Obama Care.

That's according to a study by UBS. So, I will do that. But I will also repeal-- the jobs and housing destruction act-- it's also called Dodd-Frank-- that's killing people's access to buying a house to get credit. And it's killing small businesses' access to credit to grow their business. So, I'll get rid of both those. The other thing that I'll do is abolish the current tax code and put into a place a plan that is a much flatter system or lower taxes--

(RON CLAIBORNE: UNINTELLIGIBLE) MICHELE BACHMANN: --but also-- my tax system is called "Everybody Pays Something" be--

RON CLAIBORNE: And w-- I do wanna ask you that later--

MICHELE BACHMANN: Sure.