Obama's Interview With Jim Lehrer Dec. 23

Full transcript.
An excerpt:

JIM LEHRER: Are you going to actually participate with -

PRESIDENT OBAMA: We are - we are - we hope to have a whole bunch of folks over here in the West Wing, and I'll be rolling up my sleeves and spending some time before the full Congress even gets into session, because the American people need it now. I mean, something that's gotten lost, Jim, during the course of this debate - because this is how Washington works - it ends up being, well, did the president win on that one or did he lose on that one? What's Joe Lieberman doing today, and what's Mitch McConnell doing tomorrow?

Right now there are families who don't have health insurance and, as a consequence of somebody getting sick in their family, have been bankrupt. Right now there are small businesses who've been doing the right thing by their employees and just got a notice from their insurance companies that their premiums went up 25, 30, 40 percent; and that business owner's having to make a decision, do I start dropping coverage for my employees or do I have to lay off one employee to keep coverage for everybody else?

Those kinds of decisions are happening right now. And so, you know, I intend to work as hard as I have to work, especially after coming this far over the course of the year, to make sure that we finally close the deal.

Obama's NPR Interview Dec. 23

Bo has nothing to do with healthcare. Or does he? But he's so cute.
Obama says some on the left ignoring the reality of this legislation:

"This notion, I know, among some on the left that somehow this bill is not everything that it should be -- that we still need a single-payer plan ... just ignores the real human reality that this will help millions of people and end up being the most significant piece of domestic legislation at least since Medicare and maybe since Social Security."

Obama has an interview today with Jim Lehrer as well.

Brooks and Shields on Obama's Nobel Speech

Columnists David Brooks and Mark Shields discuss "just war" and Obama's Nobel speech. Brooks brings up Reinhold Niebuhr, a theologian that Obama has studied. Here is a fascinating discussion earlier this year between E.J. Dionne and David Brooks on Reinhold Niebuhr and his influence on Obama.

Obama's Interview With Jim Lehrer

This interview took place today. Obama says he's invigorated by the challenges:

Obama responds to complaints from democrats on the Iraq withdrawal:

What's left to do in Iraq:

Debate Could Turn Obama Town Hall

Obama is going to show up and if McCain hasn't taken off his Superman outfit by tomorrow, Obama may do a town hall. 

Presidential Debates Include Town Hall

Poster at obamaartreport.com

Of the three presidential debates there will be one town hall style, one table style and a traditional podium debate.

Politico:
THE CAMPAIGNS THIS MORNING RELEASED A JOINT STATEMENT ON DEBATES:

Summary Of McCain-Obama Debate Agreement:

The two campaigns agreed today on a framework for four General Election debates, to be sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates. Key elements of the agreement are:

1. First Presidential Debate:
- Date: September 26
- Site: University of Mississippi
- Topic: Foreign Policy & National Security
- Moderator: Jim Lehrer
- Staging: Podium debate
- Answer Format: The debate will be broken into nine, 9-minute segments. The moderator will introduce a topic and allow each candidate 2 minutes to comment. After these initial answers, the moderator will facilitate an open discussion of the topic for the remaining 5 minutes, ensuring that both candidates receive an equal amount of time to comment

2. Vice Presidential Debate
- Date: October 2nd
- Site: Washington University (St. Louis)
- Moderator: Gwen Ifill
- Staging/Answer Format: To be resolved after both parties' Vice Presidential nominees are selected.

3. Second Presidential Debate
- Date: October 7
- Site: Belmont University
- Moderator: Tom Brokaw
- Staging: Town Hall debate
- Format: The moderator will call on members of the audience (and draw questions from the internet). Each candidate will have 2 minutes to respond to each question. Following those initial answers, the moderator will invite the candidates to respond to the previous answers, for a total of 1 minute, ensuring that both candidates receive an equal amount of time to comment. In the spirit of the Town Hall, all questions will come from the audience (or internet), and not the moderator.

4. Third Presidential Debate
- Date: October 15
- Site: Hofstra University
- Topic: Domestic and Economic policy
- Moderator: Bob Schieffer
- Staging: Candidates will be seated at a table
- Answer Format: Same as First Presidential Debate
- Closing Statements: At the end of this debate (only) each candidate shall have the opportunity for a 90 second closing statement.
All four debates will begin at 9pm ET, and last for 90 minutes. Both campaigns also agreed to accept the CPD's participation rules for third-party candidate participation.