| Senator Obama’s responses | Senator McCain’s Responses |
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Three Wisest People
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| [1] Warren: the first issue is the area of listening. There’s a verse in Proverbs that says, "fools think they need no advice, but wise listen to other people." Who are the three wisest people you know in your life? And who are you going to rely on heavily in your administration? | [1] Warren: Who were the three wisest people that you know, that you would rely on heavily in an administration? |
| Obama: I love the ministries
that are taking place here at Saddleback. This is the second time I’ve
been here. The first time we had a wonderful time. I was going to say, you know, there are so many people that are constantly helping to shape my views and my opinions. You mentioned one person I’d be listening to, and that’s Michelle, my wife, ... who is not only wise but she’s honest. And one of the things you need — I think any leader needs — is somebody who can get up in your face and say: 'boy, you really screwed that one up; you really blew that.' [Warren: Your wife’s like that, too?] Yes, she is. So that’s very helpful. Another person in that category is my grandmother, who is an extraordinary woman. She ... never went to college. She worked on a bomber assembly line — during World War II when my grandfather was away — came back, got a job as a secretary and worked her way up to become a bank vice president before she retired. And she’s just a very grounded, common-sense, no-fuss, no-frills kind of person. And when I’ve got big decisions, I often check in with her. Now, in terms of the administration, or how I would approach the Presidency, I don’t think I’d restrict myself to three people. There are people like Sam Nunn, a Democrat, or Dick Lugar, a Republican, who I’d listen to on foreign policy. On domestic policy ... I’ve got friends ranging from Ted Kennedy to Tom Colbert, who don’t necessarily agree on a lot of things, but... who both, I think, have a sincere desire to see this country improve. What I’ve found is very helpful to me is to have a table where a lot of different points of view are represented, and where I can sit and poke and prod and ask them questions, so that ... any blind spots I have or predispositions that I have, that my assumptions are challenged; and I think that that’s extraordinarily important. |
McCain:
First one, I think, would
be General David Petraeus — one of great military leaders in
America history — who took us from defeat to victory
in
Iraq; one of the great leaders and I’m so proud to know him.
Fourth of July a year ago— Senator Lindsey Graham and I were in
Baghdad. 688 brave young Americans, whose enlistment had
expired, swore an oath of re-enlistment to stay and fight for
freedom. Only someone like David Petraeus could motivate someone like
that.
I think, John Lewis — John lewis was at
the Edmund Pettus Bridge — had his skull fractured; continued to
serve, continues to have the most optimistic outlook about
America. He can teach us all a lot about the
meanings of courage and commitment to causes greater than our
self-interest. Meg Whitman. Meg Whitman, the CEO of E-Bay. Meg Whitman, 12 years ago there were five employees. Today there are one and a half million people that make a living off eBay in America [and] in the world. It’s one of these great American success stories. And in these economic challenging times we need to call on the wisdom and knowledge, background of people like Meg Whitman who have been able to make such a great America success story part of the world’s folklore. |
The
greatest moral failure in your life
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| [2a] Warren: Let’s talk about personal life. The Bible says that integrity and love are the basis of leadership. This is a tough question. What would be, looking over your life ... would be the greatest moral failure in your life? And what would be the greatest moral failure of America? | [2a] Warren: We’ve had a lot of leaders because of their weaknesses, character flaws, stumbled become ineffective, are not even serving our country anymore. What’s been your greatest moral failure and what has been the — what do you think is the greatest moral failure of America? |
| Obama: Well, in my own life,
I’d break it up in stages. I had a difficult youth. My father wasn’t
in the house. I’ve written about this. There were times where I
experimented with drugs and I drank in my teenage years. And what I
trace this to is a certain selfishness on my part. I was so obsessed
with me and, you know, the reasons that I might be dissatisfied that I
couldn’t focus on other people. And you know, I think the process for
me of growing up was to recognize that it’s not about me. It’s about — [Warren: I like that. I like that.] It’s about ... absolutely ... but look, you know, when I find myself taking the wrong step, I think a lot of times it’s because I’m trying to protect myself instead of trying to do God’s work. [Warren: Yeah, fundamental selfishness.] And so that, I think, is my own failure. |
McCain: My greatest moral failing — and I have been a very imperfect person — is the failure of my first marriage. It’s my greatest moral failure. |
The greatest moral failure of
America
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| [2b] Obama: I think America’s greatest moral failure in my lifetime has been that we ... still don’t abide by that ... basic precept in Matthew that: 'whatever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me.' And that notion of — that basic principle applies to poverty. It applies to racism and sexism. It applies to, you know, not ... thinking about providing ladders of opportunity for people to get into the middle class. I mean, there’s a pervasive sense, I think, that this country, as wealthy and powerful as we are, still don’t spend enough time thinking about the least of these. |
[2b] McCain: I think America’s greatest moral failure has been, throughout our existence, perhaps we have not devoted ourselves to causes greater than our self-interest; although we’ve been the best at it of anybody in the world. I think after 9/11, my friends, instead of telling people to go shopping or take a trip we should have told Americans to join the Peace Corps, Americorps, the military, expand our volunteers, expand what you [Saddleback Ministries] are doing; expand the — create missions that you are doing, that you are carrying out not only here in America but throughout the world, especially in Rwanda, and I hope we have a chance to talk about that a little later on. And, you know, a little pandering here; the first words of your very successful book is “this is not about you”. And you know that really also means? Serve a cause greater than your self-interest. |
Example of where you went
against party loyalty,
and maybe even went against your own best interest, for the good of America? |
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[3] Warren: Can you give me an example of a time ... I’ve seen that a lot of good legislation gets killed because of party loyalty.
Can you give me a good example of where you
went against party loyalty and maybe even went against your own best
interest for the good of America?
