All language subtitles for The.2000s.S01E06.Yes.We.Can.1080p.NF.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.x264-DEEP_track3_[eng]

[dramatic musical sting]

- I'm voting for Barack Obama

not because he's black.

I'm voting for Barack Obama

because he's brilliant.

- This is very personal for me.

- Presidential campaigns

are tough business.

- I feel change in the air!

- The Democratic Party

has thrown us women aside!

- We're gonna go to Washington

and we're gonna

shake things up.

[gunfire]

- I can't trust Obama.

He's an Arab.

- The first African-American

president

of the United States.

- Failure to act now

will turn crisis

into a catastrophe.

[crowd chanting]

- It's not health reform.

This is control!

- How is that hopey-changey

stuff working out for ya?

[dramatic orchestral music]

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]

- The American people

have sent a resounding

and unmistakable message

of change and new direction

for America.

[cheers and applause]

- It's been just five days

since Democrats

took control of both houses

of Congress,

but already, the focus

is shifting

to the next big

political prize:

the White House.

- When the election season

begins in 2007,

the climate is not very good

if you are a Republican.

The war in Iraq is

very unpopular

and many Democrats think they

can win the presidency.

- Senator Biden now joining

a growing list

of Democratic candidates

who are announcing

their intentions for '08.

- On the Democratic side, you

had a lot of candidates:

senators like Chris Dodd,

and Joe Biden,

John Edwards,

Bill Richardson.

And you looked at all these

people who were running

and, in the end,

you thought, well,

this is gonna be

Hillary Clinton's time.

- For some time now,

it has been no secret

that Senator Hillary Clinton

would run for president.

But today on her website,

she made it official.

- I'm not just starting a

campaign, though.

I'm beginning a conversation.

- After six years as

a senator,

people believe in our poll

by overwhelming margins

that she has the credentials

and the leadership skills

to be president.

- I'm in it to win it,

with your help.

- She'd had a lot

of experience,

her husband had been

president--

a pretty

popular president.

She had all the money,

she had all the backers,

she had all the big names.

It looked like

a pretty sure bet.

- Senator Barack Obama

threw his hat

into the crowded ring today

in Springfield, Illinois.

- One thing you can say

with certainty

about Illinois senator

Barack Obama

is that there has never been

another presidential candidate

like him.

He has a foreign-sounding name

that rhymes with Osama,

his middle name is Hussein,

and he's admitted to using

marijuana and cocaine

as a teenager.

Racially, he is half black,

half white,

and in terms of political

experience, green.

- As a Senate candidate

in 2004,

Barack Obama stepped onto

the national stage

and wowed the Democratic

National Convention

with his eloquence.

- There is not

a liberal America

and a conservative America.

There is the United States

of America.

[cheers and applause]

There is not a black America

and a white America

and Latino America

and Asian America.

There is the United States

of America.

- I encouraged Barack Obama

to give thought to the

presidency early on.

I felt that he could really

bring people together.

And, increasingly,

the longer you're

in Washington,

the less viable you are.

- America is hungry for change.

America wants something new.

- Propelled by the media,

hungry for a fresh face

and a good story,

he has graced the covers

of "TIME" and "Newsweek,"

the pages of "Men's Vogue,"

and has been endorsed

by Oprah,

a far cry from the way

he's treated

in the corridors of power

in Washington,

where he is 88th on the

Senate's list of seniority.

- The Clintons looked

at Obama and said,

"You're not qualified

to be president."

They liked him, they thought

he had a great future,

but their view was

this--you don't run

for president

after you've been in Senate

for, like,

a week and a half.

- Early polls show him third,

trailing both

Senator Hillary Clinton

and John Edwards.

- We got two

different Americas.

We got one for all those

who are doing very, very well,

and then one

for everybody else.

- Edwards is focused on an

eradication of poverty,

but the 2008 election

was all about the war in Iraq.

- You said that if you were

president in 2002,

you would have not

gone into war.

- Right.

- However, how can you

then explain

the seeming contradiction

from your voting

to support the invasion?

- I do not believe that...

most of us who voted to give

the president authority

thought he would so misuse

the authority we gave him.

- Hillary Clinton

tries to explain it away.

And that was ultimately

unsatisfactory,

especially on an issue

that was so divisive.

