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American Morning
Obama Clinches Democratic Presidential Nomination; Concerns Abound About Obama's Safety Discussed
Aired June 04, 2008 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to check in with the best political team on television and get analysis from our all-star panel all morning long. But first, let's fire things up with Kyra who's over at the big wall this morning.
Good morning, Kyra.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, good to see you.
Well, the United States is waking up this morning in a completely different place than it was yesterday. Barack Obama making history, winning enough delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination. He'll become the first African-American to head a major party ticket and while his opponent Hillary Clinton hasn't conceded, Obama launched right into the fall campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: America, this is our moment. This is our time, our time to turn the page on the policies of the past, our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face, our time to offer a new direction for this country that we love.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Hillary Clinton says that she's continuing her campaign at least for now and she praised Obama, but stopped short of calling him the party's nominee. And she posed the question of the night. What does Hillary want?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I understand that a lot of people are asking, what does Hillary want? What does she want? Well, I want what I have always fought for in this whole campaign. I want to end the war in Iraq. I want to turn this economy around. I want health care for every American. I want every child to live up to his or her God-given potential and I want the nearly 18 million Americans who voted for me to be respected, to be heard and (INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: CNN's Jim Acosta is in Keystone, South Dakota where Clinton won last night. Hi, Jim.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.
That's right. It was another split decision last night. Montana went for Obama. South Dakota where I'm at went for Hillary Clinton. It was a curtain closer for an epic primary fight that seemed to end for everybody by Hillary Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA (voice-over): The long grueling battle for the Democratic nomination is over.
OBAMA: Tonight, I can stand here and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for the president of the United States of America.
ACOSTA: Barack Obama secured enough delegates to lay claim to the nomination, making history as the first African-American to head a major party ticket. In front of a packed arena in Minnesota, Obama reached out to his Democratic rival.
OBAMA: Senator Hillary Clinton has made history in this campaign. She has made history not just because she's a woman who has done what no woman has done before, but because she is a leader who inspired millions of Americans.
ACOSTA: Clinton, at a rally in New York, congratulated Obama, but did not concede.
CLINTON: This has been a long campaign and I will be making no decisions tonight.
ACOSTA: Instead, she touted her accomplishments.
CLINTON: We won together the swing states necessary to get to 270 electoral votes.
ACOSTA: But she did acknowledge tough decisions ahead.
CLINTON: In the coming days, I'll be consulting with supporters and party leaders to determine how to move forward.
ACOSTA: The end of the primaries also brought a taste of the battle ahead.
OBAMA: It's not change when John McCain decided to stand with George Bush 95 percent of the time as he did in the Senate last year.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You'll hear from my opponent's campaign in every speech and every interview, ever press release, that I'm running for President Bush's third term. Why does Senator Obama believe it's so important to repeat that idea over and over again? Because he knows it's very difficult to get Americans to believe something that they know is false.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: And the other head scratcher of the night came from South Dakota's Senator Jim Johnson. After announcing his support for Barack Obama back in January, he said because of Hillary Clinton's lopsided victory in his state, he was switching his super delegate support to her. Both of these candidates will speak to the pro-Israeli lobby AIPAC later today. Kyra, it will be another chance to read the tea leaves.
PHILLIPS: Jim Acosta, look forward to talking to you more this morning. John, what's our panel say about the historic evening?
ROBERTS: Well, let's find out. Joining us now Democratic strategist Julian Epstein is up early. He's a Hillary Clinton supporter, Liz Chadderdon is an Obama supporter. Leslie Sanchez, Republican strategist and CNN contributor and we got John Avlon with us this morning who is a self-proclaimed independent strategist.
Good morning to all of you. Thanks for being up so bright and early.
Liz, let's start with you. Talk about the historic nature of what happened last night, where this country finds itself this morning.
LIZ CHADDERDON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, this country finds itself in a brand new place this morning, John. I mean it's so exciting. How proud are we at what happened? Not only have we just put the first African-American as the Democratic nominee, but we watched the closest contest in history and personally, I think it was decided pretty fairly. I know not everybody may agree with me about that, but we went through 54 contests -- 36 million people voted and here we are in June, five months later and we have a nominee. I'm really proud. I'm proud of America. I'm proud to be an American and I'm proud to be a Democrat this morning.
ROBERTS: Julian, I'm sure that you're disappointed that your candidate didn't make it all the way, but are you satisfied with what happened last night? Are you happy with where we are today?