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[3] Warren: A lot of good legislation dies because of partisan politics and
party loyalty keeps people from really ... putting
America’s best first. Could you give me an example of where you led against your party’s interest ... and really maybe against your own best interest, for the good of America? |
| Obama: Well, you
know, I’ll give you an example that, in fact, I worked with John McCain
on; and that was the issue of campaign ethics reform and finance
reform. That wasn’t probably in my interest or his, for that matter,
because the truth was that both Democrats and Republicans sort of like
the status quo. And I was new to the Senate, and it didn’t
necessarily then engender a lot of popularity when I started saying,
you know, we’re going to eliminate meals and gifts from corporate
lobbyists. I remember one of my colleagues — whose name will be unmentioned — who said: 'well, where do you expect us to eat, McDonald’s?' And I thought: 'well, actually, a lot of your constituents probably do eat at McDonald’s, so that wouldn’t be such a bad thing.' But I think that we were able to get a bill passed that hasn’t made Washington perfect but at least ... has started moving things forward. And, I guess the other example where — I’m not sure that this was more of a partisan issue but it was something that I felt very deeply — was when I opposed the initial decision to go into war in Iraq. That was ... not a popular view at the time. And I was just starting my campaign for the United State Senate. And I think there were a lot of people who advised me: 'you should be cautious.' This is going to be successful, the President has a very high approval rating, and you could end up — you could end up losing the election as a consequence of this. |
McCain: You know by a strange
coincidence I was not elected Miss Congeniality in the United States Senate this
year. I don’t know why. ... I don’t know why. Climate change, out of control spending, torture. The list goes on — on a large number of issues — that I’ve put my country first and I’ve reached across the aisle. But I probably have to say that one of the times that probably was one of the most trying was when I was first a member of Congress, and a new freshman in the House of Representatives. And [I was] very loyal and dedicated to President Reagan; who I still think is one of the great great Presidents in American history; who won the Cold War without firing a shot, in the words of Margaret Thatcher. He wanted to send troops to Beirut for a peacekeeping mission. My knowledge and my background told me that a few hundred marines in a situation like that could not successfully carry out any kind of peacekeeping mission and I thought they were going into harm’s way. Tragically, as many of you recall, there was a bombing in the marine barracks and well over a hundred brave marines gave their lives. But it was tough — that vote — because I went against the President I believed in, and the party that believed that maybe I was disloyal very early in my political career. |
What’s the most significant position you held ten
years ago
that you no longer hold today? |
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[4] Warren: A lot of
times candidates are accused of flip-flopping, but actually sometimes
flip-flopping is smart because you actually have decided a better
position based on knowledge that you didn’t have. What’s the most significant position you held 10 years ago that you no longer hold today; that you’ve flipped on, you’ve changed on because you actually see it differently? |
[4] Warren: What’s the most significant position that you’ve
held 10 years ago that you no longer hold today? I think the point I’m trying to make is that leaders are not stubborn; they do change their mind with additional information. So give me a good example of something that was ten years ago you said "that’s the way I feel about it" and now, 10 years later, it’s different. That’s not flip flopping; it’s just, sometimes, growing in wisdom. |
| Obama: Because I actually changed my mind. [Warren: You change your mind, exactly.] Well, you know, I’m trying to think back ten years ago. I think that a good example would be the issue of welfare reform where I always believed that welfare had to be changed. I was much more concerned ten years ago, when President Clinton initially signed the bill, that this could have disastrous results. I worked in the Illinois legislature to make sure that we were providing child care, health care and other support services for the women who ... were going to be kicked off the rolls after a certain time. It had ... it worked better than, I think, a lot of people anticipated. And ... one of the things that I am absolutely convinced of is that we have to have work as a centerpiece of any social policy. Not only because ... ultimately people who work are going to get more income, but the intrinsic dignity of work, the sense of purpose ... and the sense that you are part of a community because you are making a contribution — no matter how small — to the well being of the country as a whole. That is something that Democrats generally, I think, have made a significant shift on. |
McCain: Offshore drilling. We’ve got to drill now and we’ve got to
drill here and we’ve got to become independent of foreign oil. I know that there’s some here in
California that
disagree ... with that position.
Could I also mention, very seriously, about this
issue my friends, you know that this is a national security
issue. We’re sending $700 billions dollars a year to countries that
don’t like us very
much, that some of that money is ending up in the hands of
terrorists
organizations. We cannot allow this greatest transfer of wealth
in
history and our national security to continue to be threatened.
And Rick, I know we’ve got a lot of issues to cover but let me just say, at the town hall meetings that I have every day, the issue on people’s mind is energy. So I think if I could just take one — 30 seconds. One, we’ve got to do everything. We’ve got to do wind, tide, solar, natural gas, hydrogen cars, hybrid cars, electric cars. And we have to have nuclear power in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save on our energy costs. And, by the way, in case you hadn’t noticed it the French, 80% — we love to imitate the French — but 80% of their electricity is generated by nuclear power. If they can do it, and reprocess, we can too, my friends. And by the way, if you hadn’t notice we now have a pro-American President of France, which shows that, you live long enough, anything can happen in America. [Warren: Well, you just took —I had that question later on, but we don’t have to ask it.] |
The most gut-wrenching decision you’ve ever had to make
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| [5] Warren: What’s the most gut-wrenching decision you’ve ever had to make? And how did you process that to come to that decision? | [5] Warren: What’s the most gut-wrenching decision you’ve ever had to make and what was the process that you used to make it? |
| Obama:
Well, you know, I think the opposition to the war in Iraq was as
tough a decision as I’ve had to make, not only because there were
political consequences, but also because Saddam Hussein was a real bad
person and there was no doubt that he meant America ill. But I was
firmly convinced at the time that we did not have strong evidence of
weapons of mass destruction.
And there were a lot of questions that, as I spoke to
experts, kept on coming up. Do we know how the Shiites and the Sunni
and the Kurds are going to get along in a post-Saddam situation? You
know, what’s our assessment as to how this will affect the battle
against terrorists like Al-Qaeda? Have we finished the job in
Afghanistan? So I agonized ... over that. And I think that questions of war and peace generally are so profound. You know, when you meet the troops, they’re 19, 20, 21-year-old kids, and you’re putting them into harms way. There is a solemn obligation that you do everything you can to get that decision right. Now, as the war went forward, there were difficult decisions about, you know, how long do you keep on funding the war if you strongly believe that it’s not in America’s national interest? At the same time, you don’t want to have troops who are out there without the equipment they need. So all those questions surrounding the war have been very difficult for me. |
McCain: It was long ago and far
away in a prison camp in
North
Vietnam. My father was a high-ranking admiral. The Vietnamese
came and said that I could leave prison early. And we had a Code of
Conduct that said you
only leave by order of capture. I also
had a dear and beloved friend who was from
California, named Ed Alvarez, who had
been shot down and captured a couple years before me. But I wasn’t in good
physical shape; in fact, I was in
rather bad physical shape. And so, I said "no".
Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I’m very happy I didn’t know the war was
going to last for another three years or so. But I said no, and I’ll never forget sitting and my last answer, and the
high-ranking officer who offered it slammed the door, and the interrogator
said "go back to your cell, it’s going to be very tough on you now." And it was.
But [it was] not only the toughest decision I ever made, but
I’m most happy about that decision than any decision I’ve ever made in my life. Could I finally say: it took a lot of prayer; it took a lot of prayer. |
What does it mean to you to be a follower of Christ?
