Obama On Election Choice: "It's The Devil You Know Vs. The Devil You Don't"

Tonight, NBC airs a Brian Williams interview of Barack Obama. Asked about being the "riskier choice," Obama gives an interesting response:

BRIAN WILLIAMS: NBC News poll we released just last night, 55 to 35, you against Senator John McCain. American respondents are telling us they view you as the riskier choice for President. Do you understand that? To what do you attribute that?

SENATOR OBAMA: "It's not surprising that people would say that the guy we're more familiar with is the less riskier choice. That doesn't answer the broader question, though, which is what do Americans think we need right now?" Obama said. "And can we afford to have four more years or eight more years of the same types of policies that we've had for the past eight?

"And in some ways, I guess that would be safe. It's the devil you know versus the devil you don't. But-- but I think the American people understand that we're in a time of profound challenge and that we've got to make some significant changes-- in how our economy works, in how our tax policy is structured, in our energy policy and our foreign policy if we're gonna meet those challenges."

Obama also discussed Iran, his trip abroad, and John McCain's assertion that Obama "would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign."

Watch the clip:

Comments

[Researchguy66]

09:17 AM on 07/25/2008

I'm just glad he finally admits he's a Devil. Those wacky evangelical websites finally nailed it for once!

[Darnamell]

12:56 PM on 07/25/2008

Bitter much?

[JohnFromCensornati]

08:11 AM on 07/25/2008

Satan is a feeling, deviance it lurks in everyone.
Guilty pleasures, mischievous behavior can be fun.
No one made you do it.
Nobody but yourself to blame.
It's always at your door and trouble is it's name.
Who're you gonna call your fearless leader?
Who's gonna put your fears to bed?
Heroes will never let you down just as long as they're dead.
Sometimes you gotta pick and choose.
Sometimes no matter what you lose.

[kmdippenger]

06:21 AM on 07/25/2008

We are doomed if this is the sound bite we're extracting and overanalyzing from the past week.

[GhostOfSchlesinger]

08:22 AM on 07/25/2008

Relax. Lotsa folks will know what's going on when the first right wing Talk Radiot says, "He called G-Dub 'The Devil!'"

I continue to believe that only between 20 and 30 percent of Americans are stupid enough to buy this crap, and that the other 20-some-odd percent of McSame's poll numbers come from folks that short out the telephone with drool.

[harriscrl3]

08:46 AM on 07/25/2008

I think it just shows how sad and pathetic we are. I'm embarassed for us.

Carol

[Researchguy66]

09:17 AM on 07/25/2008

As well you should be.

[MoeJava]

05:24 AM on 07/25/2008

Isnt this more a case of being the definition of insanity: doing the same things over and over, expecting different results?

The OLD way of doing things - a "comfortable" old shoe like John McCain will only result in more of the same. Think of just HOW much richer the rich have gotten under Bush and Cheney's
stewardship these past 7 plus years.

The NEW way of approaching problems - Barack Obama - will change politics, attitudes and lives.
He's already demonstrated that the USA can produce a well spoken, thoughtful individual who wants to better his future and that of his fellow Americans.

Hurry Up, November elections!

[Youth4Obama]

05:16 AM on 07/25/2008

Barack Obama is a charmer and a flirt by nature, very Clinton-esque. Bill that is...

[XME]

02:36 AM on 07/25/2008

Given what I DO know about that "Devil I know", I'll take my "chances" on Obama with pleasure!!

[Susanfrom29]

01:41 AM on 07/25/2008

It was that sentiment that caused me to cast my first vote in 1972 for Richard Nixon. I'm hear to tell you the devil I knew was much worse than the devil I didn't.

Please don't make the same mistake that I have regretted for 36 years.

You see, we really didn't know the devil we thought we knew.

[rubicon101]

06:16 AM on 07/25/2008

and you still don't know..pre-ordained elected leader Obama is still an unknown quantity.
We don't really Know him.
Can we all keep our emotions in check to some degree and not like some pre-puberty teenager who's got a puppy love crush.
Let us all vote with our heads and decide who would really be in the best interest of our country.

[DaOne]

08:28 AM on 07/25/2008

I took your advice to heart

OBAMA 08

[Darnamell]

01:01 PM on 07/25/2008

I'm voting with my head.

I do not want a theocracy.

I do not want women to lose rights.

I do not want a 21st century Great Wall because we refuse to address our immigration issues as adults.

I do not want to give our entire economy over to the same folks who fund al-Qaeda.

I do not want yet ANOTHER president who discredits our allies, makes us look like idiots, and invites terrorist to kill our soldiers for sport.