JULIAN EPSTEIN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I'm very satisfied. I think that there is no question that Barack Obama has won this nomination. He was won this nomination because he ran a better and a superior campaign. Last night was magical. It was a magical night for him. It was a magical night for this country in terms of the historical consequence of it, an African-American being the first nominee of a major party. His speech was really magical too. It was not about him.
It was nothing self indulgent. He said this is about you. This is about the voters. That's why he is nominee. That has been his message from day one and Democrats should be feeling pretty good when you compare Barack Obama's speech last night to John McCain's.
ROBERTS: What about (INAUDIBLE) and what about comparing it to Hillary Clinton's speech, because a lot of people are doing that as well. She conceded nothing last night, saying that she wanted a few days to think about it before she made any kind of a decision.
EPSTEIN: I think she actually did concede. I disagree with a lot of your pundits on television last night. I think she did make the concession last night. I think it was done in a little bit encrypted terms, but I think the concession was made and I think you'll hear more about that in...
ROBERTS: In cryptic terms or hieroglyphics?
LESLIE SANCHEZ, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: ... Hillary to like English dictionary kind of translation. I totally missed that. I really think all of us did; we didn't get the memo. Very much though, I think you cannot discount how historic it is, tremendously important thing I think for this country and speaks to probably our better angels and that's what America wants to say and a lot of people want to believe that.
But what does kind of -- I think Hillary Clinton did put a pall over it, because in not conceding the race, she not only minimizes the bump he will probably receive, which is five or seven points you'd probably expect this week, but it's also going to delay his ability to get into the general and talk to swing voters, you know, conservative Democrats, Independent, Republicans.
ROBERTS: Let's listen to a little bit about what she said last night, because some pundits have pointed out that she was talking about the strength of her candidacy as opposed to his last night. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: You asked yourself a simple question. Who will be the strongest candidate and the strongest (INAUDIBLE). Who will be ready to take back the White House and take charge as commander in chief and lead our country to better tomorrows.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: John, some people are suggesting it was a final shot at Barack Obama last night.
JOHN AVLON, SELF-PROCLAIMED INDEPENDENT STRATEGIST: It was. This was a final victory lap from the Tina Turner, simply the best theme song, believe in yourself, kind of the Nixon Checkers, write my Web site, tell me how you feel, encourage me to go. This was not particularly gracious. She talked about uniting the party, but she didn't show any actions that lead us to that conclusion. So I think in the next couple days she's going to have to have the walk match the talk.
ROBERTS: A lot to talk about this morning, folks, get another cup of coffee and get ready because we're going this morning. Kyra.
PHILLIPS: We're going to talk of course about Barack Obama and will he choose Hillary Clinton as his running mate? What do voters think of that idea? We're going to take a look at the polls, but what if Hillary Clinton doesn't run with Barack Obama and runs against him as an independent? We're going to discuss her options ahead on AMERICAN MORNING as well.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the most politics in the morning.
Barack Obama has clinched the Democratic nomination and is looking ahead to November. Our senior political analyst Bill Schneider joins us now. Bill has got some data from the exit polls which is interesting.
A number of questions that we've asked over the course of this primary season, one of them of course has been, would supporters from one camp go to the other camp or would they defect and go to John McCain or stay home? We've seen some pretty startling numbers over the last few months.
What did we see last night?
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: We saw numbers that a little bit more encouraging for Democrats since South Dakota, a state that Clinton carried, she's carried six out of the last nine primaries so she's actually picked up some support at the end there and the Clinton voters, the Clinton voters in South Dakota were asked how would you vote right now if you had to choose between Barack Obama and John McCain?
Some states, Obama has not gotten the majority of the Clinton votes, but here, you can see Obama gets 62 percent of their support, McCain, 17 and 15 say they would not vote. A lot of her supporters have a history of voting Republican. She gets a lot of so-called Reagan Democrats, so some of them may drift off to McCain, but (INAUDIBLE) she'll hold most of them, he'll hold most of them.
ROBERTS: But these numbers are a lot better than we saw in say Kentucky where 61...
SCHNEIDER: That's right. There have been states like Kentucky and West Virginia where most of her supporters say they won't stick with Obama. But in South Dakota, they will.
ROBERTS: One of the big topics of conversation both last night and this morning is this idea of a dream team and does Hillary Clinton want to be the vice president and would he pick her? What did voters say about that?
