Barack Obama Interview: Complete Transcript

January 27, 2008— -- STEPHANOPOULOS: Congratulations, Senator Obama, on your victory. Does it feellike vindication?

OBAMA: Well, you know, it was a wonderful win. And the peopleof South Carolina, I think, were remarkable, not just in providing mea terrific margin of victory. But one of the wonderful stories wasthe turnout.

I mean, we actually had more Democrats vote in the Democraticprimary, or more individuals vote in the Democratic primary than inthe Republican primary. It was 200,000 more people voting this timethan last time. And I think that shows you the enormous enthusiasmyou're seeing, not only for change but also for the Democratic Partyright now.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And more voters, I think, voted for you lastnight than voted in the entire Democratic Party in 2004. Before thevotes were finally counted yesterday, President Clinton was asked whyit was taking both Clintons to handle you in South Carolina. Here'show he responded to our David Wright.

VIDEO CLIP B. CLINTON: Jesse Jackson won South Carolina twice in '84 and'88. And he ran a good campaign, and Senator Obama's run a goodcampaign here. He's run a good campaign everywhere.

STEPHANOPOULOS: The implication there is pretty clear: You'rethe Jesse Jackson of 2008.

OBAMA: Well, you know, Jesse Jackson ran historic races in 1984and 1988, and there's no doubt that that set a precedent for AfricanAmericans running for the highest office in the land. But, you know,that was 20 years ago, George.

And I think that what we saw in this election was a shift inSouth Carolina that I think speaks extraordinarily well, not just forfolks in the South, but all across the country. I think people wantchange. I think they want to get beyond some of the racial politicsthat, you know, has been so dominant in the past.

We're very encouraged as we go to the February 5th states.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you think President Clinton was engaging inracial politics there?

OBAMA: Well, you know, I think that that's his frame ofreference was the Jesse Jackson races. That's when, you know, he wasactive and involved and watching what was going to take place in SouthCarolina. I think that a lot of South Carolinians looked at itthrough a different lens.

And certainly our campaign was confident that if we talked aboutthe things that people are really trying to deal with on a day-to-daybasis. If we were talking about how to make sure everybody has healthcare that they can afford, how people are going to be able to go tocollege, making sure that people are able to stay in their homes inthe face of this subprime lending crisis and the larger credit crunchthat we're seeing.

As long as we were focused on those issues, we thought thosewould transcend the sort of racial divisions that we've seen in thepast.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But several in the Clinton camp say that it wasyour campaign that was playing the race card throughout this primary.They point to Dick Harpootlian, one of your major supporters in SouthCarolina, who said that the Clinton campaign was reminiscent of LeeAtwater.

They point to the comments of one of your top advisers, SteveHildebrand, who said that the Clintons have always put people in abox.

STEPHANOPOULOS: They look at everything through racial lines,gender lines, geographic lines. They tend to segment people.

They say that it was your campaign playing the race card.

OBAMA: George, I'm not going to continue sort of the tit-for-tat. I think that the results yesterday spoke for themselves, thatpeople wanted to move beyond some of these old arguments, and theywant to look forward to figure out how we pull the country togetherand move forward, and that's what we're going to do during theremainder of this campaign.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You made that point last night in your victoryspeech as well. You pretty directly said you wanted to move beyondthe Clinton brand of politics, without saying the Clintons by name. Iwant to show voters some of what you said last night.

VIDEO CLIPOBAMA: We're up against decades of bitter partisanship thatcaused politicians to demonize their opponents instead of comingtogether to make college affordable or energy cleaner. It's the kindof partisanship where you're not even allowed to say that a Republicanhad an idea, even if it's one you never agreed with.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You also said that you're up against the ideathat it's acceptable to say anything or do anything. Is that what youthink the Clintons were doing in South Carolina? And you also usedthe word demonize there. Were they trying to demonize you?

OBAMA: No, I don't think they were trying to demonize me, but Ido think that there is a certain brand of politics that we've becomeaccustomed to, and that the Republican Party had perfected and wasoften directed against the Clintons, but that all of us had becomecomplicit in, where we basically think anything is fair game.

And you know, during the course of this campaign, I've said veryclearly, I want to run a positive campaign. But I think it'simportant for all of us to try to talk about policies that areactually going to make a difference in the lives of ordinary people.And as I traveled around South Carolina, whether I was talking toveterans who weren't getting their benefits or I was talking tomothers who couldn't get health care for their kids, they are eagerand anxious to make sure their problems are solved. And that is the kind of approach that we want to take, and Ithink that's where the Democratic Party should go if we want to win inNovember.