I do not want to keep fighting a sideshow war for 100 years instead of the one we NEED to be fighting.

I do not want someone to pander to Talibangelicals, racists, bigots, isolatists, Luddites, and general miscreants.

So, in the best interests of our country, I am voting for Barack Obama.

[rubicon101]

06:18 AM on 07/25/2008

Don't be a sap and vote for someone just because he 'looks' good or that he reads the teleprompter so well..
Step back from all of your preconceived notions.
Don't believe the spin!
Be critical for all of the right reasons.

[Titonwan]

07:27 AM on 07/25/2008

Most people like being a sap. Once they pick a side, that's pretty much it. If their candidate spits in their face, they apologize for being in the way. I blame a lot of this absurd behavior (acting like guinea pigs) on this outrageous coup the neoconservatives have wrought on the executive branch. Every law that was passed giving the President needs to be repealed, redacted and/or removed from the Rule of Law. The next President will certainly NOT try to reform these laws. Why would he? I don't want to hear shrill crap about how Obama's different. He dumped on FISA, so pretty much his word is sh#t. He said (during the primaries) that he would pursue criminal activities of this President, NOW he says he won't. Same junk CEO's do- protect the retiring pharaoh. Your vote means nothing as now neocons are in both parties. Karl Rove and Corporate America is winning- big.

[Kally]

07:58 AM on 07/25/2008

I wish all America could see behind the hype for obama. He knows nothing, he has done absolutely nothing since elected to the state senate and like you said he can read the teleprompter very well. One that contains a speech written by someone else. Oh yeah he is still doing nothing but waving and chanting. Darn this younger generation is doomed if they think just because a person stirs up a CONCERT CROWD they are fit to be president, wonder what will happen to this country.

[Heaphy]

01:03 AM on 07/25/2008

By the time that all the people vote in November, they will know Barack Obama very well, and they will know that he is an "angel" compared to John McCain and the Republicans. By the way, "Barack" is an ancient Arabic name that derives from the Hebrew word "baruch" which means "blessed". It is the first word of all ancient Hebrew blessings. "Blessed be the Lord our God, ruler of the universe, for bringing us a leader to bring eight years of darkness to an end!"
- Jim Heaphy

[RealityCheck101]

12:41 AM on 07/25/2008

He is the risker choice because we have no idea what the guy stands for. He constantly shifts back and forth on issues and we only have a short voting record to go on. Is a far-left socialist like LBJ or a pragmatic centrist like Bill Clinton. Who the hell knows? At best your getting a so-so president and at worst your going to get a disaster.

[Darnamell]

01:04 PM on 07/25/2008

No, no, we already know what a disaster is.

That's why we don't want a repeat.

[SwingVoter]

12:24 AM on 07/25/2008

Is not the saying '...devil you know is better than the angel you don't know?'

still funny though.

[abby4ever]

02:24 AM on 07/25/2008

No, or at least I'venever heard that one. The devil/angel one. It's a good one, though, with an entirely different connotation.

[meanguy]

06:35 AM on 07/25/2008

....and it works within the popular 'messiah' narrative, too...so why NOT 'change' it and 'hope' no one notices?

[zizi]

12:16 AM on 07/25/2008

Unbelievable. The belly-aching on these boards over what any fairly well educated person should know is a commonplace idiomatic expression is astounding. Actually the saying is: "Better the devil you know than the angel you don't know." I bet Obama realized the implication of the second half of the expression mid-sentence, and changed "angel" to "devil"for the sake of parity. People LEARN some English, please!!!

[kennedy]

12:01 AM on 07/25/2008

"I guess that would be safe. It's the devil you know versus the devil you don't."

Finally Obama you have spoken the truth. You are the devil we don't know!

[sco8d]

11:55 PM on 07/24/2008

Oh my god! He just admitted he is the anti-christ! The religious fanatics were right all along, where is my bible! Oh the rapture! Me and John Hagee have been planning for this all our lives!

Repent Obamaniacs or you will be "left behind".

Sean Hannity just got a b.o.n.e.r.

[uprt]

10:38 PM on 07/24/2008

As soon as he spoke those words I turned to my brother and with my best "interviewer " voice asked
"Just to clarify your statement sir, are you The Devil or A devil. "

[UWorlds1]

10:22 PM on 07/24/2008

Everyone knows that's an old saying. That's how people think of politicians anyway.

[sparkandy]

06:43 AM on 07/25/2008

For sure!

[Darnamell]

01:03 PM on 07/25/2008

So wait, are the same folks attacking Obama for this statement the same idiots who defended McCain on his "wife beating" statement a few weeks ago?

Just asking.