SCHNEIDER: Well, we asked Democrats in both states yesterday, South Dakota, Montana, what do you think of the idea of Barack Obama picking Clinton for vice president? Democrats in Montana, yes, this is Montana, think yes, it's a pretty good idea, 50 percent yes, 45 percent no. They're kind of divided on it. But they think it's OK as an idea. And in South Dakota, they were more enthusiastic, 58 to 38. Why? Because South Dakota was carried by Clinton.
ROBERTS: Hillary Clinton yes. SCHNEIDER: And her people think it's a terrific idea, in fact they're probably going to pressure the Democrats, pressure Obama, that's what she's trying to do, to put her on the ticket.
ROBERTS: A lot of news coming down in the next 24 hours that can decide the vice presidential slot for Hillary Clinton so we'll be on top of that.
Bill Schneider for us this morning, Bill, thanks. Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Obama in his own words, after months of fighting the presumptive Democratic nominee begins a new fight using his victory speech to take a hopeful look at the future.
And a massive fire erupts in a petroleum factory in Kansas. We're going to tell you what caused a large storage tank to explode in the flames. That's all ahead, right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Barack Obama clinching the Democratic presidential nomination last night, becoming the first African-American candidate to lead a major party ticket to the White House and as promised, hope, change, it all was in his victory speech.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: The journey will be difficult. The road will be long. I face this challenge, I face this challenge with profound humility and knowledge of my own limitations, but I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people. Because if we are willing to work for it and fight for it and believe in it, then I am absolutely certainly that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and jobs for the jobless.
This was the moment when the rise in the oceans began to slow and our climate began to heal. This was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last best hope on earth. This was the moment, this was the time, when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may also reflect our very best selves and our highest ideals.
Thank you Minnesota. God bless you. God bless the United States of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Pretty powerful, Obama also took aim at presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, saying that he represents four more years of Bush policies. Meantime, John McCain kicking off the general election by slamming Barack Obama in a speech timed to coincide with the final Democratic primaries.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
McCAIN: You'll hear from my opponent's campaign in every speech and every interview, ever press release, that I'm running for President Bush's third term. You'll hear every policy of the president as described as the Bush/McCain policy. Why does Senator Obama believe it's so important to repeat that idea over and over again? Because he knows it's very difficult to get Americans to believe something that they know is false.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: McCain also knocked Obama's economic policy, saying that he was making quote false promises to people without jobs. John.
ROBERTS: Eighteen minutes after the hour and new this morning, the Catholic priest who mocked Hillary Clinton from the pulpit of Barack Obama's former church in Chicago has been told to take some mandatory time off.
The archbishop of Chicago ordered Father Michael Pfleger to step back from his obligations at his parish and take two weeks to reflect on what he said. In a statement, Cardinal Francis George said Pfleger does not agree with his decision.
Closer to $4 than ever before, gasoline prices cracked another record overnight, just over $3.98 for a gallon of regular. Last month they were $3.61, last year, $3.14, God it's like nothing new this morning. Maybe what we should just do is, we'll tell you when gas goes below $3.50.
U.S. ships are under orders to leave Myanmar tomorrow without delivering aid to victims of last month's cyclone. Myanmar's military regime has not given permission for the ships to offload their supplies. U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says the move will cost tens of thousands of lives in that country.
A spectacular fire at a gas terminal in Kansas City, Kansas. Fire fighters say lightening hit a storage tank. It had about 50,000 barrels of gasoline inside, sending flames and smoke billowing into the sky. Luckily, crews were able to prevent the blaze from spreading to some nearby tanks. No injuries were reported there.
PHILLIPS: Back to the biggest news of the day, what happened overnight, totally historic on so many levels and if you just look at all the headlines, you know what I noticed. They just took one word, history, destiny.
ROBERTS: "New York Post" has got this morning, destiny, "Washington Post," Obama secures the nomination. What do we got in the "Wall Street Journal?"
PHILLIPS: "Wall Street Journal" Obama Clinches Nomination, tapping historic bitter contest.
ROBERTS: "USA Today," Obama's historic win sets up fall showdown. And "New York Times," after an epic battle, Barack Obama claims the nomination. But history really is the one word to use this morning and as you said at the top of this program, the United States waking up in a very much different place than it woke up yesterday morning.
PHILLIPS: And not all that, but just the international attention that this has reached. You were giving me a hard time this morning because I was asking everybody to name a country, OK, Ireland, Australia, Kenya and all those newspapers that we pulled across the world from Russia to Ireland to South Africa, front page, this story is making history internationally.
ROBERTS: It's a huge change and lots of coverage on the aftermath of what happened last night and what it means going forward coming up here on AMERICAN MORNING.