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| [6] Warren: ... Now, you’ve made no doubt about your faith in Jesus Christ. What does that mean to you? What does that mean to you to trust in Christ? What does that mean on a daily basis? I mean, what does that really look like? | [6] Warren: You’ve made no doubt about the fact that you are a Christian. You publicly say you are a follower of Christ. What does that mean to you and how does faith work out in your life on a daily basis? What does it mean to you? |
| Obama: Well, as a starting
point, it means I believe in — that Jesus Christ died for my sins, and
that I am redeemed through Him. That is a source of strength and
sustenance on a daily basis. I know that I don’t walk alone. And I know
that if I can get myself out of the way that, you know, I can maybe
carry out in some small way what — what He intends. And it means that
those sins that I have, on a fairly regular basis, hopefully will be
washed away. But what it also means, I think, is a sense of obligation to embrace not just words but, through deeds, the expectations, I think, that God has for us. And that means thinking about the least of these. It means acting, well, acting justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with our God. And that, I think, trying to apply those lessons on a daily basis, knowing that you’re going to fall a little bit short each day, and being able to kind of take note and saying: 'well, that didn’t quite work out the way I think it should have, but maybe I can get a little bit better'. It gives me the confidence to try things, including things like running for President that — where you are going to screw up once in a while. |
McCain: It means I’m saved and
forgiven. And we’re talking about the world. Our faith encompasses not just the
United States of America,
but the
world. Can I tell you another story real quick? The Vietnamese kept us imprisoned in conditions of solitary confinement or two or three to a cell. They did that because they knew they could break down our resistance. One of the techniques that they used to get information was to take ropes and tie them around your biceps, pull your biceps behind you, loop the rope around your head, pull your head down between your knees, and leave you in that position. You can imagine, it was very uncomfortable. One night I was being punished in that fashion. All of a sudden the door of the cell opened and the guard came in; a guy who was just what we called a gun guard. He just walked around the camp with a gun on his shoulder. He went like this and then he loosened the ropes. He came back about four hours later; he tightened them up again and left. The following Christmas, because it was Christmas Day, we were allowed to stand outside of our cell for a few minutes. In those days, we were not allowed to see or communicate with each other, although we certainly did. And I was standing outside for my few minutes outside of my cell. He came walking up. He stood there for a minute, and with his sandal on the dirt in the courtyard, he drew a cross. And he stood there, and a minute later he rubbed it out and walked away. For a minute there, there was just two Christians worshiping together. I’ll never forget that moment... |
At what point is a baby entitled to human rights?
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[7] Warren: Let’s deal with abortion. Forty million abortions since Roe v. Wade.
You know, as a pastor, I have to deal with this all the time, all of
the pain and all of the conflicts. I know this is a very complex
issue. Forty million abortions. At what point does a baby get human rights, in your view? |
[7] Warren: Let’s deal with abortion. I, as a pastor,
have to deal with this all the time, every different angle, every different
pain, all the decisions and all of that. 40 million abortions since Roe v
Wade. Some people who — people
who believe that life begins at conception — would say that’s a holocaust for
many people. At what point is a baby entitled to human rights? |
| Obama: Well, I think that
whether you’re looking at it from a theological perspective or a
scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity, you
know, is above my pay grade. But let me just speak more generally
about the issue of abortion because this is something I — obviously,
the country wrestles with. One thing that I’m absolutely convinced of is that there is a moral and ethical element to this issue. And so I think anybody who tries to deny the moral difficulties and gravity of the abortion issue, I think, is not paying attention. So that would be point number one. But point number two: I am — I am pro-choice. I believe in Roe v. Wade. And I come to that conclusion not because I’m pro-abortion but because, ultimately, I don’t think women make these decisions casually. I think they wrestle with these things in profound ways, in consultation with their pastors, or their spouses, or their doctors [and] their family members. And, so for me, the goal right now should be — and this is where I think we can find common ground — and by the way, I’ve now inserted this into the Democratic Party platform — is: how do we reduce the number of abortions? Because the fact is is that, although we’ve had a President who is opposed to abortion over the last eight years, abortions have not gone down. And that, I think, is something that we have to ... [Warren: Have you ever voted to limit or reduce abortions?] Well, I am in favor, for example, of limits on late-term abortions if there is an exception for the mother’s health. Now, from the perspective of those who, you know, are pro-life, I think they would consider that inadequate, and I respect their views. I mean, one of the things that I’ve always said is is that on this particular issue, if you believe that life begins at conception — and you are consistent in that belief — then I can’t argue with you on that because that is a core issue of faith for you. What I can do is say, are there ways that we can work together to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies so that we actually are reducing the sense that women are seeking out abortions? And as an example of that, one of the things that I’ve talked about is, how do we provide the resources that allow women to make the choice to keep a child? You know, have we given them the health care that they need? Have we given them the support services they need? Have we given them the options of adoption that are necessary? That, I think, can make a genuine difference. |
McCain: At the moment of
conception. I have a 25-year pro-life record in the Congress, [and] in the Senate. And as President of the United States , I will be a pro-life President, and this Presidency will have pro-life policies. That’s my commitment; that’s my commitment to you. |
Define Marriage
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| [8] Warren: Define marriage. | [8] Warren: Define Marriage. |
| Obama: I believe that
marriage is the union between a man and a woman. Now, for me as a
Christian ... it’s also a sacred union. You know, God’s in the mix..
But... [Warren: Would you support a constitutional amendment with that definition?] No, I would not. [Warren: Why not?] Because historically ... we have not defined marriage in our Constitution. It’s been a matter of state law that has been our tradition. Now, I mean, let’s break it down. The reason that people think there needs to be a Constitutional amendment — some people believe — is because of the concern ... about same-sex marriage. I am not somebody who promotes same-sex marriage, but I do believe in civil unions. I do believe that we should not — that for gay partners to want to visit each other in a hospital, for the state to say, you know what, that’s all right — I don’t think in any way inhibits my core beliefs about what marriage are. I think my faith is strong enough and my marriage is strong enough that I can afford those civil rights to others, even if I have a different perspective or a different view. |
McCain: A union between man and woman — between one man and one woman. That’s my definition of marriage. Are we going to get back to the importance of Supreme Court Justices, or should I mention it? [Warren: We’ll get to that.] All right. Okay. [Warren: Man, you’re jumping ahead. You know all my questions.] When we speak of the issues of the rights of the unborn, we need to talk about judges. But, anyway, go ahead. Warren: Let me just ask you a question related to that. We’ve got a bill right here in California, Proposition 8, that’s going on because the court overturned this definition of marriage. Was the Supreme Court of California wrong? McCain: I believe they were wrong. And I strongly support preserving the unique status of marriage between man and woman. And I’m a federalist; I believe that states should make those decisions. In my state, I hope we will make that decision, and other states — they have to recognize the unique status of marriage between man and woman. ... That doesn’t mean that people can’t enter into legal agreements. That doesn’t mean that they don’t have the rights of all citizens. I’m not saying that. I am saying that we should preserve the unique status of marriage between one man and one woman. And if a federal court — if a federal court decided that my state of Arizona had to observe what the state of Massachusetts decided, then I would favor a Constitutional amendment. Until then, I believe the state should make the decisions within their own states. |
Would you favor or oppose the federal funding of embryonic stem cell
research?
