Discussion of Obama's Acceptance Speech
ANNOUNCER: Live breaking news, unfolding developments, see for yourself in the</s>CNN NEWSROOM. HARRIS: One presidential candidate about to make headlines while another makes history. Republican John McCain set to announce his choice for a running mate. McCain will appear with his VP pick at a rally in Dayton, Ohio in less than three hours. Democrat Barack Obama returns to the campaign trail in Pennsylvania today after accepting his party's nomination in a rousing speech last night. Obama, as you know, is the first African-American to lead a major party ticket in the race for the White House. But we are still trying to do our best to track the VP choice -- the VP choice of John McCain. And we have got our correspondents, the best political team on television, at least at the moment led by yours truly, trying to find whatever we can. A lot of tea leaves being read right now. Some potential head fakes as well. John King reporting just a short time ago that Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty is the only one that we are aware of at this moment who has received a call from the McCain campaign indicating and informing him that he is not the pick. That's essentially what we know right now. The rest of it, at least at this point, is speculation and informed speculation. Our Suzanne Malveaux is with us on the phone right now. Suzanne, great to talk to you. I feel like I want to attempt to do a couple of things with you at this time. And we have a couple of moments together. First of all, I want to know if there's anything you have learned about the process that is going on right now that we're following so closely as -- to try to determine who John McCain has selected as his</s>VP. SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, obviously, camp Obama's following this very closely. They're watching and waiting and reading the tea leaves as we are. Obviously, they had a really, what they feel, is a successful night last night. And the big question is really who is going to be the next sparring partner --</s>HARRIS: Yes.</s>MALVEAUX: for Barack Obama as well as his running mate Joe Biden. So they -- like us are awaiting news.</s>HARRIS: Sure.</s>MALVEAUX: But, yes, Barack Obama last night made history. And they feel like -- I was actually down on the floor when it happened. The enthusiasm, the excitement, the crowds, obviously, there was a lot of anticipation and the feeling was that he had to come out and hit hard against John McCain. That that was something they need to come out with the specifics on health care as well as education and education that he needed to talk about the fact that, hey, I get it. Some people not believing that he is ready to become commander in chief addressing that directly. And to talk about some of the details, not this kind of soaring redirect, but details --</s>HARRIS: Yes.</s>MALVEAUX: -- about some of those plans.</s>HARRIS: Well, you know, it's interesting, Suzanne. I mean I -- can't imagine. It felt like a tricky speech to give. And like you, I'm sure, I read through some of the excerpts of the speech before it was delivered and it just appeared to be a really tricky speech to deliver. So many themes he was trying to hit and so much ground he was trying to cover. There were absolute moments when it felt like a State of the Union address where the laundry list was offered up, and then there were the moments where he connected to his family, tying that to the American family. It was quite an extraordinary speech to have to deliver, I thought.</s>MALVEAUX: One of the things that he had to do was that he had to really kind of knock down some of the criticisms from John McCain and his camp.</s>HARRIS: Yes. Yes.</s>MALVEAUX: Talking about the economy, a lot of times, they accused him of not -- actually being able to pay for some of the things that he's talking about. The tax cuts that he said he would give to the working class. But he outlined very specifically what he intended to do. He provided some details that you usually don't hear in this kind of acceptance, kind of a grand sweeping acceptance speech. He got a standing ovation when he talked about energy independence and 10 years having the United States get off its dependency from --</s>HARRIS: Yes.</s>MALVEAUX: -- foreign sources of oil. And, as you know, there was -- the whole racial component that he has not really made a part of his -- a part of his campaign, at least reluctantly, so --</s>HARRIS: Yes.</s>MALVEAUX: -- but he was the first African-American nominee for president from a major party on the 45th anniversary of Dr. King's...</s>HARRIS: Yes.</s>MALVEAUX: -- "I Have a Dream" speech.</s>HARRIS: Well, Suzanne, let's do this.</s>MALVEAUX: Certainly, the symbol is not lost.</s>HARRIS: Suzanne, let's do this for that moment. Let me advise you to stay on the line with this and revisit some of the moments from last night's speech from Barack Obama. And then let's talk about it on the other side. But one of the moments from last night's speech in Denver. All right. Obviously, you're looking at a lot of the atmospherics of last night. And now I think we have the sound ready. Do we have the sound ready? OK, let's go to -- if we do. Oh, we don't have the sound ready. OK, Suzanne Malveaux is back on the line with us. And Suzanne, if you would, you were talking about, you know, some of the history-making aspects of last night. Talk to us about some of the reactions that you witnessed with your own two eyes being on the floor there -- on the field at</s>INVESCO. MALVEAUX: Well, Tony, it really was an extraordinary scene. And the energy, the excitement of the crowd. We were about three rows from the stage. So we got a very good up close look at what was happening. If you can imagine just the kind of the sights and sounds, more than 80,000 people gathered in one place, cheering and clapping. And a lot of people were crying during this moment when he accepted the nomination. I talked to a lot of people afterwards, went up to the Iowa section where it all started -- the Iowa caucuses. And a woman -- I met a woman who met him at Senator Harkin's steak fry two years ago. And she became a volunteer. She said she did everything from sweeping the confetti off the floors to knocking on doors to recruiting volunteers herself. She became a trainer. And she knew him for about three years or so. She spent much of her life really believing in Barack Obama. And she said, you know, I'm like many people here. She said 95 percent of Iowa voters are white. And she was one of them. And she said, you know, I really saw something that was special and very different in Barack Obama. And she said, we really believe in him.