PHILLIPS: And of course the big question today, what's next for Hillary Clinton? Barack Obama, he dropped a hint in his speech about what may lie ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Lincoln basically pulled in all the people who had been running against him into his camp.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: So what do you think? Will Clinton join team Obama or use her clout to go for another power position? Do you have a feeling something might happen today? We're going to take a look at some of her options coming up next.
And then it was a Democratic primary race like no other, candidates trading barbs and super delegates. We're going to take a look back at this historic fight right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: I am committed to uniting our party so we move forward, stronger and more ready than ever to take back the White House this November.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Twenty three minutes after the hour and according to her supporters, Hillary Clinton says she is open to running as Barack Obama's vice president. But he hasn't offered and she hasn't conceded the nomination race. So what are her other options?
CNN's Carol Costello is looking into that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Rumors are running rampant about Hillary Clinton's plan B. Some are pretty out there. Driven by passionate supporters like Harriet Christian. Her pro-woman, pro-Hillary rant has become a YouTube sensation.
HARRIET CHRISTIAN, CLINTON SUPPORTER: I'm no second class citizen. Damn the Democrats.
COSTELLO: Some angry voters wonder if Clinton ought to dump the Democrats and run as an independent. After all, she got more than 17 million votes in the primaries. Analysts say not a snowball's chance in Hades.
JEANNE CUMMINGS, POLITICO.COM: If she runs as an independent, then she becomes the Ralph Nader of the 2008 campaign and look at where Ralph Nader is today.
COSTELLO: There's also word New York Democrats would love for Clinton to run for governor in 2010, but insiders say a primary fight would pit her against incumbent David Patterson, an African-American man. Been there, done that. Others say Clinton ought to aim for (AUDIO GAP) To do that, Clinton would have to pass the guys next in line, the feisty Senator Charles Schumer, then Senator Dick Durbin and oh, yes, Harry Reid would have to resign.
What about a Supreme Court appointment? Clinton insiders tell me she's into that one. Court watchers say not so fast. Clinton would be in her early 60s if the offer came and a President Obama would likely do what other presidents have done, name a younger justice like John Roberts, so his legacy can last a long time.
Another rumor, a President Obama would carve out a place for Clinton in his cabinet. He seems to be dropping hints.
OBAMA: Lincoln basically pulled in all the people who had been running against him into his cabinet because whatever personal feelings there were, the issue was, how can we get this country through this time of crisis?
COSTELLO: So maybe Clinton as Health and Human Services Secretary, some analysts say this would enable her to push her health care reform plan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: But analyst say the best option for Hillary Clinton is to return to the U.S. Senate where she can establish a powerful, influential voice, much like Senator Ted Kennedy's -- John, Kyra.
ROBERTS: All right, Carol Costello for us early this morning.
PHILLIPS: If you're just waking up this morning, it's a new day in American politics. Barack Obama makes history, winning enough delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination and we're going to take a look at the impact.
Plus, Obama versus McCain, our political panel weighs in on the match up for November.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: If you're just waking up, Barack Obama making history today, winning enough delegates to become the Democratic nominee. It'll make him the first African-American to head a major party ticket. Errol Louis, columnist for the "New York Daily News" joins me now live, great to see you this morning and you're smiling for no firm reason. I want to get right to the speech and get your reaction.
ERROL LOUIS, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS COLUMNIST: I feel, if you like politics, that's as good as it gets. He's delivered one blockbuster after another at key points in his career and last night will go down with a bunch of the other ones, with the 2004 convention speech and with the Philadelphia race speech. He's just really, really good at this and he seems to get better.
PHILLIPS: Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: America, this is our moment. This is our time, our time to turn the page.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: OK and it kept going and going. I'm thinking, it's been 45 years since the Martin Luther King "I have a dream" speech. I was getting flashbacks. I was seeing another Martin Luther King at the podium.
LOUIS: He's obviously a student of oratory. He's not just a master of it. He really understands it and there will be people I think who are going to sort of crack open these speeches and look at the word play and the emphasis and so forth. But just as somebody who watches political speeches all the time, you can't help but be appreciative of the fact that this guy is really, really good at it.
PHILLIPS: No, no way do I want to deflate the balloon here, but something did come across the wires that I was reading that sort of got me thinking in a different direction. Apparently, stories about White House, about Barack Obama on cbsnews.com had been attracting so many racist comments that staffers -- and I'm reading from a wire that came across here, were told that they should no longer allow readers to post them.