- I am proud that I opposed

this war from the start,

because I thought

that it would lead

to some--the disastrous uh,

conditions

that we've seen

on the ground in Iraq.

- Obama was really smart,

extraordinarily articulate,

but vague.

-I went on your website

to find...

- Right.

- Some information about you,

and I was wondering,

what really are

your top issues?

'Cause it's not online.

- Right, well, I'm not sure

whether

you're going to

the campaign website

or my Senate website.

- At a health care forum,

he didn't deliver.

And critics say a foreign

policy speech this week

was long on vision,

short on specifics.

- 2007 was a tough year

for Obama.

He seemed to be

trying to wing it.

He had yet to

demonstrate to people

that he really

understood policy.

- That's Sharpton's BlackBerry.

[laughter]

Is that Hillary calling?

- Obama is having trouble

convincing Democrats

to say, "I'm gonna go

with Obama over Clinton."

They did not want to risk

losing this election.

- I'm not asking that you take

me on a leap of faith.

I'm asking you to look

at the evidence

and the record.

- We were feeling pretty good

about her prospects.

But our polling showed

there was this obstacle

for her to prove that

she could, indeed,

be commander in chief

even though she was a woman.

- When you are attacked, you

have to deck your opponents.

And that is what I believe.

- So we were running

on the fact that

she was incredibly

experienced.

She could start this job

on day one

and just go.

-Senator Hillary Clinton

has more than doubled her lead

over Barack Obama.

- We were as far as

30 points behind

in the national polls,

and our view was,

if we didn't win

the first primary in Iowa,

there would be no chance

to win the nomination.

And so he spent more than

80 days there in 2007...

- Can I say hello?

- Meeting one-on-one

and in small groups.

- Are any of

these people over 30?

[all laughing]

- Nope.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- I am on my way to Mason City,

and then to Sioux City,

and then to Council Bluffs,

and then out and around.

[laughing]

- How many people are going

canvassing today?

[cheers and applause]

It's a little brisk outside.

It'll be good for you.

Walk quick.

Talk fast.

- It's time that we moved

from sound bites

to sound solutions.

- We need to continue

to press,

keep the energy up.

There is a huge momentum.

- Iowa, you can make

the difference.

- Tomorrow night, the future

of the free world

is riding on your shoulders.

[laughter]

Don't feel any pressure.

♪ ♪

-Tonight, across this state,

in all 99 counties,

neighbors are gathering,

huddled together

under the banner of their

chosen candidate.

- An unprecedented turnout,

due in large part

to the unusually high number

of first-time caucus-goers.

- The stereotypical Iowa

caucus-goer

is, you know...

older, female.

What Barack Obama did was,

he went after

the young people.

And we all thought,

"Well, that's just silly."

[laughing] "I mean,

they're never gonna vote."

We were horribly,

horribly wrong.

- CNN is now ready to project

that Senator Barack Obama

will win the Iowa Democratic

caucuses.

A dramatic development indeed.

- Iowa's the whitest place

outside the North Pole.

I mean, he's not just--

he's not just winning,

he's winning handily there.

- No black people are supposed

to win in Iowa

'cause there ain't no black

people in Iowa, right?

So how did this happen?

And they said, "Wait a minute.

What does this mean

going forward?"

- We are one nation.

We are one people.

And our time

for change has come.

-There is something stirring

around the country.

It started last week

in Iowa.

And now, it's happening here

in New Hampshire.

- The Obama steamroller pulled

into New Hampshire today,

catapulted by the big win

in Iowa

and eager for more.

- The victory in Iowa

invested us with

a kind of hubris

that was visible.

I mean, we campaigned around

New Hampshire

like a conquering army.

- We are about to make history,

and you want to be a

part of it.

- I've been a lifelong

Republican

who is now

a registered Democrat.

- All because of Barack Obama?

- Correct.

- Barack Obama is surging here.

Nine points ahead

of Hillary Clinton

in one of the latest polls,

where just a few days ago,

they were tied.

But Senator Clinton

is fighting back hard.

- I don't know, since when

experience

became some kind of liability

in running for the highest

office in our land.

- She got really gritty.

And was like, "I'm gonna fight

this thing out, town by town."

- This day, this last

high-pressure day

before the New Hampshire

primary

turned into a day

unlike any other

on the campaign trail

for Hillary Clinton.

