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'Meet the Press' transcript for March 9, 2008
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 Netcast March 9: An exclusive debate: Hillary Clinton supporter Gov. Ed Rendell, D-Pa., squares off against Barack Obama supporter and former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., on who is best positioned to win the Democratic nomination. Then a political round table on Decision ’08 with Dan Balz, Ron Brownstein, John Harwood and Gwen Ifill. |
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MR. RUSSERT: It is interesting in the open seat, Dennis Hastert's Congressional seat in Illinois yesterday, the Democrat won, it's a seat 2-to-1 Republican. The Obama people are saying Obama spent a lot of time campaigning for this, a new congressman, that they used a television ad. And yet, when I said, "Did you really win the seat?" The Obama campaign said, "We just won another superdelegate." So it's all local, Dan.
MR. BALZ: All politics is local.
MR. RUSSERT: Dan Balz, this conversation I had with Governor Rendell into Gwen's point, if the Clinton campaign is trying to put a question mark over Barack Obama's head--"Is he ready?"--and yet still promote him as vice president, how do you do that?
MR. BALZ: Well, it's a very tricky thing, as, as Governor Rendell showed when you asked him those questions. It's a little difficult to make the argument that he's not ready and then say he ought to be vice president if she's the nominee. But, look, it's, it's clear that in Texas and Ohio, those arguments work. That red phone ad, that 3 a.m. phone ad, certainly had an impact in Texas. It raised questions about Senator Obama. It does go to a basic question that people have had about him from the beginning of the race, "How ready is he to step in as president?" He has shown himself in this campaign to be a very good candidate, and that is one measure that people take in terms of deciding is somebody tough enough, strong enough, resilient enough, smart enough to be able to handle the pressures of the presidency? But it's certainly an argument that she will make. What--as Gwen said, what the Obama campaign is going to try to do is raise doubts about just how qualified is she. What is her foreign policy experience? This is a line that's coming out of the Obama campaign very consistently in the last few days. Look...
MS. IFILL: And how transparent is she really?
MR. BALZ: That's right.
MR. RUSSERT: And to that, here's the centerpiece of the discussion the last couple of days. First was this headline in The Scotsman newspaper, "Hillary's a Monster." And here was the quote, "She's a monster, too--that's off the record--she is stooping to anything. The amount of deceit she has put forward is really unattractive." That was Samantha Power, chief foreign policy adviser to Barack Obama. She resigned.
Then we had the exchange over Hillary Clinton's tax returns. This was Senator Obama on his campaign airplane. Let's watch.
(Videotape, February 7, 2008)
SEN. OBAMA: I'll just say that I will--I've released my tax returns. That's been a policy I've maintained consistently. I think the American people deserve to know, you know, where you get your income from.
(End videotape)
MR. RUSSERT: To that request from that Obama campaign was this response from the Clinton campaign.
(Audiotape, March 6, 2008)
MR. HOWARD WOLFSON: I, for one, do not believe that imitating Ken Starr is the way to win a Democratic primary election for president.
(End audiotape)
MR. RUSSERT: John.
MR. HARWOOD: Well, look. On Samantha Power, that reflects the genuine feelings of a lot of the Obama team. They think that Hillary Clinton has played below the belt. They were on the verge of winning; it was taken away from them. They're very frustrated by that.
With regard to Howard, you know, that strong language is part of their attempt to put pressure on Obama, to try to draw the contrast as sharply as they can and, and say that these ethics offensives from the Barack Obama team are illegitimate. Strong words in a campaign. Unfortunate for Samantha Power that she's forced out of the campaign for something that is--was hyperbolic and...
MR. RUSSERT: But to raise Ken Starr, probably helpful in a Democratic primary because he was not particularly popular.
MR. HARWOOD: Sure.
MR. RUSSERT: But in a general election...
MS. IFILL: Except, except for, except for a small problem that a lot of these new voters don't really have the scars over--the healed-over scabs over Ken Starr that maybe some people who lived through a lot of this did.
MR. BROWNSTEIN: And they're not voting for Clinton, anyway.
MS. IFILL: And they're not--that's...
MR. BROWNSTEIN: They--I mean...
MS. IFILL: Well, no, that's not true, actually. A lot of new voters are voting...
