'This Week' Transcript: Obama Senior Adviser David Plouffe

Obama Senior Adviser David Plouffe is interviewed on 'This Week'

ByABC News
January 17, 2013, 4:21 PM

NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2013— -- (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANOPOULOS (voice-over): Good morning, and welcome to "This Week" at the inauguration.

The second term.

OBAMA: I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear...

STEPHANOPOULOS: As President Obama prepares his inaugural speech...

OBAMA: My fellow citizens...

STEPHANOPOULOS: ... what comes next?

OBAMA: We're going to have to come up with answers that set politics aside.

STEPHANOPOULOS: A new spirit of compromise? Or more partisan confrontation?

OBAMA: They will not collect a ransom in exchange for not crashing the American economy.

STEPHANOPOULOS: We examine the challenges ahead with White House strategist David Plouffe and our powerhouse roundtable, with ABC's George Will, Matthew Dowd, and Cokie Roberts, plus former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm for the Democrats and former presidential candidate Rick Santorum for the Republicans.

Plus, how will the inaugural set the tone for the second term? We ask the star co-chairing the president's committee. Eva Longoria joins us live.

ANNOUNCER: From ABC News, a special edition, "This Week" at the inauguration. Reporting from the Newseum in Washington, George Stephanopoulos.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANOPOULOS: Hello again, and welcome to Inauguration Day. It is, in fact, today. The Constitution says a president's term ends at noon on January 20th, and the official proceedings have already begun.

Just moments ago, Vice President Biden took the oath at the Naval Observatory, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor swearing him in.

And just before noon, Chief Justice John Roberts will swear in President Obama, a small private ceremony at the White House in advance of tomorrow's public event.

About 800,000 expected right there at the National Mall tomorrow, far fewer than turned out four years ago for the first inaugural for President Obama, and everything just about set on the west front of the Capitol, where the president will deliver his inaugural address. Our powerhouse roundtable standing by to weigh in on what to expect in that speech and the second term, but first, we're happy to welcome back White House senior adviser David Plouffe to "This Week."

Good to see you, David.

PLOUFFE: Good to see you, George. Thanks for having me.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So just lay out the vision the president expects to deliver to the nation tomorrow.

PLOUFFE: Well, I think he is going to talk about how our founding principles and values can still guide us in today's modern and changing world. We do look at this and the State of the Union as a package, so I think in the inaugural, he's going to lay out his vision for a second term. The detailed blueprint and ideas will be in the State of the Union, so I do think you have to view these as a package.

He is going to say that our political system does not require us to resolve all of our differences or settle all of our disputes, but it is absolutely imperative that our leaders try and seek common ground when it can and should exist. That's going to be a very important part of the speech.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You've been with the president all through this journey, and I was struck by something that his biographer, David Maraniss, wrote about, the changes he's noticed and others have noticed in President Obama over the four years.