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| [9] Warren: What about stem cells? Now we’ve had this scientific break through of creating these plury potent stem cells in adult cells. Do we still need federal funding for research? Would you still support that for embryo stem cells? | [9] Warren: Another issue: stem cells. Now, we’ve had this scientific breakthrough of creating plury potent stem cells through adult stem cells. So would you favor or oppose the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research since we have this other breakthrough? |
| Obama: Well, keep in mind the
way the stem cell legislation, that was vetoed by the president, was
structured: what it said was you could only use embryos that were
about to be discarded, that had been created as a consequence of
attempts at in vitro fertilization. So there were very tightly circumscribed mechanisms that were permitted. I think that that is a legitimate, moral approach to take. If we’re going to discard those embryos and we know that there’s potential research that could lead to curing debilitating diseases — Alzheimer’s, Lou Gehrig’s disease — you know, if that possibility presents itself, then I think that we should, in a careful way, go ahead and pursue that research. Now, if in fact, adult stem cell lines are working just as well, then, of course, we should try to avoid any kind of moral arguments that may be in place. But I want to make a broader point, Pastor Rick, on an issue like stem cell research. I mean, it’s not like people who are in favor of stem cell research are going around thinking to themselves: 'you know, boy, let’s go destroy some embryos.' Right? I mean, that’s not the perspective that I think people come to that issue on. I think what they say is: we would not tolerate a situation in which, you know, we’re encouraging human cloning or in some ways diminishing the sacredness of human life and what it means to be human. But that in narrow circumstances, you know, there is nothing inappropriate with us pursuing scientific research that could lead to cures so long as, you know, we’re not designing embryos for that purpose. |
McCain: For those of us in the
pro-life community, this has been a great struggle, and a terrible dilemma,
because we’re also taught other obligations that we have as well. I’ve come down on the side of stem cell research, but I am wildly optimistic that skin cell research, which is coming more and more into focus and practicability, will make this debate an academic one. |
Does evil exist and if so, should we ignore it, negotiate with it,
contain it or defeat it?
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| [10] Warren: Does evil exist? And if it does do we ignore it, do we negotiate with it, do we contain it or do we defeat it? | [10] Warren: How about the issue of evil? I asked this of your rival in the previous thing. Does evil exist and if so, should we ignore it, negotiate with it, contain it or defeat it? |
| Obama: Evil does exist. I
mean, I think we see evil all the time. We see evil in Darfur. We see
evil, sadly, on the streets of our cities. We see evil in parents who
viciously abuse their children. And I think it has to be confronted. It
has to be confronted squarely. And one of the things that I strongly believe is that, you know, we are not going to, as individuals, be able to erase evil from the world; that is God’s task. But we can be soldiers in that process, and we can confront it when we see it. Now, the one thing that I think is very important is for us to have some humility in how we approach the issue of confronting evil because, you know, a lot of evil has been perpetrated based on the claim that we were trying to confront evil. [Warren: In the name of good?] In the name of good. And I think, you know, one thing that’s very important is having some humility in recognizing that, you know, just because we think our intentions are good doesn’t always mean that we’re going to be doing good. |
McCain: Defeat it. Couple points: one, if I’m President of the United States, my friends, if I have to follow him to the gates of hell, I will get Osama Bin Laden and bring him to justice. I will do that and I know how to do it. I will get that done. No one, no one should be allowed to take thousands of American — innocent American lives. Of course, evil must be defeated. My friends, we are facing the transcendent challenge of the 21-century: radical Islamic extremism. Not long ago in Baghdad, al-Qaeda took two young women who were mentally disabled and put suicide vests on them, sent them into a marketplace and by remote control, detonated those suicide vests. If that isn’t evil, you have to tell me what is — and we’re going to defeat this evil. And the central battleground, according to David Petraeus and Osama Bin Laden, is the battles — is Baghdad, Mozil and Iraq. And we are winning and we are succeeding, and our troops will come home with honor and with victory, and not in defeat. And that’s what’s happening. We have — and we face this threat throughout the world. It’s not just in Iraq. It’s not just in Afghanistan. Our intelligence people tell us Al-Qaeda continues to try to establish cells here in the United States of America. My friends, we must face this challenge. We can face this challenge and we must totally defeat it. And we’re in a long struggle, but when I’m around the young men and women who are serving this nation in uniform, I have no doubts. None. |
Which existing Supreme Court Justices would you not have nominated?
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| [11] Warren: The courts. Let me ask it this way: which existing Supreme Court Justices would you not have nominated? | [11] Warren: Which existing Supreme Court Justices would you not have nominated? |
| Obama: That’s good. That’s a good one. I would not have nominated Clarence Thomas. I don’t think that he ... I don’t think that he was a strong enough jurist or legal thinker, at the time, for that elevation. Setting aside the fact that I profoundly disagree with his interpretations of a lot of the Constitution. I would not nominate Justice Scalia — although I don’t think there’s any doubt about his intellectual brilliance — because he and I just disagree. You know, he taught at University of Chicago, as did I, in the law school. [Warren: How about John Roberts?] John Roberts, I have to say, was a tougher question only because I find him to be a very compelling person, you know, in conversation individually. He’s clearly smart, very thoughtful. I will tell you that how I’ve seen him operate since he went to the bench confirms the suspicions that I had, and the reason that I voted against him. And I’ll give you one very specific instance and this is not a stump speech. I think one of the ... most important jobs of, I believe, the Supreme Court is to guard against the encroachment of the Executive Branch on the power of the other branches. And I think that he has been a little bit too willing and eager to give an administration — whether it’s mine or George Bush’s — more power than I think the Constitution originally intended. |
McCain: With all due respect,
[I would you not have nominated] Justice Ginsburg, Justice Breyer, Justice Souter,
and Justice Stevens. [Warren: Why? Tell me why?] Well, I think that the President of the United States has incredible responsibility in nominating people to the United States Supreme Court. They are lifetime positions, as well as the federal bench. There will be two maybe three vacancies. This nomination should be based on the criteria of [a] proven record of strictly adhering to the Constitution of the United States of America, and not legislating from the bench. Some of the worst damage has been done by legislating from the bench. And by the way, Justices Alito and Roberts are two of my most recent favorites, by the way. They really are. They are very fine and I’m proud of President Bush for nominating them. |
