TRANSCRIPT: Sen. John Kerry Discusses Obama Endorsement

December 13, 2007— -- STEPHANOPOULOS: Good morning, everyone.

Since his surprise loss to Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire,Barack Obama has picked up a string of high-powered endorsements,topped by our headliner this morning, the Democrats' nominee in 2004,John Kerry. Welcome back to "This Week."

KERRY: Glad to be here.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So you have longstanding political ties to theClintons. Of course, you picked John Edwards as your running mate in2004. Why Barack Obama now?

KERRY: Because I think the times demand real change. I knowthat word's getting overused, but it's a reality.

I believe that Barack Obama has the ability to be atransformational leader.

STEPHANOPOULOS: What does that mean?

KERRY: It means that there are big shifts, tectonic shifts inAmerican politics. Whether it was Reagan, Kennedy, Roosevelt, thereare moments where America is ready to move in a different direction.

I believe this is one of those moments.

If you go back, George, to the end of my campaign at FaneuilHall, I talked of the conversation I had with President Bush at theend. And I warned the president, and I said this at that moment, ofthe division in our country, the desperate need of people for unityand of trying to come together in a different way.

And I really believed that as a result, maybe there would be amoment of healing for the country, of a better politics.

It didn't happen. It's gotten worse. This city is worse than Ihave ever seen it in all the years that I've been here.

And I think we need a fundamental break with the past.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And Hillary Clinton can't be that fundamentalbreak?

KERRY: Well, she might be able to be, but I believe that BarackObama has the better opportunity to be. I think that he bringssomething special to this race.

First of all, leadership -- and I'm confident your next guest,Newt Gingrich, will echo this -- requires the ability to inspire, theability to create a movement, the ability to mobilize people aroundideas. I think Barack Obama is showing the ability to do that and hasshown the ability to do that.

Remember, when Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Bill, thepen he gave, the first pen, was to Martin Luther King.

In 1970, when I was first involved in Earth Day, something somepeople scoff at today, but 20 million Americans came out on one singleday and said, we're tired of living next to toxic waste sites. We'retired of seeing the Cuyahoga River burn. And that movement thentargeted 12 congressmen -- they were labeled the Dirty Dozen -- someof them were beaten. And the result was, we passed the Clean Air Act,we passed the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the MarineMammal Protection Act. We created an Environmental Protection Agency,which a president, Nixon, was forced to sign into law.

I believe that Barack Obama has the ability to inspire hope andto -- to find our aspirations as a nation in a way that reaches notonly Americans, but reaches the world.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You made an artful reference to Martin LutherKing and Lyndon Johnson. Senator Clinton got into a little bit oftrouble this week where she seemed to downplay Martin Luther King'scontribution at the expense -- I mean, enhance Lyndon Johnson'sreputation at the expense of Martin Luther King. Here's what shesaid.

And yesterday, she said that the Obama campaignwas distorting those words. She blamed the Obama campaign.

Does the Obama campaign owe Senator Clinton anapology?

KERRY: George, I don't know what the back/forth has been, andI'm not here to get in between, you know, the sort of two campaignsand how they're interpreting that.