Obama Plays Offense

On domestic policy, the critical issue is the ability to mobilize the American people to move forward. The problem on health care is not the technical one—we all talk to the same experts. The question is who can build working majorities to push this stuff through. I don't think any fair-minded observer would suggest that Hillary Clinton is best equipped to break us out of the political gridlock that exists in Washington.

If elected, you would be getting there as a newbie. You'd have a very narrow window to succeed.
Sort of like this campaign. We had a very short window. One of the unfair comparisons has been to Jimmy Carter or to Bill Clinton at the beginning. The thinking is, if you're an outsider, you'll make a lot of rookie mistakes and squander the first 100 days. But one thing I've shown is I understand Washington and I've got good relationships there. A lot of Washington isn't that different than any other aspect of life, whether it's office politics or jostling for status in high school. People want to be recognized, want to maintain their status, want to be respected.

All good presidents had critical life experiences that helped them in the presidency. What do you bring?
I can understand people from different walks of life, understand their perspectives, see the best of them without accepting the worst in them and get them to work together. And that's partly because of what I've had to do in my life. That's what we need right now. Instead of thinking ideologically, I think very practically about what will get something done.

My relationships with the elder statesmen of the party are very good, even if they've endorsed someone else. If I'm trying to move health-care reform and Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Bill Bradley and John Chafee come to me with the possibility of compromising, I'm not going to tell them it's my way or the highway [which is what he says Bradley told him happened with Clinton's plan in 1994].

Would you have Republicans in your cabinet?
No decisions, but Dick Lugar embodies the best tradition in foreign policy. Chuck Hagel is a smart guy and has shown some courage, even though we disagree on domestic policy. Gen. Tony McPeak, former member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, considered himself a Republican at the time George W. Bush started the invasion of Iraq, and he's now with us.

We've got a lot of disaffected Republicans, some in power, some ordinary citizens, who we can reach. That was my main point about Ronald Reagan, that there were Reagan Democrats. I think there are Obama Republicans that we can pull in.