Video, Transcript: Obama on '60 Minutes' (12-13-09)

President Obama appeared on '60 Minutes' (12-13-09). Read the transcript or watch the video below:

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Transcript Excerpt:

Kroft: In your West Point speech, you seemed very analytical, detached, not emotional. The tone seemed to be, "I've studied this situation very hard. It's a real mess. The options aren't very good. But we need to go ahead and do this." There were no exhortations or promises of victory. Why? Why that tone?

Obama: You know, that was actually probably the most emotional speech that I've made, in terms of how I felt about it. Because I was looking out over a group of cadets, some of whom were gonna be deployed in Afghanistan. And potentially some might not come back. There is not a speech that I've made that hit me in the gut as much as that speech.

And one of the mistakes that was made over the last eight years is for us to have a triumphant sense about war.

There was a tendency to say, "We can go in. We can kick some tail. This is some glorious exercise." When in fact, this is a tough business.

Kroft: Most Americans right now don't believe this war is worth fighting. And most of the people in your party don't believe this is a war worth fighting.

Obama: Right.

Kroft: Why did you go ahead?

Obama: Because I think it's the right thing to do. And that's my job. If I was worried about what polled well, there are a whole bunch of things we wouldn't have done this year.

Kroft: Do you feel like you've staked your presidency on it?

Obama: There are a whole bunch of things that I've staked my presidency on, right. That are tough, and entail some risks. There's no guarantees. But that I'm confident we have addressed in the best possible way.

Kroft: The West Point speech was greeted, it was greeted with a great deal of confusion.

Obama: I disagree with that statement.

Kroft: You do?

Obama: I absolutely do. Forty million people watched it. And I think a whole bunch of people understood what we intend to do.

Kroft: But it raised a lot of questions.

Obama: Now, it-

Kroft: Some people thought it was contradictory. That's a fair criticism.

Obama: I don't think it's a fair criticism. I think that what you may be referring to is the fact that on the one hand I said, "We're gonna be sending in additional troops now." On the other hand, "By July 2011, we're gonna move into a transition phase where we're drawing our troops down."

Kroft: Right.

Obama: There shouldn't be anything confusing about that. That's-

Kroft: Well-

Obama: First of all, that's something that we executed over the last two years in Iraq. So, I think the American people are familiar with the idea of a surge. In terms of the rationale for doing it, we don't have an Afghan military right now, security force, that can stabilize the country. If we are effective over the next two years, that then frees us up to transition into a place where we can start drawing down.