November 26, 2004: Obama on `Letterman': Hawaii, Cat Stevens, Karl Rove

[lilfroggy]

November 26, 2004: Obama on `Letterman': Hawaii, Cat Stevens, Karl Rove

Senator-elect Barack Obama stops by "The Late Show With David Letterman" on Friday, and because we're psychic, we know exactly what went down between Letterman and Obama. Nah, the truth is, CBS sent us a partial transcript of Obama's appearance, which we thought was pretty entertaining. To see the whole interview, watch the show at 10:30 p.m. on WBBM-Ch. 2.

Letterman: "Welcome to the show, nice to see you. Thank you very much for being here. Right off the top here, tell me, what were the dreams from your father? What is that referencing?"

Obama: "Well, you know, I have a mixed-up background. First thing people ask me is, `Where did you get that funny name, Barack Obama?' Although, you know, you had a Top 10 List, but you missed a couple."

Letterman: "Yeah, ` Ways to Mispronounce Barack Obama.'"

Obama: "There was `Alabama' and `Yo Mama.'" (audience laughs)

Letterman: "And as a kid, you were in Hawaii, is that right?"

Obama: "I was in Hawaii, and so I think the main reason my wife married me was I still had family in Hawaii and she figured --"

Letterman: (laughs) " -- She needs a vacation." (audience laughs)

Obama: (laughing) "Yeah, that's what I'm saying. You know, she's from Chicago. She's thinking, `I've been looking for warm weather for a while."

Letterman: " . . . Now, let's talk about -- was I right about you? You've been in the state Senate for . . . ?"

Obama: "I was in the state Senate for eight years, and then I decided to run for the United States Senate, and people's general estimation was he'd probably be the best U.S. senator, the guy's done good work, but he's got no money, he's got no organization, and nobody can pronounce his name so it's not likely he's going to win." (audience laughs)

Letterman: (laughs) "But the thing about your name, it's easy to pronounce and it's cool." (audience laughs)

Obama: "Well, that's what I think, that's what I think." "You know, there were some advisers who told me to change my name."

Letterman: "Really?"

Obama: "Yeah, and somebody suggested Cat Stevens, for example."

Letterman: (laughs) "Ah." (audience laughs, Letterman continues to laugh; audience applauds)

Obama: "I decided, I decided that wasn't going to work."

Letterman: " . . . Now was there a guy running for Senate, maybe an incumbent, maybe not, I think a Republican, and he had a problem because he and his wife would go to strip clubs and have sex."

Obama: (laughing) "Well, that was --" (audience laughs)

Letterman: "Did I dream that? Does any of this ring a bell?"

Obama: "I, uh -- there were some issues, some allegations." (audience laughs)

Letterman: (laughs) "Yeah."

Obama: "But we didn't touch that stuff."

Letterman: "I see."

Obama: "We took the high road, and --"

Letterman: "Now is this who you were running against, or he dropped out, right?"

Obama: "Yeah, he dropped out -- yeah, the Republicans, you know, they seem to have a lot of fun given all their moral values stuff." (Letterman, audience laugh) "They enjoy themselves."

Letterman: "It sounded like fun to me."

Letterman: "Have you met the president? You must know the president?"

Obama: "Well, you know, he called me. He was very gracious. After the election, he gave me a call and we both agreed that we'd married up, and then he invited me over to the White House and we had breakfast with Dick Cheney and Karl Rove, and it was a real fun time."

Letterman: (laughs) "Yeah, it sounds like . . . (audience applauds) yeah, it sounds like Mardi Gras. . . . " (audience laughs)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/chi-tribtv,1,1694646.story?coll=chi-homepagenews2-utl

[candy]

1. It was a great interview----Obama has one thing that is missing---

in much of the USA today-----CLASS!!!!!!!

[lilfroggy]

2. But how can you ENJOY a breakfast with Shrub and Rove? n/t

[candy]

3. Maybe he didn't enjoy the breakfast but has too much----

class to say so.

I thoroughly admire him for this attribute and I'm sure he'll go far.

[BluegrassDem]

4. Obama is very likeable!

I saw that Letterman show. Obama just had the the quips for every answer. And he appears extremely likeable. This guy has "PRESIDENT" written all over him. I just don't know when. But he's the kinda guy that you can like even if you don't like what he says. If Mr. Kerry just had an ounce of his charisma, he'd won the election, IMO.