Tom Brokaw and Barack Obama

“ There is an incredible bully pulpit to be used when it comes to, for example, education: Yes, we're going to have an education policy; yes, we're going to be putting more money into school construction. But ultimately we want to talk about parents reading to their kids. We want to invite kids from local schools into the White House. When it comes to science, elevating science once again, and having lectures in the White House where people are talking about traveling to the stars or breaking down atoms, inspiring our youth to get a sense of what discovery is all about. ”

“ Well, I think that the big three U.S. auto-makers have made repeated strategic mistakes. They have not managed that industry the way they should have. And I've been a strong critic of the auto industry's failure to adapt to changing times, building small cars and energy efficient cars that are going to adapt to a new market. But what I've also said is the auto industry is the backbone of the American manufacturing. It is a huge employer across many states. Millions of people directly or indirectly are reliant on that industry, and so I don't think it's an option to simply allow it to collapse. ”

“ But look, if you look at the unemployment numbers that came out yesterday, if you think about almost two million jobs lost so far, if you think about the fragility of the financial system and the fact that it is now a global financial system so that what happens in Thailand or Russia can have an impact here, and obviously what happens on Wall Street has an impact worldwide, when you think about the structural problems that we already had in the economy before the financial crisis, this is a big problem, and it's going to get worse. ”

“ That, I think, is going to be incredibly important particularly because we are going through hard times, and historically what has always brought us through hard times is that national character, that sense of optimism, that willingness to look forward, that sense that better days are ahead, I think that our art and our culture, our science – you know, that's the essence of what makes America special, and we want to project that as much as possible in the White House. ”

“ Well, as I said, my economic team is taking a look at this right now. But I think the important principle, because sometimes when we start talking about taxes, and I say I want a more balanced Tax Code, people think, "Well, you know, that's class warfare." No. It turns out that our economy grows best when the benefits of the economy are most widely spread, and that has been true historically. ”

“ It turns out that when we all do well, then the economy as a whole is going to benefit.
BROKAW: I want to move now to international affairs, the war on terror, obviously. We have all been stunned by what happened in India, in Mumbai, that is still playing out in that part of the world. You have said that the United States reserves the right to go after terrorists in Pakistan, if you have targets of opportunity. Does India now also have that right of hot pursuit? ”

“ Well, I think that we do have to be mindful of the history of Afghanistan. It is tough territory, and there is a fierce independence in Afghanistan. And if the perception is that we are there simply to impose ourselves in a long-term occupation, that's not going to work in Afghanistan. By the way, that's not going to work in Iraq, either. There are very few countries that welcome long-term occupations by foreign powers, but Afghanistan has shown that they are fiercely resistant to that. ”

“ The key for us is making sure that we jump-start that economy in a way that doesn't just deal with the short term, doesn't just create jobs immediately, but also puts us on a glide path for long-term sustainable economic growth, and that's why I spoke in my radio address on Saturday about the importance of investing in the largest infrastructure program, in roads and bridges and other traditional infrastructure since the building of the Federal Highway System in the 1950s. ”

“ Well, even as large a company as GM, in ordinary times, might be able to go through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, restructure and still keep their business operations going. When you are seeing this kind of collapse at the same time as you've got the financial system as shaky as it is, that means we're going to have to figure out ways to put the pressure on the way a bankruptcy court would, demand accountability, demand serious changes, but do so in a way that it allows them to keep the factory doors open. ”

“ When you have foreclosures, property values decline and you get a downward spiral all across America, it's also good for the financial system, because keep in mind how this financial system became so precarious in the first place. You had a huge amount of debt, a huge amount of other people's money that was being lent and speculation was taking place based on these home mortgages. And if we can strengthen those assets, then that will strengthen the financial system as a whole. ”

“ And as I said before, we can't continue to look at Afghanistan in isolation. We have to see it as part of a regional problem that includes Pakistan, includes India, includes Kashmir, includes Iran. And part of the kind of foreign policy I want to shape is one in which we have tough, directed policy combined with more effective military operations, focused on what is the number one threat against U.S. interests and U.S. lives, and that's Al Qaeda and their various affiliates, and we are going to go after them fiercely in the years to come. ”

“ And so what I want to do is tell our Joint Chiefs let's do it as quickly as we can do to maintain stability in Iraq, maintain the safety of U.S. troops, to provide a mechanism so that Iraq can start taking more responsibility as a sovereign responsibility for its own safety and security, ensuring that you don't see any resurgence of terrorism in Iraq that could threaten our interests. But recognizing that the central front on terror, as Bob Gates said, started in Afghanistan in the border regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, that's where it will end, and that has to be our priority. ”

“ And I think that most people recognize that, even if there were some poor decisions made by homebuyers, that right now our biggest incentive is to make sure that the housing market is strengthened. I do think that we have to put in place a set of rules of the road, some financial regulations that prevent the kind of speculation and leveraging that we saw in the future. ”

