Friday, February 16, 2007

Watch clip of Obama on “Public Affairs,” on GMA

Look for a video clip this morning on Good Morning America [7:00 am-9:00 am, CST] of Senator and Democratic Primary Presidential Candidate Barack Obama from a show he taped a while back on "Public Affairs." And, last Saturday, GMA aired the below segment, featuring a clip from a 2003 "Public Affairs," show with then State Senator Barack Obama
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Jake Tapper [ABC News’ senior political correspondent]: I am standing in Springfield, IL at the old Historic State Capitol building…[where] Abraham Lincoln used to serve in the state legislature …so did Senator Barack Obama, who later this morning will declare his intention to follow in Lincoln’s footsteps as President…; President of the Illinois State Senate Emil Jones [D-Chicago] was Obama’s mentor…[cut to a video clip of Senate President Jones speaking]--

Senate President Jones: [Obama] was a smart young man, rather pushy and everything, but he sort of grew on me, more or less. [cut to a video clip of State Senator Bill Brady [R-Bloomington]--

State Senator Bill Brady [who played some poker with then State Senator Barack Obama]: I used to kid him [Obama]. I said, “If you would be near as conservative with the taxpayers money as you are here [playing poker] with your money, the state of Illinois would be a lot better off.”
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Jake Tapper: … Many of the tough questions Obama is facing now have been posed before, such as whether he will do better with black or white voters, which is discussed in a 2003 interview by Jeff Berkowitz of the show, “Public Affairs,” on Chicago television—[cut to a clip of Barack Obama on Public Affairs].

Barack Obama: I am rooted in the African-American Community, but I am not limited to it [and we are going to be competitive in every part of this state among every demographic because the message that I have in terms of dealing with economic development and jobs in this state, dealing with health care issues, dealing with education issues are ones that cut across the board; Obama was responding to a question from Public Affairs host Jeff Berkowitz as to whether Joyce Washington would hurt him as a Senate candidate in the 2004 Democratic Primary because they would split the African-American vote; And, Obama was right in that he won the seven candidate primary with 53% of the vote, with the second place finisher, Dan Hynes, getting 24% of the vote, and African-American Joyce Washington polling only 1% of the vote. Clearly, Senator Obama was not limited to the African-American vote.][See here for a discussion of Obama's landslide Democratic Primary win in March, 2004]

Jake Tapper: So, the dicey racial politics, whether or not his views are too liberal for the rest of the country, there will be time for Obama to address all of that later, but today there is “the ceremony,” as the local paper says…
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As the above aired on Good Morning America, February 10, 2007, the morning of U.S. Senator Barack Obama’s official announcement in Springfield, IL of his run for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States.
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