Even the head of cbsnews.com said that we have rules of engagement. They prohibit personal attacks, especially racist attacks, stories about Obama have been problematic and we won't tolerate it.
OK, these are just an overwhelming amount of postings on the Internet. But looking forward, as Barack Obama continues to do well, if we're looking at the general election, what if he becomes the first black president of the United States? Is there a security issue here? Is there a concern about his life?
LOUIS: You don't have to look forward to that. You can look back. I mean I was in Iowa and it was - there was almost no security frankly in the convention hall where he gave the victory speech. Just a few weeks later in South Carolina, there were bomb sniffing dogs, metal detectors, a level of security I'd never seen before. I mean far more security frankly than you'd find at the Supreme Court or even going into the White House.
It was extraordinary and it was clear that they had heard something. Something had put them on alert, so that you saw a lot of weapons, a lot of again, the bomb sniffing dogs, even for the press, sniffing in people laptops and that sort of thing. So they clearly have been put on high alert and this goes all the way back to January and of course he's been traveling with a full Secret Service contingent since last fall, which is unheard of for a candidate in the pre-election, the pre-primary states.
PHILLIPS: Is it because he's black?
LOUIS: Well, I think that you have to take it seriously. To a certain extent, you've got responsible news organizations, CBS, I'm sure CNN would do the same, our Web site at the "New York Daily News" would do the same, to sort of try to tamp down some of the ugliness that's out there. But the reality is, is it out there.
PHILLIPS: Something very crucial here and you point this out. Barack Obama has really tapped into what you say something extremely profound and that is the youth.
LOUIS: And that to me was always what this was the most interesting sort of thing. Every year, every four years, somebody tries to be the youth candidate. John Kerry tried it. Howard Dean tried it and the youth don't seem to show up.
This is very different. This is very, very different.
PHILLIPS: Barack Obama nailed it didn't he?
LOUIS: He nailed it. He's got them and he gets them. He's - if you look at just the way that they use text messaging, the way that they use the Internet, he's clearly connecting with them, not just at an emotional or even a political level, but just as a lifestyle kind of an issue. He's really where they are. And so he's going to do something that will change politics going forward.
PHILLIPS: Great to see you, Errol.
ROBERTS: For now until November, Barack Obama will be linking John McCain to President George Bush. Let's bring in your political panel with more on this, Democratic strategist Julian Epstein is a Clinton supporter. Democratic strategist Liz Chadderdon is an Obama supporter. Leslie Sanchez, Republican strategist and CNN contributor and John Avlon, self-described independent strategist joining us for the first time this morning. Great to see you John.
So at the same time that the Democratic primaries were going on last night, Montana and South Dakota, John McCain down there in Louisiana giving a big prime-time address.
Let's listen to a little bit of what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCAIN: No matter who wins this election, the direction of this country is going to change dramatically. But the choice is between the right change and the wrong change, between going forward and going backward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Leslie, an inspiring speech last night?
SANCHEZ: I think it would have been more inspiration at an AARP bingo night. I mean really, that was really rough. That really was rough. The Republicans were like not really good imagery. But what's interesting about it in all fairness, if you think about it this way, there were people watching Barack Obama than we will probably have at the Republican convention. It was about 32,000 when you account for the overflow.
So there's no doubt, it is definitely going to be a dynamic election, but where I think it's going to fall, a lot of people thought it was race and we talked a lot about race and there's something to be said about that. But I don't think John McCain is going to go there. It's going to be more a generational change.
ROBERTS: So what went wrong with that speech?
SANCHEZ: Well it wasn't so, it was the dynamic of the speech. I think more so now we're going to be able to start contrasting the candidates. There are very stark differences. There's not a tissue paper difference between Clinton and Obama.
ROBERTS: Well, certainly, certainly Barack Obama is trying to define John McCain and he's defining him in terms of George W. Bush, this idea of a third term even drew a response from John McCain.
SANCHEZ: I think there's a great point. I think that's the Democratic talking point, the third term of George W. Bush. I would argue it's the second term of Jimmy Carter. It's all the foreign affairs gaffs, he's a mediocre, potential mediocre president. That's more in line.
ROBERTS: Barack Obama is also saying where's this maverick that we knew so well? Let's listen to what he said last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: While John McCain can legitimately tout moments of independence from party in the past, such independence has not been the hallmark of his president campaign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So what's the strategy here? Is it to take George Bush and absolutely wrap him around John McCain? EPSTEIN: Yes. We agree on that. I think there's no question about that. I think John McCain has been maverick in a couple instances in the last couple years, the last eight years maybe, but he's basically fallen into line with Republican orthodoxy. He carries the baggage of eight years of very, very unpopular Republican rule.
