'Hardball College Tour:' Barack Obama

Obama on gay marriage, education
MATTHEWS:  We’re back with the students at West Chester University.

Let me get it straight here.  You guys are unforgiving here.  A small technical error.  Let’s go to the first question.  

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  Hi, Senator Obama.  My name is David Bernett (ph) and I just have a question for you, and that is where do you stand on gay marriage?

OBAMA:  I’m not in favor of gay marriage, but I’m in favor of a very strong civil union.  Right now, states even where you’ve got civil unions still aren’t getting the same benefits at the federal level.  So the federal government just doesn’t recognize them.  And that is about 1,200 laws, rights and benefits that are not being given to same sex couples.  It is it is very important that those laws apply equally.  I think it is very important that we pass a human rights ordinance, like I passed along with another close sponsor in Illinois, to prevent discrimination in housing, in jobs.

I think young people are way ahead of the curve this issue.  And I think it is important for the rest of the country to catch up and make sure that everybody is treated the same regardless of sexual orientation.

MATTHEWS:  Isn’t it discrimination when you say people can’t get married?

OBAMA:  I think that it is important for us to make sure that all the legal rights that are conferred in a marriage are also conferred in a civil union.  

(INAUDIBLE)

OBAMA:  There you go.  And I think it is very important that the state makes sure that they are not denying the same kind of rights that have historically been denied, because when I think about a same sex couple not being able to visit each other in the hospital, when I think about them not being able to transfer property, or to pass on benefits, I that’s contrary to what most Americans believe, and that’s why I’m going to change it when I’m president of the United States.

MATTHEWS:  Next question.

Video   Obama on civil unions and education April 2: Barack Obama answers question about gay marriage and civil unions, improving inner city school systems and the Pennsylvania primary. Hardball

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  My name is Tiara Smalls.  My question is how can you improve inner city public school systems, making education a priority, and improving the quality of education so that urban students can be competitive?

OBAMA:  It’s a great question.  Part of what we have to do is start with the earliest years.  We’ve got to expand drastically early childhood education.  We’ve got—that’s not just pre-K.  It’s also starting with at risk parents when they have their child, working with them to make sure that they are reading to their kids, and if they can’t read to them, then teaching those parents to read, making sure they have books, making sure those children are getting regular check-ups, which means we’ve got to have a health care system that everybody can access, making certain that kids are being screened for hearing deficits or visual impairments, making sure they’re getting decent nutrition.

And if we are taking care of kids early, then they start school already prepared.  If we don’t, they’re already behind.  And they stay behind.  Every investment, every dollar we invest in early childhood education, we get at leaf 10 dollars back in improved reading scores, reduced drop-out rates.  Then we have to improve K-12 education.  That primarily has to do with teachers, paying teachers more and giving them more professional development and support.

The third thing is after school programs and summer school programs that can keep kids off the streets, give them constructive things to do after school.  And the final thing is giving young people a sense of a future.  So if you’ve got a ninth grader, a 10^th grader, maybe they’re not going to go to a four-year college.  But if they’re good artists, they might want to be a graphic designer.  Matching them up with the possibilities of a career and a job there.  Or if they’re good manually, then getting them on apprenticeship programs while they’re still in high school, so that they can start seeing the possibilities of a career in the trades.

Those are the kinds of ways that you can tie what happens in school with kids’ vision for their future.  And if they have a sense that they have a future that allows them to raise a family and live a productive life, I think most young people will see that.  The problem is they’re just not seeing that right now.  Right now all they see is drugs and jail.  And if that’s the only thing in front of you, then you’re probably going to fail.

MATTHEWS:  Thank you.  This primary in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania will be held in three weeks.  It is an important part of the process.  I want to ask you if this process ends up, after Puerto Rico, at the end of the schedule, where you have the most elected delegates, should you be the nominee?

OBAMA:  Well, if I have the most pledged delegates, meaning after all the votes have been cast in caucuses and primaries, if—I also think we will have had the most popular vote and we will have won the most states.  Then I think most of the super delegates who have not yet decided, I think, will recognize that we’ve earned this nomination.

That’s not guaranteed and I don’t take it for grand.  But I think at that point, I will have shown myself to be the strongest candidate to run against John McCain.

MATTHEWS:  Is that the only legitimate result of this campaign?  The one who gets the most elected delegates is the nominee?  Could you imagine Senator Clinton being nominated in Denver in the last week of August, not having won the battle for elected delegates and you would support her?

OBAMA:  I’m not going to worry about that right now because what I want to do is to make sure that I’ve won as many contests as possible, won as many delegates as possible, and then I’ll let the Poobahs of the party make a decision in terms of how they want to deal with it. 

MATTHEWS:  Do you trust the Poobahs?

OBAMA:  What I know is that we’ve excited the electorate.  We’ve brought people out.  We have won every state—every kind of state all across the country.  And I think, in that circumstance, I will be the strongest nominee to go up against John McCain and serve as a sharp break and contrast from the failed policies of the last seven years.

MATTHEWS:  Watch the whole show again.  We’ll be back at 7:00 and 11:00 tonight, especially at 7:00, the whole show.  You’ll get the whole college tour from West Chester University.  Senator Barack Obama, thank you.

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