by Sean Bowditch

NPR's Don Gonyea passed along this exchange between Obama's chief strategist David Axelrod and reporters. It took place on the flight to Denver. The transcript was written up by the campaign...

[Q] Is the speech written?

[DA] The speech is substantially written but as with all Obama
speeches he'll be refining it, and buffing it up and working on it I'm
sure right until the very end. So, I mean he's been thinking about it
for a long time, he's been working on it for a long time so.

[Q] How long has he been thinking about it?

[DA] I think he started thinking about it before he left on
vacation, and you know he's been working on it intermittently ever
since with his speechwriters and...

THE REST OF THE INTERVIEW IS AFTER THE JUMP...

 

[Q] Do you know how long it runs?

[DA] Well that's part of the buffing, I don't know how long it
will run yet, because I think he's going to do some editing on it so...

[Q] [inaudible]

[DA] No exactly right, you know I think that he's going to do,
he's going to layout the case for change he going to set the stakes on
this election, the risks of continuing down the road we're on which
is plainly what Senator McCain is offering. I mean he's going to talk
about an alternative path that's rooted in the best of what this
country is. And the kind of future that we can build if we take it.

[Q] He said earlier not to expect it to be the sort of rhetoric from
2004. So is it, is it going to be inspirational at all, is it going to
be...

[DA] I think his goal is to talk to the American people directly
about the challenges that we face and what it's going to take to solve
them and again the stakes of doing what we're doing, continuing to do
what we're doing and you know so I think he's going to be focused on
that. I'll leave it to others tomorrow to decide what the inspiration
factor is but the goal here is to, is to make a case and he's going to
make it.

[Q] Is there anything in there we would call red meat?

[DA] I don't know what your barometer is on red meat, I don't
know what your red meater is.

[Q] Is he going to me sharply ciritical of McCain in the speech?

[DA] I think he's going to make a case about the choices people face. I mean he'll make a respectful argument but I don't think he'll shy away from making those contrasts where there appropriate.

[Q] You can't release experts for [inaudible]...

[DA] That is something I need to not quite— that really wasn't a question that was a request...

[Q] That was an order.

[Inaudible]

[DA] Not for tonight.

[Q] How much of the speech is speech was biographical?

[DA] There will be elements of that but this is really not about...this speech and this election is not about Barack Obama it's about the American people. It's about this country. It's about the direction uh that we have to go to get us out of the ditch we are in and so he's going to spent the bulk of his time talking about the country and where we are today and where we need to go and plus its not like 2004 when he was playing a different role ... doing the national scene. This is a much different kind of speech.

[Q] But at the same time are you playing up the celebrity angle of this and they're calling the field a temple and referring it the celebrity phenomena that is the size of [inaudible]...

[DA] Well I know I know I know that John McCain and his people are shooting barbs about the opulence of our convention from the mountain top in Sedona at the McCain estate. So I don't' think that warrants a response.

[Q] What are the main areas of differences he is going to highlight?

[DA] Well I mean I think you you know you all have been traveling with him so you know that some of the things he is talking about. Certainly there are stark stark differences in the economy. Senator McCain thinks we're on the right path. He thinks that you know we're making great progress. I think Senator Obama and most of the American people disagree with that. And understand that we have to change. Senator McCain is essentially matching the Bush economic policy with the Bush foreign policy. Certainly there are some differences there as well. But I am not going to get into the specifics I mean you you know you'll hear them laid out tomorrow. But as you've, as you've traveled you've heard him make many of these arguments.

[Q] [inaudible]

[DA] I think he's very grateful to Senator Clinton for her support, for the strong speech she gave last night. It's very meaningful to him and whether he does it in that speech or elsewhere, I'm sure that he's going to acknowledge that.

[Q] [inaudible]

[DA] Well, you know, when you're working with Senator Obama, the main player on a speech is Senator Obama. He kicked out the main draft, and then his speechwriter, John Fabrow, has worked with him, others have worked with him on it. It is now and probably always will be the case that he's the best speech writer in the group, and he knows what he wants to say, and he feels strongly about that. So, he knows what he wants to say and he generally says it better than anybody else would.

