Obama: Not about who’s ready but who’s right

AS Barack Obama faces the most crucial day so far in his presidential bid, he spoke about his record as senator, getting things done and what makes a good president.

Q: Isn’t it accurate for a fair-minded observer to say Hillary would be more ready on day one?

Obama: No. The question isn’t who’s ready on day one, but who’s right on day one. A mythology has been created that somehow, just by being there for eight years [in the White House as First Lady], she is going to be better prepared, better organised and exercise better judgment.

But I would put my judgments on foreign policy next to hers over the last four years on Iraq, on Iran, on how would she conduct diplomacy, on Pakistan. I would argue that reflects readiness, not the fact that you sat in the White House or that you travelled to 82 countries.

On domestic policy, the critical issue is the ability to mobilise the American people to move forward. The problem on healthcare is not the technical one — we all talk to the same experts. The question is who can build working majorities to push this stuff through. I don’t think any fair-minded observer would suggest that Hillary Clinton is best equipped to break us out of the political gridlock that exists in Washington.

Q: If elected, you would be getting there as a newbie. You’d have a very narrow window to succeed.

A: Sort of like this campaign. We had a very short window. One of the unfair comparisons has been to Jimmy Carter or to Bill Clinton at the beginning. The thinking is, if you’re an outsider, you’ll make a lot of rookie mistakes and squander the first 100 days. But one thing I’ve shown is, I understand Washington and I’ve got good relationships there.

Q: All good presidents had critical life experiences that helped them in the presidency. What do you bring?

A: I can understand people from different walks of life, see the best of them without accepting the worst in them and get them to work together. And that’s partly because of what I’ve had to do in my life. That’s what we need right now. Instead of thinking ideologically, I think very practically about what will get something done.

My relationships with the elder statesmen of the party are very good, even if they’ve endorsed someone else.

If I’m trying to move healthcare reform and Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Bill Bradley and John Chafee come to me with the possibility of compromising, I’m not going to tell them it’s my way or the highway.

Q: Would you have Republicans in your cabinet?

A: No decisions, but Dick Lugar embodies the best tradition in foreign policy. Chuck Hagel is a smart guy and has shown some courage, even though we disagree on domestic policy. Gen Tony McPeak, former member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, considered himself a Republican at the time George W Bush started the invasion of Iraq, and he’s now with us. We’ve got a lot of disaffected Republicans, some in power, some ordinary citizens, who we can reach. There were Reagan Democrats. I think there are Obama Republicans that we can pull in.

Q: What will you have accomplished at the end of eight years?

A: We will have ended the war in Iraq in an honourable and strategic way as part of a larger process of rebuilding our standing in the world. We will have passed universal healthcare and not only expanded coverage, but started on the road toward a more efficient system. And we will have a bold energy agenda that drastically reduces our emission of greenhouse gases while creating a green engine that can drive growth for many years to come.