Obama Reflects on Contests in Iowa, N.H.

GWENN IFILL: Senator, welcome.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA: Thank you, so much. I appreciate it, Gwen.

GWEN IFILL: So how does it feel in front-runner land?

SEN. BARACK OBAMA: Well I, I, do not accept that mantle yet. You know we won one, one race. Um, I have no idea how the national polls are going. But, uh, we feel very good about something that was triggered in Iowa. There is a sense of hopefulness and uh interest and engagement among the electorate that I don't think we've seen in a very, very long time.

GWEN IFILL: One thing that's been interesting just in the last five days is to watch how all the other candidates, including the Republicans seem to have become candidates of change and hope.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA: You know it did. It must be catching on. We've been talking about this thing for awhile, but . . .

GWEN IFILL: What do you think it's about?

SEN. BARACK OBAMA: Well look, nothing succeeds like success. People saw what happened in Iowa and they recognized how hungry people are for something different. And by the way it, it's not a morphs, it's not vague. It's something very specific. You know people want uh an end to the bickering. They want transparency and accountability in their government, they want practicality over ideology. Uh and they want to make sure that healthcare is affordable, that college is affordable, that, that if they're willing to work hard and apply themselves, they can find a job that pays enough for them to support their families. They want a foreign policy that keeps us safe and goes after terrorists but does not uh make us hated around the world. I mean these are some very specific things that, that people are looking for when they talk about change.

GWEN IFILL: Is it bickering when Senator Clinton says this is about rhetoric versus reality?

SEN. BARACK OBAMA: You know I, I think she has every right to make her case. That she is the person who can help bring about change in America. I don't begrudge her that. I disagree with her. I disagree with her assessment of how we're going to bring it about ... and you know there's certain things that they've done in their campaign over the last few days since things tightened up which I might not do. But yeah, she's got to run her race and I'll run mine.

GWEN IFILL: Do you agree with Senator Edwards that some of the accusations she's been making she would not have been making if she were winning?

SEN. BARACK OBAMA: Oh, I think that's pretty fair. You know back in the summer when I was down 20 points my healthcare plan was universal, my character was stellar.

GWEN IFILL: And now it's the opposite?

SEN. BARACK OBAMA: Yeah apparently.

GWEN IFILL: Let's talk about the independent voters or undeclared or whatever they are here in New Hampshire. How are you speaking to them, if you are, the polls seem to show they're moving your direction. What is it they're hearing?

SEN. BARACK OBAMA: Well, I, I think what they're hearing is a consistent message. Not one that's tailored for New Hampshire. Interestingly enough this is a message that we delivered in Iowa and people said wouldn't work in Iowa. Because Independents don't participate in the caucuses. That's what was said. But my message has been consistent, which is I am a Democrat, I'm a progressive. I believe in healthcare for every American. I believe in investing in our children's education through the public schools. I believe in, uh, making sure that ... you know there's -- we, we are regulating the excessing of the free market systems that we don't see things like the subprime lending crisis. But what I also believe is that Democrats don't have a monopoly on wisdom and that Republicans are not bad people because they have a different approach to problems. And that there should be some way that we can not agree on everything but at least agree on some things and move forward.

And that I think is what, not just independents but Democrats and Republicans are looking for as well. Now they're skeptical as to whether it can happen. Right? I mean, I think they haven't seen it in a very long time. And so I, I recognize why sometimes I'm accused of sounding naive when I talk about this, but what happened in Iowa indicates that the American people at least are ready and hungry for it and my argument has been that if the American people insist on something, it happens. If, if they mobilize behind, uh, a, a movement to get things done and stop being petty and stop trivializing our democracy, they can hold callers accountable.

GWEN IFILL: If it's true that people can look at you and say he's naive, then do you understand what Senator Clinton means when she says that you are raising false hopes?

SEN. BARACK OBAMA: Oh, that I completely reject. I mean this notion of false hopes -- I, I reject the entire premise. I think this crystallizes what this campaign is about. I mean there's so many people who are telling us what we can't do, that we are never really divided between red states and blue states. The politics always has to be mean and nasty and personally destructive, that, you know, the poor will always be with us. That you know race you know will always dominate and racism will prevent ... an African American President. And our foreign policy, they're all out to kill us and uh you know we've got to go our own way. You know I mean that's not being realistic. That's just being lazy intellectually.

GWEN IFILL: I talked to an undecided voter who said her house party was sponsored by a supporter of yours who the very first question she asked, Carol Shay Porter, she asked her: You know I, I want to support him, but I'm afraid the other people won't support him because he's African American. And at the end she says I'm still going to support him but I'm nervous about it. So what do you say to her?