- She's taken aback

by what's happened.

She's losing against this guy

named Barack Obama

who no one had ever

heard of months before.

And she's frustrated.

You can tell. It's palpable.

- As a woman, I know it's hard

to get out of the house

and to get ready

and question is very personal:

how do you do it?

How do you keep upbeat

and so wonderful?

- It's not easy.

It's not easy.

And I couldn't do it

if I just didn't...

you know, passionately believe

it was the right thing to do.

[starts, exhales]

You know, I have so many

opportunities

from this country.

I just don't want to see us

fall backwards.

[voice breaking] You know?

So...

[stirring music]

- All anyone is talking about

is Hillary Clinton and that

rare display of emotion.

- And some are wondering

if the pressure

is actually

getting to her.

- If the emotional strain

is too much to bear

on the way to the Oval Office,

how can we expect Hillary

to handle it

once she's sitting behind

that big desk?

- You know, presidential

campaigns are tough business,

but, uh, being president

of the United States

is also very tough business.

- They attacked her

as a woman.

You know? If we cry,

then we're weak.

- What would happen if

Barack Obama cried

on the campaign trail?

- They'd probably say he was

a very sensitive male.

- Yeah.

- [laughing]

- That was a moment that

working women could say,

"You know what?

She's relatable for once."

And they came out the next day

in New Hampshire

to support her.

- Senator Hillary Clinton

has shocked

the political world.

She has beaten Barack Obama.

- I listened to you,

and in the process,

I found my own voice.

[cheers and applause]

- This just had to be a blow

to Barack Obama

and his campaign.

They really thought

they had this.

- They came expecting

a coronation.

Instead, Barack Obama

had to concede.

However, they're not

throwing in the towel

by any means.

- The energy is all on Barack

Obama and Hillary Clinton.

So we get through all

of these first primaries,

and John Edwards

and his two Americas

are not getting any traction.

- It's time for me

to step aside

so that history

can blaze its path.

- It is now certain

that for the first time

in America,

a major political party

will nominate either a woman

or an African-American

to be its candidate

for president.

- I feel change in the air!

What about you?

- The United States

political royalty

was endorsing this

first-term senator

and turning his back

on the Clintons.

For the Clintons,

it was personal

because they had worked

with Ted Kennedy,

they were friends

with Ted Kennedy,

and it was a real blow for us.

Hillary said, "Where do we go

from here?"

And frankly, we didn't

have the answer.

- Hillary Clinton never

anticipated, expected

to have a well-financed

opponent,

well-organized opponent like

Barack Obama.

- Her entire strategy

is based on

winning early on

and closing down shop,

moving on to

the general election.

But that's not happening.

They're out of money,

and that is a huge problem.

But she fights,

and keeps fighting.

- How are you?

- Clinton has loaned her

campaign

$5 million

of her own money

to see her through

the near term.

- I am going to keep

making our case

until we have a nominee,

whoever she may be.

[cheers and applause]

- Every chair should have had

one of these cards.

I want you to fill it out.

Uh, I want you to become

part of this process.

- People underestimated not

just him as a candidate,

but the political operation

that he was able

to put into place.

And I think his background

in community organizing

helped throughout the campaign.

- Call these folks up and tell

them you will go with them.

- The two campaigns

have pursued

markedly different strategies.

Clinton has focused her

attention on the big prizes:

New York, New Jersey,

California,

where large populations mean

lots of convention delegates.

Obama is hoping

to run the board.

He's visited 15 states

in the past week,

including red states like

Kansas and Idaho.

- They told me there weren't

any Democrats in Idaho.

[cheers and applause]

But I didn't believe them.

- Since the 1960s,

the Democrats had catered

to this white, moderate middle.

But Obama decides

to appeal to a new generation

of young folks

and to usually alienated

communities of color.

- How's it going, Saint Louis?

- And he was able to change

the Democratic map

and really open it up again.

- Turnout is off-the-charts

heavy.

10,000 voters in one county

the first day,

ten times the turnout in the

last presidential election.

- Obama's campaign also

harnessed the Internet

as an organizing

and fundraising tool.

- Over $100 million online

from one, uh, 1.5 million

people.

- It allowed him to compete

well past Super Tuesday,

out-spending Clinton

every step of the way.