Not only that, his speech last night was boring where Barack Obama's was exciting. He is seen as old guard. Barack Obama is seen as new guard.
AVLON: Barack Obama is a great orator. He's a once in a generation political talent. Oratory is not John McCain's strength. His strength is character and there's an enormous amount of Bush baggage out there, deeply unpopular among independents. But it's not simply credible to just attach John McCain to the Bush legacy. His political profile has been forged in opposition to the Bush/Karl Rove (INAUDIBLE)
ROBERTS: Independents have really liked John McCain but are they saying John, where is this maverick? Where did it go?
AVLON: Every time John McCain has gotten in trouble in this campaign, is when he's tried to play the Republican establishment candidate. Every time he lets John McCain be John McCain, people remember why they liked him in the first place.
CHADDERDON: John, John McCain may have an occasional independent streak going, but for the last year, he has voted with the Bush administration 95 percent of the time, failed policies in Iraq, failed economic policies. I don't think it's going to be that hard to bridge the gap between John McCain and George Bush.
SANCHEZ: Barack Obama has voted 50 percent of the time with Bush if not more and 95 percent of the time with the Democratic platform, not exactly someone who is reaching across the aisle, in terms of breaking with his base. There's a lot of independence. He's a proven factor and he's independent enough of George Bush to show that he a record and he's taken on conservatives on things like campaign finance reform.
EPSTEIN: Because he promised the Republicans he would be an orthodox Republican. He's got that...
ROBERTS: He's been running to the right no question for the last few months. Let's see if he runs back to the center. OK, folks, lot more to talk about this morning.
Stay there, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well Barack Obama wins enough delegates to win the nomination, but Hillary Clinton is not dropping out yet. She explains why that decision is on hold right now.
And New York City, the part of Clinton country. We're going to take you to the streets (INAUDIBLE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was hoping but I never really thought I'd see it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel like the country is stepping up a lot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Stepping it up, right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: And we'd like to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world this morning who are tuning into a historic moment here in the United States. Barack Obama pulling ahead in the Democratic race; Hillary Clinton still hanging in there. Here's what she said about what her next move will be.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: Now the question is, where do we go from here and given how far we've come and where we need to go as a party, it's a question I don't take lightly. This has been a long campaign and I will be making no decisions tonight. But, this has always been your campaign, so the 18 million people who voted for me and to our many other supporters out there of all ages, I want to hear from you. I hope you'll go to my website at hillaryclinton.com and share your thoughts with me and help in any way that you can.
And in the coming days, I'll be consulting with supporters and party leaders to determine how to move forward with the best interests of our party and our country guiding my way. And I want to conclude tonight by saying thank you, thank you to the people across America for welcoming me and my family into your homes and your hearts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Now Clinton is the first woman ever to win a presidential primary and went on to win 22 more contests -- John.
ROBERTS: It is Obama's big moment. He has captured younger voters and those who have experienced generations of racial tension. A look at how Barack Obama is being embraced in the heart of Clinton country. We're taking you to the streets this morning.
And those anti-bacterial wipes, well, they don't have anything to do with the election, but do they actually eradicate germs or just spread them around? The latest findings for you ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's 44 minutes after the hour. Barack Obama's big moment is being shared by millions this morning and many of those voters live near former President Clinton's office in Harlem. Here's CNN Jason Carroll.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well you know, when former President Clinton opened his office in Harlem, it represented a symbol of change in the city. Now residents there are embracing another man who represents a symbol of change in the country.
(voice-over): In a place like Harlem, the names and faces of those who've earned their place in history make for street signs and hot selling T-shirts. Now another face of a man who's made his mark.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see it as history being made of course.
CARRROLL: This man says he never thought he'd see someone like Senator Obama get this far in his lifetime. Neither did Edgar and Linda Ridley (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was hoping, but I never really thought I'd see it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Even up until now, many of us have had our hearts in our mouths, hoping things would turn out OK. So we're very excited about it.
CARROLL: These high school girls say they've always believed the United States is ready to accept a man of color in the White House.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He has the education and he's speaking - he's saying good things. He's promoting those things for his campaign, so (INAUDIBLE) and I feel like the country is stepping up a lot.
CARROLL: The Ridley's understand the optimism of the younger generation, but still question the willingness of some to get behind Obama in a general election.