SEN. BARACK OBAMA: I say it's in your control. It's up to you. If the American people decide something's going to happen it happens. And that's the point I was making earlier in response to this notion that bringing people together is naive. You know what, it is naive to think that Republicans, Democrats, won't come together, overcome the influence of lobbyists, special interests. If the American people are disengaged, then it's very naive. Because they will keep on doing what they're doing. If the American people are engaged, if they are mobilized, if they are holding Congress accountable and the president accountable for results, then things can happen. So our campaign has always been about you know the, the responsibility of citizens in cooperation with a candidate who is being straight with them uh to insist on something different, and insist on something new and you can build a working majority then it can happen.

GWEN IFILL: How different is, other than velocity, how different is New Hampshire from Iowa?

SEN. BARACK OBAMA: Well, we have been campaigning a lot in New Hampshire. You know in the last month we focused on Iowa because we knew that, uh, you know we knew to do well there and it was a very intensive organizing process. But you know the, what I'm finding is actually that the regional differences ... in America are not as great as I think they used to be. I think there used to be a time where you know you go to New Hampshire, you know flinty Northeasterners and then you go to Iowa and it's the, you know, solid Midwesterners.

You know these days I think because of uh the media, because of C-Span, because of the Internet, uh you know there, there's a common culture across America and you know the, the distinctions that, that exist right now probably have more to do with is it rural or is it urban? There, there's more in common between rural Iowa and rural New Hampshire in some cases than there is between you know rural Iowa and urban Iowa.

GWEN IFILL: But hasn't the way, the way you pulled out in Iowa and the way you appear to be doing here, does that make South Carolina a different, not necessarily simpler, but a different kind of challenge for you?

SEN. BARACK OBAMA: Well, you know, there's no doubt that South Carolina  is demographically different. You know [that] the Democratic voters will end up being African-American and you know that's been an interesting narrative throughout this campaign.

GWEN IFILL: They were skeptical about . . .

SEN. BARACK OBAMA: You know real black people vote for Barack. Um, and you know it's among black folks where there was the most skepticism than I could get white votes and so they didn't want to waste their vote. Obviously when you win fairly handily in a state that's 94 percent white, that can give some confidence to African-Americans who maybe were afraid to believe that this country has made progress and moved forward, that may be wrong. You know I might be wrong. I uh, a friend of mine, Charles Ogletree, a professor at Harvard Law School, showed me an email from an old friend of ours, a mutual friend who, who's older and very pessimistic about race and the start of the email was, alright, alright. Maybe the country has changed a little bit. And I'm sending more money, he said.

GWEN IFILL: You need to write that guy back yourself.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA: Oh, absolutely.

GWEN IFILL: Are you braced for the pushback? You know it seems to me like you're running against a candidate who's going to say, aw, well fine and step away.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA: Oh, look. You guys are the ones who are uh calling this thing early. I'm thinking we just started. We just won one race. We've got what, 49 states to go. After tomorrow we have, uh, we've got 48 and on Feb. 5 there are going to be 20 states that are, there are 23 states that are having caucuses or primaries. This is a long way from over. You know we've got formidable candidates with big operations. They're well financed uh and that will come after us hard. And I, I've now gone through enough -- enough of this presidential process to know that it, there are certain rhythms. And one thing is guaranteed. If you, if you're up for awhile, you know then folks are going to take you back down.

GWEN IFILL: Senator Clinton almost said exactly the same thing to me yesterday.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA: It's true. I mean that's, you know because people always want a new story going. You know there's only so much to the good news that they can deliver before they want to start delivering some bad.

GWEN IFILL: Final question. What do you say to people who worry about your safety?

SEN. BARACK OBAMA: Oh, I say that's why I've got ... this Secret Service detail, a bunch of big guys around me all the time packing heat.

GWEN IFILL: And so you don't feel insecure about that at all?

SEN. BARACK OBAMA: Look, I can't spend my time worrying about that. You know it's, I mean I was always, already a public figure before this. You know there was some crazy person uh you know who wanted to target me, uh that was true when I was a U.S. Senator. I was the cover of Time and Newsweek before I ran for president. So . . .

GWEN IFILL: Not going to worry about it?

SEN. BARACK OBAMA: I can't.

GWEN IFILL: Okay.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA: Thank you.

GWEN IFILL: Thank you very much.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA: Appreciate it.