MSNBC Interview - Transcript

Interview

MSNBC INTERVIEW WITH GOVERNOR TIM KAINE (D-VA)

SUBJECT: PRESIDENT OBAMA INTERVIEWER: DAVID SHUBERT

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MR. SHUBERT: The president's efforts to reach out to Republicans have not been met with much success so far, but nevertheless, the president, once again, tried to stake out some common ground in his speech last night.

PRESIDENT OBAMA (From video): I know that we haven't agreed on every issue thus far. There are surely times in the future where we will part ways, but I also know that every American who is sitting here tonight loves this country and wants it to succeed.

MR. SHUBERT: With us now is Virginia Governor Tim Kaine. Governor Kaine is also Chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Governor, first, what do you make of sort the bipartisanship in Washington right now? Does it exist or not?

GOV. KAINE: David, it does, because the president is holding out the hand and American folks see it. Congress may not yet have gotten it, but the American people get it, and so last night, 80 percent of Americans after the speech felt like they supported the president's plans for the economy.

I was just with governors for the last three days over the weekend in DC, the nation's governors, and the overwhelming majority of Republican governors, as well as all the Democrats are excited about what the president is doing on the stimulus and on other issues to deal with foreclosure.

So it may not yet be shown in the votes being cast inside the Capitol, but the American people are responding to the president's unified message that we have to hang together in a very challenging time.

MR. SHUBERT: You think Democrats, though, have learned anything from the past couple of weeks?

GOV. KAINE: Well, I think, you know, I think there has been a little bit of learning, you know, I saw when the president was reaching out his hand to the Republicans and he got no votes from House Republicans, I did see some Democrats saying, see, bipartisanship doesn't work, you should abandon it, et cetera, but with the overwhelming majority of Americans standing with the president and saying whatever our party, you're the right person to lead the nation now and you're approaching it the right way, I think everybody is realizing that this call for national unity is what the nation needs and it is what we need to do to get the economy moving again.

MR. SHUBERT: There is a divide over what the next priority should be. A number of Republicans, even a few centrist Democrats want the president to focus on fixing Social Security. A number of Democrats more to the left want him to deal with health care.

What's your view?

GOV. KAINE: Well, I think if you look at the issues that he's dealing with on potential deficits in the future, I think you might argue that Medicaid and Medicare are much more serious down the road than the Social Security challenge. The president has said we have to cut the deficit in half by the end of his term and he's going to embark on an ambitious and long-term effort to do that, but I think the key issue right now has to be getting the economy going and the president understands that part of economic renewal in this country is putting a down payment in the stimulus bill that we will then carry forward with reforms, both to the health care system and to creating a better energy future for the country.

Those aren't separate from economic renewal; they're part of economic renewal and that's why it's important for the president to tackle those as soon as he can.

MR. SHUBERT: Governor, I seem to remember you delivering the Democratic response to one of these speeches when President Bush was in office. I want to play for you something that Bobby Jindal, the Governor of Louisiana said last night and get your reaction. Here's Bobby Jindal.

GOV. KAINE: Sure.

GOVERNOR BOBBY JINDAL (R-LA) (From video): Republicans want to work with President Obama. We appreciate his message of hope, but sometimes, it seems like we look for hope in different places. Democratic leaders in Washington, they place their hope in the federal government. We place our hope in you, the American people.

MR. SHUBERT: First of all, since you've been in that exact spot, I know you disagree in terms of the message, but how did he do in terms of tone and delivery? And what do you make of the sharp reactions today to Bobby Jindal's remarks last night?

GOV. KAINE: Well, I think he delivered the speech well for the points that he was making, but he was just kind of out of step with what the American people are wanting to see from leaders right now. So, for example, the point -- the clip that you played about not trusting the American people, a core piece of the stimulus package was tax cuts to working American families, 95 percent of American working families make less than $150,000 a year and a core of the stimulus package was to give them tax cuts that begin April 1.

So when he tried to kind of paint the stimulus as not helping regular Americans, he's just wrong. I think the American people understand that and that's why, overwhelmingly, you see folks embracing President Obama's plans to get the economy going again.

MR. SHUBERT: And never mind the argument, it must be nerve- racking to have to wait for the president's speech and then deliver your own. What was it like for you? Was it as nervous as it seemed it was for Bobby Jindal last night?

GOV. KAINE: You know, David, I had been in office about ten days and I didn't even have time to be nervous until I was standing in front of the camera finally and I saw somebody counting, three, two, one and I thought, I'm going to be talking to hundreds of millions of people.

So I can watch it now and see I was a little nervous for the first 15 seconds or so, but look, it's tough to follow the President of the United States, I mean, I felt that and I'm sure Governor Jindal did, too, but the system we have is a great system and there ought to be a response from the other party, and again, I thought he delivered it well, it was just that the message, I don't think, is a fit with where the American people are right now.

MR. SHUBERT: Governor Tim Kaine, head of the DNC. Governor, thanks for coming in this morning, always a pleasure to talk to you.

GOV. KAINE: Thanks, David. Look forward to talking again.

END.

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