- Obama not only has momentum,

he's starting to pull away.

In the delegate count

he has a sizeable lead.

- We're turning out to be

a scrappy little team.

- Barack Obama was the first

black candidate

who really had a chance

to win.

He was cruising along and then,

out come these tapes.

- Barack knows what it means

to be a black man

living in a country

and a culture

that is controlled

by rich, white people.

Hillary can never know that.

Hillary ain't never

been called a [bleep].

- New polls say Barack Obama

is taking a big hit

because of his pastor.

- The government gives them

the drugs,

builds bigger prisons,

passes a three-strike law,

and then wants us to sing

"God Bless America"?

No, no, no.

Not "God Bless America."

God damn America.

That's in the Bible.

- Here you have the scary

black preacher

saying things that are clearly

anti-American.

It had the potential

to derail his candidacy.

- That Reverend Wright looks

like a raving maniac.

- I'm fearful that Obama

feels the same way.

- This is gonna scare the hell

out of white people.

And you know that that's true.

- No, it is designed to

attempt to scare.

- Why have you been listening

to this pastor

and close to him

for nearly 20 years?

- Reverend Wright is somebody

who is...

uh, is like a uncle or a

family member

who you may strongly object

to what they have to say.

- I mean, uncles

are blood relatives

who you're kind of stuck with

at family gatherings

even when they say

outrageous things,

you know, you can't

get rid of them.

You can walk out of a church.

I mean, you can go up to a

pastor and say,

"This is wrong."

- Well, and as I said--

- He went on cable TV

and just got pummeled.

- Do you repudiate the man?

Do you repudiate the comments?

- And he called me

that night and he said,

"I want to make

a speech on race."

- Senator Barack Obama was

working on this speech on race

until early this morning.

He's hoping, of course,

not only to defuse

the controversy about

those incendiary remarks...

- We were in the greenroom,

and Senator Obama

turned to me and said,

"I know everybody's nervous,

"but I'm gonna go out there

and give this speech.

"And maybe people

won't accept it.

"And then I won't be president

of the United States,

but at least I'll have said

what I want to say."

He said, "And that's

worth something."

- I have already condemned

in unequivocal terms

the statements of Reverend

Wright that have caused

such controversy.

As imperfect as he may be,

he has been like family to me.

I can no more disown him

than I can disown

my white grandmother,

a woman who loves me

as much as she loves

anything in this world,

but a woman who once confessed

her fear of black men

who passed her by

on the street.

These people are part of me.

And they are part of America,

this country that I love.

- I thought it was

taking a moment

that is normally responded to

by a politician

with denials and avoidance--

"We're not gonna comment

any further"--

and instead he made something

useful out of it.

- The profound mistake of

Reverend Wright's sermons

is not that he spoke about

racism in our society.

It's that he spoke as if

our society was static.

What we know...

is that America can change.

- Hillary Clinton had a chance

to catch Obama from behind.

But when Obama gave his great

speech on race,

that was it, that was the end.

She was never gonna catch up.

[cheers and applause]

- One year, four months,

and 18 days

after she started

her campaign,

Hillary Clinton waded through

an emotional crowd

of supporters to end it.

-Although we weren't able

to shatter

that highest, hardest

glass ceiling this time,

thanks to you,

it's got about 18 million

cracks in it.

[cheers and applause]

- Even when she did concede,

her supporters were still

so passionate

and so inspired by her

that they wouldn't accept

Barack Obama.

- The Democratic Party

has thrown us women aside!

They were called the PUMAs.

"Party Unity My Ass"

is what PUMA stood for.

- It will be Obama-Biden.

The veteran Delaware

Democratic Senator

has been selected as

Barack Obama's running mate.

- Going into the

general election,

Joe Biden provided a level

of experience

that Obama didn't have.

But more important,

the assumption for many people

was that this country

was not ready

to vote for an

African-American president,

so Biden could help appeal

to working class white voters

who might otherwise

not vote for him.

- The American people didn't

get to know me yesterday

as they're just getting

to know Senator Obama.

[laughter]

- On the Republican side,

you have John McCain,

who almost dropped out

of the race,

had no money.

He decides that

he's going to dig in

and, remarkably, he's able

to win the nomination.

But this is not a great year

to be in the incumbent party.

- I'm not comparing myself

to President Bush on anything.

