Excerpts from Obama's Interview With "This Week"

Obama to Stephanopoulos: Palin more Bush-Cheney than McCain

September 06, 2008 5:09 PM

ABC News' George Stephanopoulos Reports: Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin is a "skilled politician," but the country doesn't know much about her yet, said Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in an interview that will air tomorrow exclusively on "This W <<stephanopolous_4.jpg>> eek."

<http://blogs.abcnews.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/09/06/stephanopolous_4.jpg> <http://blogs.abcnews.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/09/06/stephanopolous_4.jpg>   But Obama refused to say Palin is qualified to be president, and claimed that picking Palin brings Republican presidential nominee John McCain closer to President Bush.

"He chose somebody who may be even more aligned with George Bush – or Dick Cheney, or the politics we've seen over the last eight years – than John McCain himself is," said Obama.

In a poll conducted by ABC News and released yesterday, half of Americans said they have a favorable first impression of Palin.  That number rises to 85 percent of Republicans and 53 percent of independents.

"She wouldn't be governor of Alaska if she wasn't a skilled politician, and I think her performance at the convention showed what a skilled politician she is," said Obama.