A Conversation With Barack Obama

What have you learned in the campaign about America that you might not have known before?
I'm not sure if this is a new lesson, but it reinforced my belief that we're not as divided as our politics would indicate. You meet with the average person — I don't care whether they're Republican, Democrat, conservative, liberal — they don't think in labels. They're not particularly ideological. Everybody is sort of a mix of what you might consider some liberal ideas, what you might consider some conservative ideas. But there is a set of common values that everybody buys into: Everybody thinks you should have to work hard for what you get, everybody believes that things like equal opportunity should be real, not just a slogan.

Are you surprised by how optimistic everyone is in their hearts?
The American people are, I think, congenitally optimistic. Right now, they're not feeling particularly optimistic about Washington — they're genuinely concerned about the direction the country is moving in, they're anxious about globalization and whether we're going to be able to compete. But at bottom, they're not fatalists. They always feel like there's something we can do to make things better.

What have you learned about yourself during the campaign?
I've learned two things, and I think these two things are connected. One is that the older I get, the less important feeding my vanity becomes. I've discovered that I don't get a lot of satisfaction from being the center of attention, but I do get a lot of satisfaction about getting work done. And that, in turn, has led to a confirmation that I have a very steady temper. I don't get too high when things are high, I don't get too low when things are low, which has been very helpful during this campaign and is reflected in the people I hire and how we run our organization.

You've said you don't need to feed your vanity. How do you feed your sanity during the campaign?
Lately, because we've been campaigning in the Midwest, I get to go home each night. My nine-year-old is in the drama club, and last night they had a performance of Odysseus. It was outstanding. That's my unbiased review.

Three books that really inspired you.
Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, the tragedies of William Shakespeare and probably Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls.

You've gotten enormous support from the music community. Why do you think they've responded so strongly to your campaign?
Musicians and creative folks, generally, may be inclined toward the idea of change, or at least open to it — to not just settle for what is, but what might be.

When you were at the Rolling Stone cover shoot, they were playing the Grateful Dead, and you recognized the music right off.
Those guys did a concert for me during the primary — they got back together again. And not only do I enjoy the music, but I just like them as people.

Are we going to have a Deadhead in the White House?
I'm not sure I fully qualify as a Deadhead — I don't wear tie-dye and I've never followed them around anywhere. But I enjoy the songs.

You used "The Rising" by Bruce Springsteen a lot on the campaign. Who chose that?
We go through a lot of things. We've gone through different phases. We had Aretha on there for a while, Stevie . . . always solid. "Rising" we felt just sort of captured the spirit that we hope is in this campaign.