JON RIEDER, SOCIOLOGIST AND AUTHOR: When you think about the nastiness of the last couple months in the Democratic primary, you've had the resurgence of this image of a nation divided, wounded women against wounded African-Americans. So we've got this incredible spectacle of kind of wounded identities and warring groups.
CARROLL: One key group the senator will need, white women. On New York's upper west side, those we spoke to say they were hoping Senator Clinton would be the one making history. But most say they'll now support Obama.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it would have been just as historic if we had a first woman president. However, I think it will be terrific.
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CARROLL: The next question, once the glow of this historic moment wears off and reality sets in, how will Senator Obama fare in the match up against Senator John McCain -- John, Kyra?
ROBERTS: All right, Jason Carroll for us this morning.
Jason thanks.
PHILLIPS: After the long hard-fought battle against Hillary Clinton, things won't get any easier for Barack Obama. We're going to take a look at the number of challenges ahead with an Obama supporter, former Congressman Ben "Cooter" Jones.
ROBERTS: And an all-star line up of heavy weights still ahead. Mary Matelin, Bob Johnson, Charlie Rangel, Willie Brown, Tom Joyner, Robert Gibbs, Bobby Jindal. They're all joining us live on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us for complete coverage of the end to the Democratic primary season.
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ROBERTS: It's 11 minutes now to the top of the hour and no doubt about it, Barack Obama made history last night, becoming the first African-American to head the presidential ticket of a major U.S. political party.
PHILLIPS: So just how big a milestone is it?
CNN's Jeanne Moos counts the ways.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Take a good long luck at the face of Barack Obama after announcing he will be the nominee, absorbing all that applause as the first black presumptive nominee goes down in history.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Historical is the word and we can't use that enough.
MOOS: No they couldn't.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: This historic night.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Truly a history-making night.
CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC ANCHOR: Profound historic importance of tonight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Obama has just made history.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE CORRESPONDENT: They were here when history was made.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is an historic moment.
BLITZER: History unfolding.
MOOS: For once, history unfolded at a faster pace than even that other favorite election night phrase.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The best political team on television.
MOOS: More BPTOT as the media blogs like to call it. But in this case, every political team agreed.
KEITH OLBERMANN, MSNBC ANCHOR: American history has met the 2008 presidential campaign.
MOOS: Even the history maker himself repeated it.
OBAMA: Senator Hillary Clinton has made history in this campaign.
MOOS: One of her supporters held up "Newsweek" with Hillary on the cover while one of his supporters held up "Newsweek" with Obama on the cover. May the best cover candidate win.
BLITZER: CNN can project that Senator Barack Obama has enough delegates to secure the Democratic presidential nomination.
MOOS: Though even that didn't deter Hillary's campaign chairman from this introduction.
TERRY MCAULIFFE, CLINTON CAMPAIGN CHMN: Are you ready for the next president of the United States of America?
MOOS: As for Hillary's next move...
CLINTON: What does Hillary want? What does she want?
JOE MADISON, XM RADIO: If she becomes the running mate, he better higher a food taster.
MOOS: From his actual mate, Senator Obama got a fist bump, gave a pat, even had his head rubbed by enthusiastic supporters. As the head to head competition with Senator McCain begins in earnest...
MCCAIN: The American people didn't get to know me yesterday as they're just getting to know Senator Obama.
MOOS: That odd smile and delivery got panned.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was awful.
MOOS: From primary to general election, some things never change.
OBAMA: That's the change we need in America.
MCCAIN: That's not change we can believe in.
MOOS: You can believe this about Hillary.
DAVID GERGEN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: She's going to have to figure out what do I do with the rest of my life? MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Name that tune.
ROBERTS: Only Jeanne Moos can tell it. Well, it is a historic day in America and no one is happier than Cooter, the former congressman and star of the "Dukes of Hazzard" talks about Barack Obama's chances in the general election. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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PHILLIPS: And good morning to all our viewers in the United States and around the world this morning.
Barack Obama writing a page for the history books as he wins enough delegates to become the Democratic presidential nominee. Talking now with former Georgia Congressman Ben Jones, who's an Obama supporter. You may remember him of course as Cooter, from the TV's "Dukes of Hazzard." Have to mention that of course and his book, "Redneck Boy in the Promised Land," in stores now.
To our international viewers, do you think do they understand the redneck boy?