[Q] [inaudible]

[DA] His motive, working intensely, is that he writes them out in long-hand, and then puts them in the computer, gathers strain and then sits down and kicks out a draft and circulates that to his group.

[Q] [inaudible]

[DA] I would say he's been working on it for a long time.

[Q] He kicked out that first draft about a week ago, right?

[DA] But he'd been working.... as I said, the discussions on this one started long before he went on vacation. I think the important thing is what he says tomorrow night, not whether he meets your schedule...

[Q] [inaudible] ... my schedule...

[DA] You know, I believe you believe that.

[laughter]

[Q] Does he think it will make a difference to speak to 80,000 people and not 4,000 delegates?

[DA] I think that he's going to be talking to the American people. The reason we opened this up was because our whole campaign has been devoted to us bringing more people into the process, and we want to moblize, to galvanize the American people to bring about change in this country. And so we thought it was great to open up the convention to a larger audience and let people come. But I think in terms of, no, this is Barack Obama talking to the American people, who are ultimately going to have to make a judgement here about which way they're going to go.

[Q] You said he's been going back to other convention speeches, going back to FDR's. Is there any particular one that served as a model?

[DA] Well, look, there are a number of great speeches, Bill Clinton's in 1992, Ronald Reagan's speech in 1980 was a great speech. John F. Kennedy's speech in 1960.

[Q] [inaudible] ...one steady that he particularly focused on, was it those three...

[DA] I think those had particular interest.

[Q] [Inaudible]

[DA] Oh well we'll see.

[Q] [Inaudible]

[DA] Well ultimately, I don't think he's pessimistic or fearful because he understands that we have the ability to seize control over our own destiny here. The only cause for pessimism would be is if we chose to keep doing what we're doing, and so I think he has confidence that the American people aren't going to select that option.

[Q] [Inaudible]

[DA] Boring? Yeah that's why it's taking so long because it was really not boring, and we were trying to get it to be boring and we were having a hard time with that and we're hoping to get it boring in time for the...

[Q] [inaudible] ...down the soaring rhetoric [inaudible]...

[DA] I don't think he's, the truth is I don't think he's, I don't think he's concerned about the form so much as he is the content, so I don't think it was that he, when he said that I don't think he was saying, "I'm purposely trying to tamp that down," I think he has some things he wants to say that are very simple and direct about where we need to go as a country, but it certainly wasn't an effort to... we would think, I think he thinks we can be direct, and clear with people, yet still not boring.

[Q] How much of his speeches, or preparation time does he spend on actually practicing it?Does he, does he do that much or does he mostly just...

[DA] Well I'm sure tomorrow he'll spend tomorrow running through, running through the speech, but I think his main focus is on getting the words right, getting it exactly the way he wants to express... the words... in the form he wants to express.

[Q] [inaudible] ...stay with the text, [inaudible] ...improvise at all...

[DA] Well I can't promise you that. But you know, the thing about being your own principal speechwriter is the words that are there are the words he wants to speak and so when he... when he inserts the words he wants to insert into the speech, so I think it reduces the likelihood that he's going to stray from the text.

[Q] How will he accept the nomination? The roll call will be going on this afternoon...

[DA] With enthusiasm.

[Q] Will he be in person, will he come to the hall tonight after Senator Biden's speech ...[inaudible]

[DA] There's nothing on the schedule that says, suggests that.

[Q] [Inaudible]

[DA] You know he worked on the one in 19... 2004 for a very... for a long time

[Q] [inaudible]

[DA] I mean, I remember he was in the State Capitol in Springfield, he'd be writing on... he'd want quiet, so he'd go off the floor of the legislature, go into the men's room and scribble stuff on yellow pads while he was traveling down through the state, and so then he finally pulled it all together into a draft, and that took a while but, the difference here is that, you know, he's got a few other things going so... you know, it's hard to find the time, the quality time to do this but... I think it's going to be good. Anyway, I've got to go guys.