Would you insist that faith-based
organizations forfeit the right
to hire people with compatible beliefs in order to access federal funds? |
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|
[12] Warren: The role of
faith-based organizations. A recent poll says 80% of Americans think
faith-based organizations do a better job at community services than
the government — helping addictions — you know — prisoner reentry, you
know, all the different homelessness, poverty, things like that. And
the Civil Rights Act of ’64 says that faith-based organizations have a
right to hire people who believe like they do. Would you insist that faith-based organizations forfeit that right to access federal funds? |
[12] Warren: Let’s talk about the role of faith-based organizations. There was a recent poll that came out, said
over 70% of Americans believe that faith-based organizations do a
better job at community services ... than the government. McCain: [those] Americans are right. Warren: You know, addictions, homelessness, poverty all of these — prisoner rehab, things like that. Now the civil rights act of 1964 allows religious organizations, not just churches, but faith-based organizations, to keep and hire the people that they believe share common beliefs with. Would you insist that faith-based organizations forfeit that right to access federal funds? |
| Obama: Well, first of all, I
think you’re aware, Pastor Rick, that I gave a speech earlier this
summer promoting faith-based initiatives. I think that we should have an all-hands-on-deck approach when it comes to issues like poverty and substance abuse. And as somebody who got my start out of college working with churches — who were trying to deal with the devastation of steel plants closing in the south side of Chicago. I know the power of faith-based institutions to get stuff done. What I have said is that when it comes, first of all, to funding faith-based organizations: they are always free to hire whoever they want when it comes to their own mission — who their pastor is, various ministries that they want to set up —but, and this has been a long-standing rule... [Warren: Like on Christian college, Christian university?] Absolutely. When it comes to the programs that are federally funded, then we do have to be careful to make sure that we are not creating a situation where people are being discriminated against using federal money. That’s not new. That’s a concept that was true under the Clinton administration. That was true under the Bush administration. There are — in 95% of the circumstances — it’s not an issue because people are careful about how they use the funds. There are some tough issues — 5% of the situations — where people might say, you know, 'I want to hire somebody of my faith for a program that is fully funded by the federal government and we’re offering services to the public'. And my — [Warren: For instance, like in relief, like in Katrina. If I took people to Katrina and I wanted to hire some people to do relief, if I took federal money to help in that relief, I wouldn’t be able to say: 'I only want people who believe like we do.' Well, you know, it’s one of those situations where the devil is in the details. I think generally speaking, faith-based organizations should not be advantaged or disadvantaged when it comes to getting federal funds by virtue of the fact that they are faith-based organizations. They just want a level playing field. But what we do want to make sure of is that, as a general principle, we’re not using federal funding to discriminate. But that is only when it comes to the narrow program that is being funded by the federal government. That does not affect any of the other ministries that are taking place. |
McCain: Absolutely not. And if you do, it would mean a severe crippling of faith-based
organizations and their abilities to do the things that they have done so
successfully. Life is full of anecdotes. ...and I’m sorry to tell you so many anecdotes, but I went to New Orleans after Katrina. The Resurrection Baptist Church was doing tremendous work with thousands of volunteers, I’m sure probably from here at saddleback, coordinating the efforts of thousands of volunteers, including [from] my own church, the North Phoenix Baptist Church, who came from all over America. And various authorities off the record told me, off the record, that they were doing so much more good than the government organizations. They said it was incredible and New Orleans could not have been on the path — and they’ve got a long way to go — on the path to recovery if it hadn’t been for the faith-based organizations who are still operating in New Orleans much to their great credit. Thank God. |
Do you
think better teachers should be paid better?
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[13] Warren: Okay let’s go
to education.
America
right now ranks 19th in
high school graduation. We’re first in
incarcerations. Eighty percent of Americans, a recent poll said, ... believe in merit pay for teachers. Now, I’m not asking do you think all teachers should get a raise. Do you think better teachers should be paid better, they should be paid more than poor teachers? |
[13] Warren: Let’s talk about education.
America
ranks 19th in high school graduations, but we’re first in incarceration. Everybody says they want more accountability
in schools. About 80% of America says they support merit pay for the best teachers. Now, I don’t want to hear your stump speech on education. |
| Obama: I think that we should —
and I’ve said this publicly — that we
should set up a system of performance pay for teachers — negotiated with
teachers. Work with the teachers, to
figure out the assessment so they feel like they are being judged fairly, that
it is not at the whim of the principal, that is it not based on a single high-stakes standardized
test. But the basic notion that teaching is a profession, that teachers are underpaid so we need to pay them all more and create a higher baseline, but then we should also reward excellence. I think that is a concept that all of us should embrace. |
McCain: Yes. Yes. And find bad teachers
another line of work. Can I just say choice and competition, choice and competition — home schooling, charter school, vouchers — all the choice and competition. I want — look, I want every American family to have the same choice that Cindy and I made — and Senator Obama and Mrs. Obama made as well — and that was: we wanted to send our children to the school of our choice. And charter schools work, my friends. Home schooling works, vouchers in our nation’s capital works. We’ve got thousands of people in Washington, DC, that are applying for a voucher system. New York city is reforming. I go back to New Orleans. They were — as we know — the tragedy devastated them. They now have over 30 charter schools in the city of New Orleans and guess what? It’s all coming up. It’s all coming up. It’s a simple principle, but it’s going to take dedicated men and women, particularly in the teaching profession, to make it happen. And by the way, here in — I won’t go any further — but the point is it’s all based, and it’s being proven that choice in competition for every American family. And it is the civil rights issue of the 21st century, because every citizens’ child now has an opportunity to go to school. But what kind of opportunity is it if you send them to a failing school? That’s why we got to give everybody the same opportunity and choice. |
Define "rich". Give me a specific number.
