CNBC Press Releases

HARWOOD: Two more questions and I'll let you go. The first is one thing you share in common with John McCain is that neither of you have a lot of experience in the private sector or experience managing large organizations. What are you going to do to prepare yourself to manage the US economy to satisfy yourself that you're ready...

Sen. OBAMA: Right.

HARWOOD: ...and to also reassure the American people that you're up to that job?

Sen. OBAMA: Well, you know, I think that the president's role is to bring the best people together and work as a team to manage the economy. This economy is too big for any one person to wrap their heads around. But, you know, if you look at the people who have endorsed by candidacy, who I seek counsel and advice from, there's some pretty able folks. Paul Volcker, Warren Buffett, you know, there are CEOs from all across the country who feel confident about the kind of economic team that I've put together. So, you know, I would say that by the time voters go into the polling place in November, they will see that the kind of economic team that we have is as good as they've ever seen. And these are going to be people who have worked with me, who have worked with each other, are working well as a team. And the overarching philosophy is going to be how do we create a pro-growth environment, how we create opportunity, how do we expand innovation, but how do we make sure that economic growth is happening from the bottom up, and that ordinary Americans can continue to live out their dreams.

HARWOOD: Let me close with a question about the markets. A lot of Americans, of course, own stock, as you know.

Sen. OBAMA: Right.

HARWOOD: More than ever have in the past. It's been a very up and down year on Wall Street. Dollar's weak. Do you think investors are right to be nervous right now?

Sen. OBAMA: Well, I think it would be naive to say that we don't have some big problems in the economy. And I think investors understand that. I think if we can get the housing market stabilized, and people have a sense that all the excesses have been wrung out of the economy, and we've hit bottom, then we can start building confidence back up. There's still an awful lot of good things about this economy. We've still got the most entrepreneurial, most creative, most dynamic people involved in the economy, We've got terrific workers who understand that we're in a more competitive environment. They want to work hard. We've still got the best universities in the world. We've got a lot of assets to build off of. And we've still got the best financial system in the world, and, you know, capital is generally available to finance good ideas. And there's a lot or risk-taking in America. So if you combine all those factors, we have reason to be optimistic. But frankly, we've got to get a Washington that sufficiently attuned to this new global economy and stops bickering for awhile, gets some fundamentals right, and if we do that, then I'm confident that over the long term, the prospects for the United States are very bright.

HARWOOD: Senator, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Sen. OBAMA: I enjoyed it. Thank you.

About CNBC:
CNBC is the recognized world leader in business news, providing real-time financial market coverage and business information to more than 340 million homes worldwide, including more than 95 million households in the United States and Canada. The network's Business Day programming (weekdays from 5:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. ET) is produced at CNBC's headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and also includes reports from CNBC news bureaus worldwide. Additionally, CNBC viewers can manage their individual investment portfolios and gain additional in-depth information from on-air reports by accessing http://www.cnbc.com.

Members of the media can receive more information about CNBC and its programming on the NBC Universal Media Village Web site at http://nbcumv.com/cnbc/.

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