‘I Caution Some in Our Party’

How do you view the candidacy of Barack Obama?
Positively. He's a friend. He's been a terrific senator. His campaign has inspired people in every age group, every part of the country, every different walk of life. And I think his challenge over the next several weeks will be to demonstrate he has the experience and the vision to lead the country in every category. Personally, we have such a close friendship, as I do with Mrs. Clinton …

Have you given him any advice on how to run as an African-American in the South?
No, I've given him advice on how to run for president. But we don't get into talking on how you segregate the constituencies, and how you speak to different voters because of your racial background.

But you came very close to winning down there, so you'd have lots of good advice.
Yeah, but I don't share the advice I give to presidential candidates. But I will say this: it hasn't been based on him being black and me being black. It's really been based—to the extent he's been curious or coveted any of my advice—on what my thoughts were on various issues that he's dealt with, as has been the case with Mrs. Clinton, as has been the case with Joe Biden, as has been the case with Bill Richardson.

Looking forward, what are your political plans? Some say you're interested in the Tennessee statehouse.
I've read some of the speculation in the last few weeks. I'm a big believer that my governor, who has now been in office less than a year in his second term … we should give him a chance to govern out the remainder of his term. If there is anything voters are sick of, more than anything, it's people running for office two, three, four years out, particularly when there are big obstacles, challenges, opportunities on the table that need to be addressed. So there is no race in my immediate future. What happens three years from now is hard to say. As you know, now I'm teaching at Vanderbilt University, I'm vice chairman at Merrill Lynch, I'm chairman for the DLC, and I have a relationship with the Fox News channel and the Fox business channel, where I make some political and business commentary.

But you do hope to get back into politics, right?
Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if I ran again a few years down the road. [Chuckles] But I'm enjoying what I'm doing. I don't wake up every morning with chills or longing or regretting. Naturally, I wanted to win, but that's behind me now.

Do you think that we will see an African-American senator from a Southern state anytime in the coming decade?
Absolutely. Bobby Jindal's win [as Republican governor] in Louisiana is a big win for a new generation of thinking in politics. [Jindal, an Indian-American, will be the first nonwhite to lead Louisiana since Reconstruction.] He's a Republican; I'm a Democrat. I served with him in Congress, and I think a lot of him. We didn't always see eye to eye, but I appreciate his approach to governing, which is to solve problems. I don't think we should look at my race as any indication of what can or cannot happen, other than to say that we got close in a seat that was formerly held by the majority leader in the Senate, who was a Republican. There are a number of things we could have done better in that race, and next time we will do it better.