BEN "COOTER" JONES, BARACK OBAMA SUPPORTER: Oh yes, "Dukes of Hazzard" is showing in over 50 countries around the world. I speak seven languages fluently, didn't know I could do it until I saw it.
PHILLIPS: You're being serious.
JONES: Yes.
PHILLIPS: Oh my gosh and "Dukes of Hazzard," where across the country is it the most popular?
JONES: South America, very popular down there.
PHILLIPS: I got to get to politics. We're going to talk about this later. All right, let's get down to - I know, "Dukes of Hazzard" Barack Obama, how are we going to make this transition? It is amusing (ph). All right, make the transition. Barack Obama made history last night.
JONES: And I was still thinking as we started 45 years ago about now, I was in a jail in North Carolina just so my black friends could get the right to eat a cheeseburger and to have watched this kind of history unfold, I think he is going to be a great candidate and I believe he's going to be our next president and I think history will show that he's going to be a very good one.
PHILLIPS: Still though he didn't do as well as he wanted to do with the white, rural, blue collar voters. JONES: It was a primary. They're going to come aboard. This is the economy. These are the folks who are going to be Democrats this year more than ever and he's got to lead. He's got to pull the party back together and Ms. Clinton could be gracious and be helpful in that.
PHILLIPS: What did you make about her speech last night, the fact that she didn't concede. She didn't say that's it.
JONES: Well, it's like a prize fighter. You just lost. I thought she lost it a long time ago and I've said that. I said it was over after West Virginia. I said it was over Virginia and now it is over. And he's played by the rules. He's run a great campaign. He came from way behind against a terrific political organization and he's won and he's won clearly.
So finally you've just got to say, let's all support him and that's that. So this sort of thing becomes like, well, I've got some leverage here, but this isn't the time for that.
PHILLIPS: You mentioned coming a long way from being in that jail cell and just the whole issue of civil rights and looking at what Barack Obama has done as an African-American candidate. I was browsing through a number of stories and this came across last night, with cbsnews.com. Apparently they've been getting so many racist comments that the head of cbs.com said OK, we have to stop posting this.
This is getting out of control. We cannot tolerate this. Just looking at these Web site postings, OK, and watching Barack Obama and how well he's doing. Let's say he does become the first black president of the United States. Is there a security threat here? Is there a concern that there hasn't been with a white candidate about his life?
JONES: There are always crackpots and there are always going to be bigots and they're always going to be with us and we had - but anyone who's in a position of power, any president like that faces the same kind of problems. That's why we have the best Secret Service in the world.
PHILLIPS: And we talked about this too. People stereotype the redneck culture, being prejudiced and...
JONES: We don't care.
PHILLIPS: You know, those confederate flags hanging - really those stereotypes are out there. So how is that changing, that dynamic changing? What is Barack Obama doing to defeat those stereotypes?
JONES: You know what, I'll tell you this and he needs to understand this. There are white rednecks and there are black rednecks. There are Hispanic rednecks. There's gay rednecks. Rednecks is just an attitude and it's just hard-working people who are free and independent, a great American tradition. And all he's got to do is go down there and say this is who I am, be himself and ask for their vote and show why they should vote for him and he'll get that support. PHILLIPS: I asked you about the dream ticket, about Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. That wasn't your idea of a dream ticket last time we talked. Has your mind changed?
JONES: No, he has to be totally independent and he has to have someone with whom he's very copacetic, someone whom he can relate to and work with very easily without all those sort of - that would become the story. That's what the story would be about and that would be an enormous distraction. I think there's a great place for Ms. Clinton, perhaps on the Supreme Court or something like that.
But he can't be bargaining right now about the vice president. That has to be his choice. It has to be someone with whom he's very cooperative and works very easily with and not this sort of melodrama that's been ongoing in the media.
PHILLIPS: So does Barack Obama watch "Dukes of Hazzard?"
JONES: Well if he doesn't, he ought to.
PHILLIPS: Good to see you Ben, all right.
JONES: Hee haw.
PHILLIPS: Now to my good old boy, John, help me out.
ROBERTS: Maybe instead of a limousine, he should run around in the General Lee. And just in the CNN this morning, we got a note, this is a memo going out from Majority Leader Harry Reid in the Senate, speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Jim Mansion (ph) of West Virginia, the head of the Democratic governors' association and DNC Chairman Howard Dean, talking about where this race needs to go now.
Here's what they write, "Democrats must now turn our full attention to the general election. To that end, we are urging all remaining all uncommitted super delegates to make their decisions known by Friday of this week, so that the party can stand united."