</s>HARRIS: Yes.</s>MALVEAUX: We saw that. And there's a lot of, a lot of African- American people who also were just overwhelmed.</s>HARRIS: Yes. And I thought it was a nice touch --</s>MALVEAUX: Never thought they --</s>HARRIS: Yes.</s>MALVEAUX: -- see that in their life.</s>HARRIS: Yes. I thought it was a nice touch to see the John McCain ad congratulating Barack Obama on the historic achievement. I thought it was a nice touch. I guess some would quibble with it but I won't be one of those. Suzanne Malveaux with us this morning -- Suzanne, terrific work in Denver and great to talk to you this morning. Alex Castellanos is with us now. He is a Republican media strategist. He's joining us from New York. And Alex, good to talk to you. Good to see you again. It's been a while.</s>ALEX CASTELLANOS, REPUBLICAN MEDIA CONSULTANT: Good to see you.</s>HARRIS: You know, I'm curious in a couple of things with you this morning. Let's talk about, if you would, some of the things that you believe Barack Obama did well last night. And then, let's talk about some of the areas that you think are open to attack next week.</s>CASTELLANOS: Well, the list of things he did well is a long list. We could be here a while. It was a terrific speech. And, you know, even from the Republican point of view, we should cede him that. He demonstrated strength.</s>HARRIS: Hey, Alex, did you think it was a nice touch? I thought it was, and I'm sure some will quibble. I thought it was a nice touch for John McCain to acknowledge the accomplishments and the historic nature of last night.</s>CASTELLANOS: Very much so, you know? And we saw that from both sides. Obama reached out. I thought he drew his differences with John McCain sharply, but respectfully, and I thought Senator McCain did the same thing from the other side of the aisle, and said this is an important day for the country. We've -- it shows progress that we've made in some important areas and that maybe -- maybe there are things we can all agree on and achieve. So, yes, I thought it was something that's been lacking in our politics a little bit and it was nicely done.</s>HARRIS: You know, I thought there were moments where it felt a bit like a State of the Union address where, you know, you go through the laundry list. And I thought that that was the moment potentially where folks would sort of glaze over. And, you know, I suppose it was all of the energy in the stadium and perhaps the way he delivered it. I guess, he delivered it as best you can that kind of content which can tend to be a little on the walkish side. I'm wondering what you saw there that leaves him vulnerable to attack and are we going to hear the experience line again and a lot early and often next week?</s>CASTELLANOS: I think there are two or three things that leave him vulnerable. One of them is he explained very clearly that he was going to balance out his plan. He was going to pay for everything he was proposing, which was quite a lot, and that he was going to cut taxes on 95 percent of working families. What he didn't say and is that that leaves taxes to be raised on business. And so if you get a paycheck from a business or if you buy anything from a business, guess who's going to end up paying? And I think what you're going to hear Republicans say, look, Barack Obama's, you know, is a little bit of a trick here. He says he's not going to take water out of your side of the bucket, he's going to take it out of the other side of the bucket. And you know, we're all in the same bucket. And I think most people understand that. The other thing, I think, is he made a claim last night that it's going to, I think, require a little bit more investigation. He said -- he basically said that if Washington doesn't help you, you're on your own in America. And that's a pretty strong statement, you know? That means that churches don't help you, that means your community doesn't help you, that means your neighbor doesn't help you.</s>HARRIS: Yes.</s>CASTELLANOS: The only way to get anything done in America is to send your money to Washington.</s>HARRIS: Yes.</s>CASTELLANOS: Let it travel all around the bureaucracy and then try to get it back to somewhere and actually government may not be the best way to help people in a lot of situations.</s>HARRIS: Well, Alex, I would love to take a moment -- OK, great, I have another moment. We're going to get to John Roberts in just a couple of moments. But, in terms of the tax issues that you raised from the speech last night, do you take him at his word where he says that let me find and close some of these loopholes. Let me make corporations more responsible for the taxes that they rightly owe each and every one of us in this country. Do you take him at his word that before he increases taxes in other areas, on the top 1, 5 percent, before he increases rates for corporations, that he will at least look to see where loopholes can be closed and where folks who owe pay?</s>CASTELLANOS: I think there's --</s>HARRIS: Do you take his word on that?</s>CASTELLANOS: Absolutely. I sure would. And I think I would take both sides at their words on that. I think both sides have been very clear that bringing a little bit more tax fairness is something that the nation has really reached consensus on. So I would expect Democrats and Republicans to try to achieve that.</s>HARRIS: Yes, Alex, great to see you. Thanks for your time this morning. And I know we'll be talking to you a lot next week. We're going to take a break. More of our coverage of, boy, so much politics today. Who is John McCain's choice for number two on his ticket? We're going to be talking to John Roberts in Denver in just a couple of moments. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.