“ And so, as part of our economic recovery package, what you will see coming out of my administration, right at the center is a strong set of new financial regulations in which banks, ratings agencies, mortgage brokers, a whole bunch of folks start having to be much more accountable and behave much more responsibly because we can't put ourselves – we can't create the kinds of systemic risks that we're creating right now, particularly because everything is so interdependent. ”

“ And one of the things that I'm constantly mindful of are all the people I met during the campaign who were already struggling before things got worse: mothers and fathers who were working hard every day but didn't have healthcare, couldn't figure out how to send their kid to college. Now they're looking at pink slips, jobs being shipped overseas, that devastate entire towns. ”

“ In terms of carrots, I think that we can provide economic incentives that would be helpful to a country that, despite being a net oil producer, is under enormous strain, huge inflation, a lot of unemployment problems there. They could benefit from a more open economy and being part of the international economic system. ”

“ But we also have to focus on the sticks, and one of the main things that diplomacy can accomplish is to help knit together the kind of coalition with China and India and Russia and other countries that now do business with Iran to agree that, in order for us to change Iran's behavior, we may have to heighten up those sanctions, but we are willing to talk to them directly and give them a clear choice, and ultimately let them make a determination in terms of whether they want to do this the hard way or the easy way. ”

“ We've got to make sure that the economic stimulus plan is large enough to get the economy moving.
BROKAW: One of the great concerns in this country, of course, is additional job loss, which would be considerable if the Big Three in the auto industry in this country – GM, Ford, and Chrysler – were to go down. That drama has been playing out in Washington and across America. Do you think that the Big Three deserve to survive? ”

“ Thinking about the diversity of our culture and inviting jazz musicians and classical musicians and poetry readings in the White House so that once again we appreciate this incredible tapestry that's America. ”

“ And part of what I'm hoping to introduce as the next President is a new ethic of responsibility, where we say that, if you're laying off workers, the least you can do, when you're making $25 million a year is give up some of your compensation and some of your bonuses, figure out ways in which workers maybe have to take a haircut, but they can still keep their jobs, they can still keep their healthcare, and they can still stay in their homes. ”

“ And, you know, the real aberration has been over the last ten, fifteen years in which you've seen a huge shift in terms of resources to the wealthiest, and the vast majority of Americans taking home less and less. Their incomes, their wages have flatlined at a time that costs of everything have gone up, and we have actually become a more productive society. ”

“ So, what we want to do is actually go back to what has been the traditional pattern. We have a broad-based middle class, economic growth from the bottom-up. That, I think, will be the recipe for everybody doing better over the long term. ”

“ You know, they have been building better cars now than they were ten or fifteen or twenty years ago. They are making some investments in the kind of green technologies and the new batteries that would allow us to create plug-in hybrids. What we haven't seen is a sense of urgency and the willingness to make tough decisions, and what we still see are executive compensation packages for the auto industry that are out of line compared to their competitors, their Japanese competitors, who are doing a lot better. Now, it's not unique to the auto industry. ”

“ Number one, if a country is attacked, it has the right to defend itself. I think that is universally acknowledged. The second thing is that we need a strategic partnership with all the parties in the region – Pakistan and India and the Afghan Government – to stamp out the kind of militant, violent, terrorist extremists that have set up base camps and that are operating in ways that threaten the security of everybody in the international community. ”

“ I think we also should be working to figure out how we can get banks and homeowners to renegotiate the terms of their mortgages so that they are sustainable. The vast majority of people who are at threat of foreclosure are still making monthly payments, they want to stay in their homes, they want to stay in their communities, but the strains are enormous. ”

“ What we do need is, if taxpayer money is at stake, which it appears may be the case, we want to make sure that it is conditioned on a (n) auto industry emerging at the end of the process that actually works, that actually functions. The last thing I want to see happen is for the auto industry to disappear. ”

“ So, putting additional burdens on American families right now I think is a mistake. What we have to do long-term is make sure that we have an energy strategy that focuses on fuel efficient cars, that focuses on providing incentives for fuel efficient cars. ”

“ We have an enormously inefficient building stock, and we can save huge amounts of energy costs and reduce our dependence on foreign oil by simple things like weatherization and changing the lighting in major buildings. ”

“ We have specifically said that moving forward we have to have a housing component to any actions that we take. If we are only dealing with Wall Street and we're not dealing with Main Street, then we're only handling one half of the problem. ”

“ If they want to survive, then they better start building a fuel efficient car. And if they want to survive, they've got to recognize that the auto market is not going to be as large as some of their rosy scenarios that they put forward over the last several years. ”

“ As we saw in the opening, the world has gotten considerably worse since your election. There is no evidence that it's caused an effect, you should be happy to know, but nonetheless, we now are officially in a recession. It's around the world, and most analysts think it's going to get worse before it gets better. ”

“ Taxpayers, I think, are fed up. They're going through extraordinarily difficult times right now, and they want to see the kind of accountability that unfortunately we haven't always seen coming out of Washington. ”

“ And, finally, what about those homeowners out there who are struggling to do the responsible thing, to pay their mortgages, and now they look across the street and a neighbor may be getting bailed out, and so they feel they're the victim of a double-whammy. ”