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| [14] Warren: Taxes. This is a real simple question: define "rich". I mean, give me a number. Is it [$]50,000, [$]100,000, [$]200,000? Everybody keeps talking about how we’re going to tax. How do you define that? | [14] Warren: On taxes, define rich. Everybody talks about, you know, taxing the rich and — but not the poor, the middle class. At what point — give me a number, give me a specific number where do you move from middle class to rich? Is it [$]100 thousand, is it [$]50 thousand, [$]200 hundred thousand? How does anybody know if we don’t know what the standards are? |
| Obama: You know, if you’ve got
book sales of 25 million and you qualify. I just want to... [Warren: Okay. All right. I’m not asking about me.] Look, here is how I think about it. Here is how I think about it, and this is reflected in my tax plan. If you are making $150 thousand a year or less, as a family, then are you middle class ... or you may be poor. But [$]150,000 down, you are basically middle class. Obviously it depends on [the] region where you are living. [Warren: In this region, you’re poor.] Yeah. Well, depends. I don’t know what housing prices have been doing lately. I would argue that if you are making more than [$]250,000 then are you in the top 3-4 percent of this country. You’re doing well. Now, these things are all relative. And I’m not suggesting that everybody that is making over $250,000 is living on Easy Street. But the question that I think we have to ask ourselves is: if we believe in good schools, if we believe in good roads, if we want to make sure that kids can go to college, if we don’t want to leave a mountain of debt for the next generation, then we’ve got to pay for these things. They don’t come for free. And it is irresponsible ... I believe it is irresponsible, inter-generationally, for us to invest or for us to spend $10 billion a month on a war and not have a way of paying for it. That, I think, is unacceptable. So nobody likes to pay taxes. I haven’t sold 25 million books, but I’ve been selling some books lately. So I write a pretty big check to Uncle Sam. Nobody likes it. What I can say is that under the approach I’m taking, if you make $150,000 or less, you will see a tax cut. If you’re making $250,000 a year or more, you’re going to see a modest increase. What I’m trying to do is create a sense of balance and fairness in our tax code. One thing I think we can all agree on is that it should be simpler so that you don’t have all these loopholes, and big stacks of stuff that you’ve got to comb through, which wastes a huge amount of money and allows special interests to take advantage of things that ordinary people cannot take advantage of. |
McCain: Some of the richest
people I’ve ever known in my life are the most unhappy. I think that rich is – should be defined by a home, a good job and education and the ability to hand to our children a more prosperous and safer world than the one that we inherited. I don’t want to take any money from the rich. I want everybody to get rich. I don’t believe in class warfare or redistribution of the wealth. But I can tell you, for example, there are small businessmen and women — who are working 16 hours a day, seven days a week — that some people would classify as, quote "rich", my friends, who want to raise their taxes and raise their payroll taxes. Let’s have — keep taxes low. Let’s give every family in America a $7,000 tax credit for every child they have. Let’s give them a $5,000 refundable tax credit to go out and get the health insurance of their choice. Let’s not have the government take over the health care system in America. So — so I think if you’re just talking about income, how about [$]5 million? So, no — but seriously, I don’t think you can — I don’t think, seriously that — the point is that I’m trying to make here seriously — and I’m sure that comment will be distorted, but the point is — the point is — the point is that we want to keep people’s taxes low and increase revenues. And my friend, it was not taxes that mattered in America in the last several years; it was spending. Spending got completely out of control. We spent money in ways that mortgaged our kids’ futures. My friends, we spent $3 million of your money to study the DNA of bears in Montana. Now I don’t know if that was a paternity issue or a criminal issue, but the point is ... it was [$]3 million of your money. It was your money. And you know, we laugh about it, but we cry — and we should cry because the Congress is supposed to be careful stewards of your tax dollars. So what did they just do in the middle of an energy crisis when in California we are paying $4 a gallon for gas? Went on vacation for five weeks. I guarantee you two things: they [Congress] never miss a pay raise and a vacation. And we should stop that and call them back and not raise your taxes. We should not and cannot raise taxes in tough economic times. So it doesn’t matter really what my definition of "rich" is because I don’t want to raise anybody’s taxes; I really don’t. In fact, I want to give working Americans a better shot at having a better life. And we all know the challenges, my friends. If I could be serious, Americans tonight in California and all over America are sitting at the kitchen table, recently and suddenly lost a job, can’t afford to stay in their home, education for their kids, affordable health care, these are tough problems. These are tough problems. You talk to them ... every day. My friends, we have got to give them hope and confidence in the future. That’s what we need to give them and I can inspire them. I can lead and I know that our best days are ahead of us. |
Right to privacy vs. right to national security
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| [Not asked of Senator Obama.] | [15] Warren: Now, we got a couple minutes left in this section. Here is a security question I didn’t get to
with Senator Obama. We didn’t have
enough time. When ... our right to privacy and our right to national security collide, how do you decide what takes precedent? |
| McCain: It does collide and there
are always competing priorities. We
must preserve the privacy of all of our citizens as much possible because
that’s one of the fundamental and basic rights we have; and, by the way, including a secret ballot
for union organizers — a secret ballot — not a ballot that someone comes around
and signs you up. That’s a different
subject.
But the point is: we have now had technological
advances over the last 20 or 30 years in communications that are
remarkable. It’s a remarkable ability
that our enemies have to communicate, so we have to keep up with that
capability. I mean, there is too many
ways and — through cyberspace and through other ways — that people are able
to communicate with one another. So we
are going to have to step up our capabilities to monitor those. Sometimes there are calls from outside the United States. Inside the United States there is all kinds of communications of every different kind. So you need Congress to work together. You need a judiciary that will review these laws that we pass. And, at the same time, it’s just an example of our failure to sit down, Republican and Democrat, and work these things out together — for the good of the nation’s security — instead of this constant fighting; which, according to our Director of National Intelligence — until we finally reached an agreement not long ago — was compromising our ability to keep America from attack. And so there is a constant tension. It is changing with changes in technology and we have to stay up with it. |
|
What’s worth sacrificing
American lives for?
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[15] Warren: I want us to talk about
America
’s
responsibility to the rest of the world. We are the most blessed nation in the world ... First thing, let’s just talk about war. As an American, what’s worth dying for? What’s worth ... sacrificing American lives for? |
[16] Warren: Let’s first talk about freedom and war. As an American, what is worth dying for and what is worth committing American lives for? |
| Obama: Well, obviously American
freedom, American lives,
America’s
national interests. You know, I was just with my family on vacation in Hawaii; visited the place where my grandfather is laid to rest — the Punchbowl National Cemetery — and then went out to the Arizona, out in Pearl Harbor. And you know, you’re reminded of ... the sacrifices that had been made on behalf of our freedom; and I think that is a solemn obligation that we all have. I think we also have forged alliances with countries, NATO being a prime example, where we have pledged to act militarily for the common defense. That is in our national interest and that is something I think we have to abide by. Warren: What would be the criteria that you would commit troops — to end the genocide for instance — like what’s going on in Darfur or could happen in Georgia or anywhere else? A mass killing. Obama: You know, I don’t think that there is a hard-and-fast line at which you say: 'okay, we are going in'. I think it is always a judgment call. I think that the basic principle has to be that if we have it within our power to prevent mass killing and genocide — and we can work in concert with the international community to prevent it — then we should act. Now, we have to do so — we have to do so — I think that international component is very critical. We’re not — we may not get 100% agreement, but... [Warren: ... go to war without U.N. approval?] Oh, yes, absolutely. Yeah. But I — but I — you know, I think you take an example like Bosnia, when we went in and undoubtedly saved lives. We did not have U.N. approval, but there was a strong international case that had been made that ethnic cleansing was taking place. And under those circumstances — when we have it within our power — we should ... we should take action. |
