Essay 303

The following appeared in The Chicago Tribune…

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Q&A with Sen. Barack Obama

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) sat down with the Tribune in his Washington office on Dec. 16. Here is an excerpt from the interview.

By Jeff Zeleny
Tribune national correspondent
Published December 24, 2005

Q. What have you learned about the country?

A. It’s reinforced my sense that there is a mismatch between the priorities of Washington and the priorities of folks back home. It’s something that I understood in the abstract as I was campaigning. It’s something that you feel much more acutely when you’re here. We’ve had weeklong debates on shielding gun manufacturers from liability. We’ve had debates about a bankruptcy bill that actually worsened the options of hard-strapped families. We haven’t had a debate about health care in any meaningful way. I can’t recall a serious conversation on the floor of the Senate about education.

Q. Were you cautious or risk-averse this year?

A. It’s not that I’ve ducked questions, but I don’t have to be the guy who comments on everything. There are a lot of capable people around here who can give a blow-by-blow commentary.

The few times I’ve heard people say I was cautious, what they really meant was they didn’t agree with my position and they assumed that I had taken that position for political reasons. The assumption from some corners on the left is: Barack is being cautious because he doesn’t want to expose himself to attack from the Republicans or he’s moving to the center because he’s positioning himself for higher office. That’s just not the case.

Q. How do you decide when to use the megaphone that you’ve been given?

A. If I don’t think what needs to be said is being said. I think Katrina was a good example of where I felt the way the issue was being discussed and framed wasn’t moving the ball forward.

Let’s take an issue like the Patriot Act. I felt very strongly on this and I have for a long time, but Sen. Russ Feingold [D-Wis.] and others have done a terrific job in projecting the issue. I feel no need to elbow my way up to the front of that parade.

Q. Are you more confident now than a year ago?

A. I definitely still have stuff to learn, particularly when it comes to procedural matters. There is no real handbook for it. It’s all on-the-job experience. But I came here confident that I could play ball in the big leagues. At the end of the year, I think I’ve shown that I can.

Q. How will you decide what happens next in your career?

A. I rely on good advice from people whose judgment I trust--my wife, who I trust deeply and I think has really good instincts about these things. But ultimately, I tend to rely on my own inner compass. Whenever I make good judgments, it’s usually because I say to myself: “Can I be useful here?” As opposed to: “This is something I want.”

Q. Is the Senate the best place to fulfill political ambitions?

A. I think it’s very possible to have a Senate career here that is not particularly useful. And the minute I’m in the Senate and I’m just mailing it in, then I want people to tell me it’s time to get out.

Q. Could anything make you change your mind about running for president in 2008?

A. I’m not going to speculate on that. You know, like what? It’s speculation. Go ahead, next question.

Q. Have you ruled out running for another office before your term is up?

A. It is not something I anticipate doing.

Q. Are there regions of the country you feel you need to know more about?

A. It’s only been in the last year or year and a half that I’ve traveled at all in the South. The more I travel there, the more I think I’d like to know. Particularly, I think, because the Democrats have made a mistake not going after the South more aggressively, especially in presidential elections.

Q. What’s the best aspect of being a senator?

A. Everybody takes your phone calls. If there is a topic I’m interested in, I can call the smartest people in the world on that topic and talk to them about it. Sometimes they’ll come into my office. And that is just a huge luxury. If I’m interested in finance, I can call Warren Buffett. If I’m interested in technology, I can call Bill Gates. If I’m interested in health care, I can call the top administrators or health-care experts in the country. If I’m interested in foreign policy, I can not only call experts here, but I can call experts overseas. That’s fun.

Q. Of the people you’ve met, who are most intriguing?

A. Meeting Nelson Mandela was a powerful moment. Meeting the Dalai Lama, who was fascinating, just as warm and wise as you’d want the Dalai Lama to be. And Dr. J, Julius Erving. I was a big Dr. J fan as a kid. He called me up about stem cell research.

Q. How is your next book coming; are you writing it?

A. It’s not coming as fast as I would like. It needs to be done by March. I feel like I do have to write myself. I would feel very uncomfortable putting my name to something that was written by somebody else or co-written or dictated. If my name is on it, it belongs to me.

--Jeff Zeleny Tribune

Copyright © 2005, Chicago Tribune