'A Great Hunger for Change'
Amid his deliberations on whether to run for president, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama talked by phone with U.S. News Chief White House Correspondent Kenneth T. Walsh. He discussed politics, policy, and what he might bring to the presidential race, and he said the excitement he's generating is linked to a pervasive desire for a new politics of hope, reconciliation, and fresh ideas. Excerpts:
What are you learning about the mood of Americans during your travels around the country? I think there is a great hunger for change in the country–and not just policy change. ... What I also think they are looking for is change in tone and a return to some notion of the common good and some sense of cooperation, of pragmatism over ideology. I'm a stand-in for that right now. I'm not the only one. There's Deval Patrick in Massachusetts, Brian Schweitzer in Montana, Eliot Spitzer in New York [all Democratic governors]. ... There is something new that is out there, but it hasn't fully expressed itself.
How much of the current ferment is due to "baby boomer fatigue"? There is a weariness with the ideological battles and cultural wars of the past. Too much of our policy is framed in terms of the debates of the Sixties.
What's gone wrong with the Bush presidency? This has been the most ideological administration in my lifetime, even more so than the Reagan administration. The Reagan administration, despite the rhetoric, could be pragmatic.
You have strongly opposed the war in Iraq. Why? It's a classic example of ideology trumping reality. The country has now rejected that approach to governance.
How do you explain Bush's failure so far to win congressional approval for overhauling Social Security? The Bush administration insisted on privatization as the only approach to reform and put it forward as the only [alternative], and as a result we have nothing.
If you run for president, you will be subject to attacks on your background and views, even though you are calling for a more positive brand of politics. How do you react to that prospect? I have confidence in the American people, and if I have the opportunity to speak to them, they will look beyond the negative. ... When I came to Chicago 20 years ago, I didn't know a single person. I didn't come from a political family. Now I'm in the U.S. Senate. Chicago is considered a tough political town, and I succeeded.
The biggest question among politicians and pundits is, will you run for president? What's your timing? If I want to run a competitive race, I would get in in January.
This story appears in the January 8, 2007 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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