McCain: Freedom. Our national security. Our security as a nation. Wars have started in obscure places that have enveloped us. We also must temper that with the ability to effectively and beneficially cause the outcome that we want. In other words, there’s tyranny and there is tragedy throughout the world, and we can’t right every wrong, But we can do what America has done throughout our history, and that is: be a beacon of hope and liberty and freedom for everyone in the world; as Ronald Reagan used to quote: "a shining city on a hill." So there are conflicts that we can’t settle. The most precious asset we have is American blood and throughout our history Americans have gone to all four corners of the world and shed that blood in defense of someone else’s freedom. No other nation on earth has ever done that. But we’ve also succeeded in other ways. We won the cold war, as I mentioned earlier, without firing a shot because of our ideology; and that communism is wrong and evil, and we can defeat it just like we can defeat radical Islamic extremism. Can we talk ... about the latest in Georgia ? [Warren: Let me ask you this: what would be the criteria for which you would commit troops?] American national security interests are threatened. [Warren: I understand that. What about genocide in Darfur or the mass killings took place in Georgia?] Our obligation is to stop genocide wherever we can. We all know about Rwanda. No one knows that better than you and the Saddleback Church, who have been so active. By the way, Cindy was just there with Mike Huckabee and Dr. Bill Frist, and have seen what the women of Rwanda are doing. The women are taking charge of the future of Rwanda, because they are saying "never again". And they are doing an incredible job. Darfur — our most respected former Secretary of State, Collin Powell, called genocide some years ago. The question is: how can we effectively stop it? And obviously we’ve got to do more and we’ve got to try to marshal the forces all over the world to join us. I think one of the things we ought to explore more carefully is us supplying the logistics and equipment and the aid — and the African countries step forward with the personnel — to enforce a genuine cease fire. It’s a very complicated situation as you know, but we’ve got to be committed to never saying "never again" again. Never. [Warren: What about … Russia reasserting itself in Georgia and maybe now Poland. What’s happening?] I’m very saddened here to be with you and talk about a Russian reemergence in the centuries-old ambition of the Russian empire to dominate that part of the world; killings, murder, villages are being burned. People are being wantonly ejected from their homes; the latest figure is — from a human rights organization — 118,000 people from that small country. It [Georgia] was one of the earliest Christian nations. The king of then Georgia — in the third century — converted to Christianity. You go to Georgia and you see these old churches that go back to the fourth and fifth century. My friends, the President — the President, Saakashviliis — is a man who is educated in the United States of America on a scholarship. He went back to Georgia and, with other young people who had also received an education, they achieved a revolution. They had democracy, prosperity and a great little nation. And now the Russians are coming in there in an act of aggression and we have to not only bring about cease fire, but we have to have honored one of the most fundamental rights of any nation, and that is territorial integrity. ... the Russians must respect the entire territorial integrity of Georgia and there’s only 4 million people in Georgia, my friends. I’ve been there. It’s a beautiful little country they are wonderful people. They are suffering terribly now. And there’s two other aspects of this.... One of them: don’t think it was an accident that the ... Presidents of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Ukraine flew to Tbilisi to show their solidarity with the President of Georgia, because they all have something in common with Georgia: they lived under Russian domination for a long period of time. Second of all, of course, it is about energy. There’s an oil pipeline that goes across Georgia that, up to now, had not been controlled by the Russians. And, my friend, energy, the Russians are using is a tremendous lever against the Europeans. So keep them in your prayers. Let’s get the humanitarian aid as quickly as possible to them and send the message to the Russians that this behavior is not acceptable in the 21st century. |
Would you be willing to consider doing
some kind of emergency plan for orphans?
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[16] Warren: This one is
dear to my heart. Most people don’t know that there are 148 million
orphans in the world. One hundred forty-eight million kids growing up
without mommies and dads. They don’t need to be in an orphanage, they
need to be in families, but a lot of families can’t afford to take
these kids in. Would you be willing to consider and even commit to doing some kind of an emergency plan for orphans like President Bush did with AIDS, almost a President’s emergency plan for orphans to deal with this issue? |
[18] Warren: Most people don’t know that there are 148 million orphans in the world growing up without parents. What should we do about this and would you be willing to consider or even commit to something similar to the President’s emergency plan for AIDS which, he said, AIDS is an emergency at PEPFAR. Could we do a PEPFAR for the emergency plan for 148 million orphans? Most of these, they don’t need to grow up in orphanages, they need to be in families and many of those families could take them in if they had some kind of assistance. |
| Obama: I cheated a little
bit. I actually looked at this idea
ahead of time, and I think it is a — I think it’s a great idea. I think it’s something that we should sit down and figure out — working between non-governmental organizations, international institutions, the U.S. government — and try to figure out: what can we do? I think that part of our plan, though, has to be: how do we prevent more orphans in the first place? And that means that we’re helping to build the public health infrastructure around the world; that we are, you know, building on the great work that you and, by the way, this President, has done when it comes to AIDS funding around the world. I think, you know, I’m often a critic of President Bush, but I think the PEPFAR program has saved lives and has done very good work and he deserves enormous credit for that. |
McCain: Well I think we have to
make adoption a lot easier in this country. That’s why so many people go to other countries to ... be able
to adopt children. My great hero and role model, Teddy Roosevelt, was the first modern American President to talk about adoption and how important it was. And I promise you this is my last story: 17 years ago Cindy was in Dhaka, Bangladesh. She went to Mother Teresa’s orphanage. The nuns brought her two little babies that were not going to live. Cindy came home; I met her at the airplane. She showed me this 5-week old baby and said: "meet your new daughter". She’s 17 and our life is blessed. And that’s what adoption is all about. |
What do you think the
US
should do to end religious persecution around the
world?
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| [18] Warren: Religious persecution — what do you think the US should do to end religious persecution? For instance, in China, in Iraq and in many of our supposed allies? I’m not just talking about persecution of Christianity particularly, with the persecution around the world that persecutes millions of people. | [17] Warren: What would you do in your administration to end, to put pressure on the Chinese and Iraq and all the other ... so-called allies of ours that ... will not allow religious freedom whether it is Christian or any other faith? |
| Obama: Well, I think the first
thing we have to do is to bear witness and speak out and not pretend that
it’s not taking place. You know our relationship with China, for example, is a very complicated one. You know, we’re trading partners. Unfortunately, they are now lenders to us because we haven’t been taking care of our economy the way we need to be. I don’t think any of us want to see military conflict with China; so we want to manage this relationship and move them into the world community as a full partner, but we can’t purchase that by ignoring the very real ... persecutions that are taking place. And so having administration that’s speaking out, joining in international forums where we can point out human rights abuses and the absence of religious freedom, that, I think, is absolutely critical. Over time, what we are doing is setting up new norms and creating a universal principle that people’s faith and people’s beliefs have to be protected. And, as you said, it’s not just Christians. We’ve got to make sure — you know, one thing that I think is very important for us to do on all these issues is to lead by example. That’s why I think it’s so important for us to have religious tolerance here in the United States. That’s why it’s so important for us when we are criticizing other countries, about rule of law, to make sure that we’re abiding by rule of law and habeas corpus and we’re not engaging in torture, because that gives us a moral standard to talk about these other issues. |
McCain: The President of the
United States’
... greatest asset is the bully pulpit. The President of the
United States —
and I go back again to Ronald Reagan; he went to the
Berlin Wall and said "take down this wall" — called them an evil empire. Many said: "don’t antagonize the
Russians" or "don’t cause a confrontation with the Soviet Union". He stood for what he believed; and he said
what he believed. And he said that — to those people who were
then captive nations: 'the day will come when you will know freedom and
democracy and the fundamental rights of man'. Our Judeo-Christian principles dictate that we do what we can to help people who are oppressed throughout the world. And I would like to tell you that I still think that even in the worst places in the world today, in the darkest corners — little countries like Belarus — they still harbor this hope and dream: some day to be like us and have freedom and democracy. And we have our flaws and we have our failings, and we talk about them all the time; and we should. But we remain, my friends, the most unusual experiment in history and I’m privileged to spend every day of my life in it. I know what it is like to be without it. |
How do we speak out and what do you plan to do about slavery?