I'm running my own campaign.

- What's remarkable is that

both parties wanted change.

John McCain described himself

as a maverick.

So he felt that he had

a legitimate claim

to being the anti-Bush

in the Republican party.

- Obama and McCain

will be fighting

for the female voters,

McCain seeing an opportunity

with older and

working class women

angry at how the primary

turned out.

- I've spent the last few

months looking...

[crowd member shouts excitedly]

Looking for a running mate

who can best help me

shake up Washington

and make it start

working again

for the people

that are counting on us.

- John McCain faced

the same problem

that Hillary Clinton faced.

All of the sudden,

John McCain's kind of sage,

elder statesman persona

doesn't look so fresh.

- Governor Sarah Palin

of the great state of Alaska.

[cheers and applause]

- Hillary left

18 million cracks

in the highest, hardest glass

ceiling in America.

But, it turns out the women of

America aren't finished yet,

and we can shatter that glass

ceiling once and for all.

[cheers and applause]

- The top Google searches

going on today,

the hot trends, look at this.

"Palin,"

"Palin vice president,"

"governor of Alaska."

It's fair to say

that it's not every day

the web is abuzz with

the McCain presidential race.

- Sarah Palin was unknown

to Republican voters.

she was a maverick

in her own way:

a young, dynamic woman that

had risen from local mayor,

PTA President, to the highest

office in Alaska.

She was the success story that

everyone could relate to.

- She's a lifelong NRA member

and in a recent visit with

Alaskan troops in Kuwait,

she showed she knows her way

around a gun.

[gunfire]

- She doesn't just vote

with the NRA,

she goes out and kills

a caribou

skins it, and cooks it

for dinner.

- But John McCain's choosing

Sarah Palin,

that certainly was a curveball,

and I think it gave

some new energy

to the Republican ticket.

- I'm not one of those

movers and shakers

within the Republican party

that I think, conventionally,

you would think

would be tapped.

-Why not go for a woman?

Why not make some history?

When you're in an America

that has the itch for change,

it looks like it could be

a really smart pick.

And maybe she'll get

some of the women

who are mad over

Hillary Clinton having lost.

- Ladies and gentlemen,

the next vice president

of the United States.

[cheers and applause]

- I was hired to work

on the Obama campaign

after Hillary conceded.

And we were watching

Sarah Palin

give her convention speech.

- Before I became governor,

I was mayor of my hometown.

And since our opponents

in this presidential election

seem to look down

on that experience,

let me explain to them

what the job involves.

A small-town mayor is

sort of like a

community organizer,

except that you have

actual responsibilities.

- She did what Hillary Clinton

could not do,

and that was deliver

a precise attack

without looking like a bitch.

And that was scary to us.

- Do you know, they say

the difference between

a hockey mom and a pit bull?

Lipstick.

[cheers and applause]

- That's one of the best

convention speeches

I've ever seen.

McCain, who had been

eight points down to Obama

with no possibility

of turning it around...

by the time Sarah Palin

finished speaking,

he was five points up.

- The campaign announced today

that it has raised

$8 million online,

and that's just been since

Sarah Palin gave that speech

less than 24 hours ago.

- With your help,

we're gonna go to Washington

and we're gonna

shake things up.

[cheers and applause]

- This is the real shocker:

among white women,

McCain leads Obama 53-41.

Before the conventions,

that was 50-42, Obama.

That is Sarah Palin.

- If she can be a mother

and a home maker,

she can be vice president.

- [laughing]

- They have more skills

than anybody.

- Sarah Palin really does

steal the thunder,

and she garners all

the headlines,

and that is scary

to Barack Obama.

- It was just, like,

a month ago,

they were all saying,

"Oh, it's experience,

experience, experience."

Then they chose Palin

and they started talking about

change, change, change.

What happened?

[applause]

- Palin has yet to hold

a news conference

and steers well clear

of the national reporters

who travel with her

everywhere.

- Eventually, she's gonna have

to answer questions

and not be sequestered.

Eventually, she's going to

have to answer questions

about her record.

- When it comes to establishing

your worldview,

I was curious, what newspapers

and magazines

did you regularly read

before you were

tapped for this,

to stay informed and

to understand the world?

- I've read most of them,

again,

with a great appreciation

for the press,

for the media--

- But like, what ones

specifically, I'm curious

that you...

