In the News
What that meeting was like
Hildebrand said at that and several other meetings, Obama wanted to see what a candidate's schedule might look like, what his family should expect, potential budgets, fundraising plans, staffing structures, even what the campaign message might be.
"The guy is as serious as you see him on TV. ... He at least understood, to some extent, the magnitude of the office that he was going to seek, to the extent that anyone can know it from the outside. He expected the decision-making process to be very serious and very well thought out."
Will Hildebrand work in the Obama administration?
No. He said he has lived and worked in Washington in the past and doesn't want to do it again. He does expect to work as an advocate for Obama's agenda in other ways across the country.
"I want to help him get some resolution to the climate crisis, help him pass this economic stimulus plan, help my old boss and mentor, Tom Daschle, help Barack Obama get health care for all Americans. I want to be an advocate on the outside, but I'm not planning to seek anything in Washington."
About Obama's future
Hildebrand was asked if he thought that, because of the struggling economy, people would be more demanding of Obama than they might have been with a first-term president in the past.
He said what he discovered during the campaign is that "the American people are really scared about the future.
"If Washington doesn't change - and that includes Obama - voters "are going to get pretty impatient, and they should. This is a time when average people have a stronger voice than they've ever had."
|
 |