|
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| [19] Warren: The third largest and the fastest growing criminal industry in the world is human trafficking: $32 billion a year. A lot of people don’t know that there are about 27 million people living in slavery right now, many them in sex traffic, but in others. How do we speak out and how do you plan to do something about that? | [Not asked of Senator McCain.] |
| Obama: This has to be a top priority. And this is an area where we’ve already seen bipartisan agreement on this issue. What we have to do is to create better, more effective tools for prosecuting those who are engaging in human trafficking. And we have to do that within our country. Sadly, there are thousands who are trapped in various forms of enslavement here in our country; oftentimes, young women who are caught up in prostitution. So we’ve got to give prosecutors the tools to crack down on these human-trafficking networks. Internationally, we’ve got to speak out, and we’ve got to forge alliances with other countries to share intelligence, to roll up the financing networks that are involved in them. It is a debasement of our common humanity whenever we see something like that taking place. |
|
Tell me in a minute why you want to be President?
|
|
| [20] Warren: Tell me in a minute why you want to be President? | [19] Warren: You’ve got one minute to answer this one, that is: why do you want to be President? |
| Obama: You know, I remember what
my mother used to tell me. I was
talking to somebody a while back and I said: 'the one time that she’d get
really angry with me is if she ever thought that I was being mean to somebody
or unfair to somebody.' She said:
'imagine standing in their shoes, imagine looking
through their eyes'; that basic idea of empathy. And that I think is what has made America special, is that notion, that everybody’s got a shot. If we see somebody down and out, if we see a kid who’s — who can’t afford college, that we care for them too. And I want to be President because that’s the America I believe in, and I feel like that American dream is slipping away. I think we are at a critical juncture economically. I think we are at a critical juncture internationally. We’ve got to make some big decisions not just for us but for the next generation, and we keep on putting it off. And unfortunately our politics is so broken and Washington is so broken that we can’t seem to bring together people of goodwill to solve these common problems. I think I have the ability to build bridges — across partisan, racial, regional lines — to get people to work on some common-sense solutions to critical issues. And I hope that I have the opportunity to do that. |
McCain: I want to inspire a
generation of Americans to serve a cause greater than their self-interest. I believe that
America’s
best days are ahead of us, but I also believe that we face enormous
challenges, both national security and domestic, as we have found out in the
last few days in the case of
Georgia. And I want to ... make sure that everybody
understands that this is a time for us to come together. Throughout my life — from the time I was 17 and raised my hand and was sworn in as a midshipman at the United States Naval Academy — I’ve always put my country first. I put my country first when I had the honor of serving in the military and I had the honor of putting my country first as a member of the House of Representatives and in the United States Senate. America wants hope. America wants optimism. America wants us to sit down together. I have a record of reaching across the aisle and working with the other party — and I want to do that. And I believe, as I said, that Americans feel it’s time for us to put our country first; and we may disagree on a specific issue — and I won’t review them now — but I want every American to know that when I go to Gee’s Bend, Alabama, and meet the African-American women there who are so wonderful and lovely — an experience I’ll never forget. And when I go to places where I know they probably won’t vote for me; I know that my job is to tell them that I’ll be the President of every American and I’ll always put my country first. |
What would you say to people who oppose me asking you these questions in a church?
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| [21] Warren: What do you say to people who oppose me asking you these questions? | [20] Warren: What would you say to people who oppose me asking you these questions in a church? |
| Obama: These are the kinds of
forums we need, where we have a conversation. And I think based on ... these conversations the American people can make a good judgment. I mean, one of the things — if you are a person of faith like me — I believe that things will work out and we will get the President that we need. What you want, though, is just to make sure that people have good information; that they’re not just consuming negative ads or the kind of nasty tit-for-tat that has become so common in politics. I want people to know me well. And I want people — I’m sure John McCain feels the same way in that — if we are both known, and people know where we stand on issues, you know, I trust in the American people. They are going to make a good decision and we are going to be able to solve the big problems that we face. |
McCain: I say to them: that I’d
like to be in every venue in
America. This is an important — this is a very
important election. Our nation was founded on Judeo-Christian values and principles. I’m happy to be here in a church. I’m happy to be here in a place that, with your program such as PEACE, such as your help throughout the world, such as your outreach to so many thousands of Americans. I’m honored to be here and I thank you. |
What would you tell the American
public if there wouldn’t be any repercussions?
|
|
| [22] Warren: What would you tell the American public if you knew there wouldn’t be any repercussions? | [Not asked of Senator McCain] |
| Obama: Well, you know, what I would
tell them is that solving big problems like, for example energy, is not going
to be easy. And everybody’s going to have to get involved, and we are going to
have to all think about how are we using energy more efficiently. And there is
going to be a price to pay in transitioning to a more energy-efficient
economy and dealing with issues like climate change. And if we pretend like everything is free and there is no sacrifice involved then we are betraying the tradition of America. I think about my grandparent’s generation, coming out of the Depression, fighting World War II. You know, they’ve confronted some challenges we can’t even imagine. If they were willing to make sacrifices on our behalf, we should be able to make some sacrifices on behalf of the next generation. |
|
Thirty-Thousand.org |
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| Note 1: This transcript was derived from the “Certified Final Transcript” provided by the Saddleback Church and the transcript provided by Federal News Service. Discrepancies identified between these two transcripts were corrected by listening to the broadcast itself. The transcript above includes all substantive text relevant to the questions and answers only. For a complete transcript, including introductory comments and incidental interjections, see one of the transcripts indicated above. If you find any material errors in the transcript above, please contact me so that I may make corrections. (Quidam@Thirty-Thousand.org) Note 2: This transcript was edited and posted by Thirty-Thousand.org as a public service. Thirty-Thousand.org (“TTO”) is a non-partisan and non-profit 501(c)(3) organization which is not affiliated with the Saddleback Church or any political organization. |
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| * Revisions: 27-August-2008 correction: changed "told" to "to" in last sentence of Senator Obama’s answer #21 [Thanks to P.M.] | |
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency
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