MR. BROWNSTEIN: Well, but there, there are. But the, the...
MS. IFILL: But, but, but--let me just finish the thought. I, I think that one of the things that's interesting that's happening with this is that--the, the Samantha Power thing, the monster thing was a, a one-day dustup. She, she did lose the gig. But the truth is, what they were--what the Clinton people really seized on was this--something else she said to the BBC, which is the idea that maybe he wouldn't withdraw troops as he has promised. And they were able to leap on that and say that's part of a theme, he isn't what you think he is.
MR. RUSSERT: Let, let's, let's go to that graphic, we have it. Samantha Power, her comments on Iraq. Then I want to show you something else, someone else who briefed Senator Clinton said. But first, here's Samantha Power on Iraq: "You can't make a commitment in March of 2008 about what circumstances are going to be like in January 2009. [Obama] will of course not rely upon some plan that he's crafted as a presidential candidate or as a U.S. senator. He'll rely upon a plan--an operational plan--that he pulls together, in consultation with people who are on the ground, to whom he doesn't have daily access now."
And the Obama people responded by talking about this article in The New York Sun about Jack Keane, who was advising Hillary--not--excuse me, not advising, briefing Hillary Clinton. "A retired four-star general, Jack Keane, said when he briefed Mrs. Clinton in late 2006 and January 2007 on the counteroffensive strategy known as the surge, she `generally supported the surge strategy in the sense she wanted it to succeed but she was skeptical about its chances. I have no doubts whatsoever that if she were president in January '09 she would not act irresponsibly and issue orders to conduct an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, regardless of the consequences, and squander the gains that have been made.'"
So both campaigns are pointing to the other, saying, "They're not really serious about an immediate withdrawal."
MS. IFILL: It, it's true. And, and, and the Obama campaign, they admit that they have to stop making so many unforced errors, which is also true. But, but I--what they--I find it interesting when both candidates turn this debate back to Iraq, as--are they paying attention to the economy and the fact that 63,000 jobs were lost on Friday? And the polls would show that is number one and two, health care and the economy. It's understandable why the Obama people think there is some gain in reminding people that she voted for the war, but I'm beginning to wonder that, absent any new bad news out of Iraq, that is something that is useful.
MR. BALZ: Yeah. But I think that--I mean, I think certainly the Clinton campaign is very, very focused on the economy. It, it's interesting that the, the 3 a.m. telephone ad ran only in Texas.
MS. IFILL: Yeah.
MR. BALZ: They decided that the economy was such a dominant issue in, in Ohio...
MR. HARWOOD: Yes.
MR. BALZ: ...they did not want to bring that issue directly in, they didn't want to spend money in, in Ohio.
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MR. BROWNSTEIN: And even the Iraq dustup with, with Obama, they tried to tie it to the NAFTA question from last week about whether he was sending a different signal to Canada privately than he--what he was saying publicly, and all sort of adding up to, you know, do you really know who he is? Can you really--can you really trust him to keep his commitments? Samantha Power, brilliant journalist, fell victim to Michael Kinsley's law of gaffes. You know, in Washington a gaffe is saying what you really believe. And, and, and this is, as, as, you know, as I was saying before, I mean, this is kind of a nightmare scenario for Democrats, which is that it kind of goes in this direction for three months. I tend to think it'll calm down. The history of this campaign is it ratchets up and then they back off.
MS. IFILL: Mm-hmm.
MR. BROWNSTEIN: Last week you were in a position where Hillary Clinton literally had her back against the wall. I mean, I was down in San Antonio at the Alamo, you know. I mean, it was--that's the way it felt. And Obama, of course, had the chance to end the campaign. Now that opportunity isn't there for a while, and you would think the party leaders would be sending the message informally, "Tone this down. You're going--this is going to go on for a while."
MR. RUSSERT: I think...
MR. HARWOOD: Well, they are sending that message. Nancy Pelosi met with representatives of the Clinton campaign, chided them this week for that 3 a.m. ad. She didn't like that at all. And the Clinton people said, "We don't think he's been vetted. We're going to keep doing it."
But I think one reason it may tamp down somewhat is that in the Iraq dustup that we just talked about and NAFTA, they're both cases of fights that look big over something where they essentially have the same position.
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