- Um, all of them.

Any of them

that have been in front of me.

- There's no more

teleprompter.

There wasn't anything for her

to memorize in preparation

for her interviews with

Katie Couric.

And when she was then asked

about foreign policy

challenges,

she had nothing to draw upon.

- You've cited Alaska's

proximity to Russia...

- Mm-hmm.

- As part of your

foreign policy experience.

What did you mean by that?

- That Alaska has a very

narrow maritime border

between a foreign country,

Russia,

and on our other side,

the land boundary

that we have with, uh, Canada.

As Putin rears

his head, and, uh,

comes into the airspace of

the United States of America,

where do they go?

It's Alaska.

It's just right over

the border.

- [as Palin] You've got

Alaska here,

and this right here's water,

and then that's, up

there's Russia.

[laughter]

So we keep an eye on them.

- Tina Fey doesn't need

new material.

All she needs to do is

to read a transcript

of Sarah Palin's interview

with Katie Couric

to get huge laughs.

It's embarrassing,

not simply to Palin,

but to McCain.

- Hey, how are you?

- I just found out from

McCain's campaign manager

that they actually only

met once

before he started seriously

considering her

as a contender.

- Joe Lieberman really was

the candidate he wanted,

but he was convinced

by his aides

that that would create a revolt

inside the Republican Party.

Joe Lieberman is pro-choice.

He's got liberal positions

on other issues.

- Let me quote

from Gail Collins.

She says, "The idea that

women are going to race off

"to vote for any candidate with

the same internal plumbing

is both offensive and

historically wrong."

- If John McCain wins,

this woman will be one

72-year-old's heartbeat away

from being president

of the United States.

And if that doesn't scare the

hell out of you, it should.

- This morning, we woke up

to some very serious

and some troubling news

from Wall Street.

The most serious

financial crisis

since the Great Depression.

- Heading into

the fall of 2008,

you have the collapse

of the economy.

All tied to the sort of

mortgage meltdown.

Now, at the time,

everybody's still trying

to figure this out.

- John McCain said he would

suspend campaigning--

no speeches, no fundraising,

no commercials--

and go back to Washington

to help solve

the economic crisis.

And he called for a delay

in Friday's first

presidential debate.

- All we must do

to achieve this

is temporarily set

politics aside.

And I am committed

to doing so.

- Obama agreed with the need

for bipartisan action,

but he insisted he still plans

to debate McCain

Friday in Mississippi.

- I think that it is

going to be

part of the president's job

to deal with more than one

thing at once.

- The financial crisis

was this real-time

test of leadership.

We now get to see

what it will be like

for either of these people

to be president in the

middle of a crisis.

- And we know we've got

to get something done

as quickly as possible.

- From the moment he set foot

in Washington,

McCain was engulfed

in politics,

and then abundant

second-guessing

of his actions

even by Republicans,

whose infighting unraveled

a near-completed deal

and left McCain with little

to show for his efforts.

- It's one thing

to be a maverick,

but you want to be a maverick

who gets things done.

McCain didn't.

And he's making Obama look

more presidential.

- I've put forward

a series of proposals

that make sure

that we protect taxpayers

as we engage in

this important rescue effort.

Number one, we've got to make

sure that we've got oversight.

- Before it was about

hope and change.

But now he's able

to offer a vision

for how he would lead

the country forward

in concrete ways.

- Barack Obama has nearly

doubled his lead

over John McCain in the week

since their first debate.

Senator Obama gets

better marks

for his handling the crisis.

- Campaigning in California,

Sarah Palin launched a new

line of attack

on Barack Obama.

- One of his earliest

supporters

is a man who, according to

"The New York Times,"

was a domestic terrorist.

And part of a group...

[audience boos]

- Palin attacked Obama

for his ties to William Ayers,

an anti-war activist

who participated

in a domestic bombing campaign

during the Vietnam War.

- Barack Obama faced

a challenge

that, in a way, no candidate

before him had faced.

There were whispering

campaigns that Barack Obama

had not been born

in the United States.

That he was a secret Muslim.

The idea was that Barack Obama

was some kind of

Manchurian candidate, that

nothing about him

was real or true.

-Who is the real

Barack Obama?

- Obama scares me.

I just...

