Obama Needs 'a Little Bit More Time' to Decide on '08
Nov. 13. 2006 — -- Just days after the midterm elections, speculation about who will be on the ballot for the 2008 presidential elections is already running rampant.
One of the politicians getting the most buzz is Barack Obama, the Democratic senator from Illinois.
ABC's Diane Sawyer sat down with him for an exclusive interview about his plans for '08, his views on Iraq, and on today's groundbreaking for the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial.
The presidential election will be the most open one in 80 years. It will be the first time since 1928 that a sitting president or vice president won't be running.
Obama said he wasn't ready to throw his name into the race for the Oval Office.
"It's only been three [days] or four days" since the midterm elections, he said. "I need a little bit more time than that."
If Obama were to vie for the Democratic nomination, one of his likely contenders would be New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Though he and Clinton would make nontraditional candidates, Obama said he didn't think race or gender mattered that much in the end, even though he acknowledged it was a barrier that still needed to be overcome.
"My sense is whether it's an African-American candidate, a woman -- if there's a nontraditional candidate running, there's an additional threshold you have to meet. … You have to show more confidence, but once you do, people are willing to judge you as an individual," he said. "The key thing is getting known."
In Iraq, Obama emphasized the need to curb sectarian violence and bring Iraq's neighbors, including Syria and Iran, to the negotiation table.
"The problem at this time is really sectarian violence," he said. "The current Iraqi government doesn't have the resources."
Obama plans to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in Washington, D.C., later today.
Discussing one of his favorite quotes from the civil rights leader, Obama hinted at what may be a key principle of his potential platform.
"He gathered people together and said, 'The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice,'" Obama said. "What I tell people is that progress doesn't happen on its own. God expects us to bend that arc in the direction of justice."
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