I'm worried about

what will happen

to this country

if Obama takes office.

- Tell me he's American.

No, he is not.

- I can't trust Obama.

He's an Arab.

He is not...

- No. No, ma'am.

No, ma'am.

- No?

- No, ma'am.

No, ma'am.

He's a, he's a--

he's a decent family man,

citizen, that I just happen

to have disagreements with.

- I think McCain did

the country a real service

by refusing to embrace

conspiracy theories

and really nasty attacks

on Obama,

and rebuking people who tried

to launch those attacks.

It's very unfortunate

that there were pockets

of the country that were

pushing it that way.

- I will respect him,

and I want none of--

[audience boos]

I want everyone

to be respectful.

- John McCain is now

so maverick-y

he's mavericking away from

his own supporters

and getting booed for it.

- He finds himself

in this position,

having created this monster

that he can no longer control.

There's a way to play this game

so that you end up

with no good choices.

We are watching a campaign

that has maneuvered itself

into exactly that position.

[dramatic music]

- As the polls open from

the east to the west

across this country, the same

picture continued to emerge:

eager voters showing up

before the polls even opened.

And in many cases, lines as

far as the eye could see.

- All of it felt like,

"Is this a real thing?"

Like, is it possible

that America could do this?

And so it was all like

a collective holding

of our breath.

- We're only a few seconds away

from the top of the hour,

when these states

will be closing.

The rules are that

we had to wait

until all the voting had ended.

And I remember at 10:59:50,

my executive producer was in

the ear saying, "Ten seconds."

It was an electric moment

that I'll never forget.

And CNN can now project

that Barack Obama,

47 years old,

he will be the first

African-American president

of the United States.

crowd: [chanting] Obama!

[cheers and applause]

[uplifting music]

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

crowd: [chanting]

Change we need! Change we need!

- For those who'd lived

through segregation,

who had lived through

the Civil Rights Era,

it felt like the fulfillment

of everything they thought

the country could be.

[intense cheering]

♪ ♪

When something

seems impossible

and suddenly it's achieved,

it's beyond words.

It's--it's still a shock to me.

- It's been a long time coming.

But tonight,

change has come to America.

[cheers and applause]

- It was just overwhelming.

There was my friend

of some years,

now president-elect,

and you could see,

almost instantly, a change.

You could see the weight of

the world on his shoulders.

He was already thinking about

the responsibilities

that had just flowed to him.

And the gravity of the moment

was very, very palpable.

- For even as

we celebrate tonight,

we know the challenges

that tomorrow will bring

are the greatest

of our lifetime.

The road ahead will be long.

Our climb will be steep.

We may not get there

in one year

or even in one term.

But, America, I have never been

more hopeful

than I am tonight

that we will get there.

I promise you, we as a people

will get there.

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

[chanting] Yes we can!

Yes we can!

Yes we can! Yes we can!

Yes we can!

[cheers and applause]

- All of us who are watching

in the United States

and around the world are

really privileged

to have this front-row seat

to history.

- I, Barack Hussein Obama,

do solemnly swear...

- Tomorrow, the president

of the United States

gets down to real business

and the enormous challenges

facing him and the country

on the foreign policy,

national security front,

and also on the

economic front.

- By all indications,

he relishes the chance

to go into the Oval Office

and get started.

He wants to get moving.

- It's a rare day

when a president goes

to the Capitol

to meet only with members

of the other party.

- Hello, everybody.

- President Obama

did just that

to actively seek

bipartisan support

for his $825-billion

economic stimulus package.

- We had a wonderful exchange

of ideas.

- Obama believed he'll

somehow be able

to reach across the aisle.

But this kind of hope and

change and optimism

that had made this such

a inspiring campaign

runs up against

the reality of politics

in 2009 when he takes office.

- HR-1 as amended passes.

- It's a victory that came

with almost

no Republican support.

Zero on the House side,

three in the Senate.

A long way from those hopes

of bipartisanship.

- Old habits break hard.

So we're gonna keep

on reaching out,

uh, and eventually,

I have confidence that

it's gonna pay off.

- President Obama is

incredibly ambitious,

and he still sees that 2009

is a unique moment.

The Democrats control

the House and Senate.

And he realizes these windows

are limited.

- The president vowed

to solve a problem

that has bedeviled presidents

since Theodore Roosevelt:

how to reduce health care costs

and expand coverage.

- It's one of

the greatest threats,

not just to the well-being

of our families

and the prosperity

of our businesses,

but to the very foundation

of our economy.

- President Obama

absolutely understood

that addressing the issue

of health care

was going to be a really

difficult challenge.

But we had to try.

But we're doing it on a

bipartisan basis.

So we're going

to work together.

The president is being very

pragmatic about this.

He's open to listening,

and that's the way we're going

to accomplish this goal.

- Obama believes

that Republicans

will vote with him

on something that's

reasonable.

That if he compromises,

they will as well.

But over the course

of the next few months,

it turns into a terrible

political challenge.

- As members of Congress return

to their districts

for their month-long

summer break

to hear from their

constituents,

the shouting at so-called

town meetings

has sometimes

reached a fever pitch.

- I don't want this country

turning into Russia, turning

into a socialized country.

- This is not health reform!

This is control!

- I want to know if it's

coming out of my paycheck!

- We really were seeing people

who had never been involved

in politics before--

grandmothers, grandfathers

across the country,

saying, "Hey, give me my

country back!"

2009 was the awakening

of the Tea Party.

- Sarah Palin has now

waded in

to the heated

health care debate,

in a new Facebook posting.

The former governor raises

the possibility

of what she calls

an "Obama death panel."

- Millions of elderly people

will be given the pill to make

them "comfortable"

while they die.

- There was an element

in the Republican coalition

that was already beginning

to listen

to conspiracy theories

and falsehoods.

It was a sign

of the kinds of things

we were going to see

balloon later on.

- Where we do disagree,

let's disagree

over things that are real--

not these wild

misrepresentations

that bear no resemblance

to anything that's

actually been proposed.

- The president said,

"The debate is over.

It's time to pass

health care reform."

- But with Republicans still

unanimously opposed,

the president left no doubt

he wants Democrats

in Congress to pass his bill

with Democratic votes only.

- When's the right time?

If not now, when?

If not us, who?

[chanting] Yes we can.

Yes we can.

- As the final votes came in,

I went and I found

the president

and I said, "You know,

I'm so thankful

"for what you did here,

"on behalf of all

those families

"who won't have to go through

what my family went through

"when my child was young

and had a chronic illness,

and we almost went bankrupt."

And he just said,

"That's why we do the work."

- The challenge now is to--

for the president to sell this

to a very skeptical public

in a very tough election year.

- It's a funny thing about

political success.

People tend to rest

at the top of the mountain.

And the people who are

out of power

tend to gather the energy

because they have

a focal point.

"We want to get rid

of this person,

"this Congress.

We want to change things."

And that change possibility

is energetic and frenetic.

- Tonight, there's a Tea Party

tidal wave,

and we're sending

a message to 'em.

- Rand Paul headlines a slate

of conservative Tea

Party-backed candidates

who are partying

after victories.

- A remarkable 40% of voters

now identify themselves

as Tea Party supporters.

And eight out of ten

of them voted Republican.

- Feels bad.

- Two years ago, Barack Obama

was at 62% in the polls.

"TIME" magazine declared

the Republican Party

all but extinct.

And look at where we are now.

The voters have not gotten

what they asked for.

- The mistake is to think

that the country

speaks as one.

That we're all one thing.

What we really are

is a mass of reactions.

We're always reacting to the

last thing that happened.

So if the country goes left,

you can be damn sure

it's gonna go right.

And if the country is looking

good for rich people one day,

well, then the poor people

are gonna hate that

and get angry.

If we think that

we're past race,

well, racism will come

right back.

Our pendulum swings.

And in the long run,

we make progress.

But it can be

pretty ugly to watch.

- What a week.

[laughter]

The State of Hawaii released

my official, long-form

birth certificate.

No one is happier

to put this birth certificate

matter to rest

than the Donald.

Obviously we all know about

your credentials and

breadth of experience.

[laughter]

No, seriously.

Just recently,

in an episode

of "Celebrity

Apprentice,"

you, Mr. Trump,

recognized that

the real problem

was a lack of

leadership.

And so ultimately,

you didn't blame

Lil Jon or

Meat Loaf...

[laughter]

You fired

Gary Busey.

And these are the

kind of decisions

that would keep

me up at night.