NBC Promotes Brian Williams Gushing Over Obama During 2008 Election Night Coverage

Hawking a new NBC Publishing ebook on Wednesday's NBC Today about the network's election night television coverage dating back to 1948, author and TV Guide business editor Steve Battaglio touted a moment featured in the book of NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams during election night in 2008: "Brian knew that it was going to be a very special night....having a pretty good idea that Barack Obama was going to win, and how do you tell this story of the first African-American president? It was such a monumental event." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

Only six days before voters decide if Obama remains in office, Battaglio waxed nostalgic about how Williams fawned over Obama's 2008 victory: "What Brian did was he got a poster, the type of poster that you would see in classrooms across America, with 43 white – 43 ovals on the poster of 43 past presidents, all of them white men, and Brian's message that night was, 'Tonight the oval is going to change,' and it was really a way to connect with the viewer and almost a personal expression of how really monumental this was, that night was."

Watch the video below of Williams during live NBC election night coverage in 2008 [Audio here]:

Here is a transcript of the October 31 exchange:

9:45AM ET

WILLIE GEIST: Election night broadcasts have been a national tradition since 1948, and we're now just six days away from another one. The thrills, the disappointments, all captured in a new enhanced e-book from NBC Publishing called Election Night: A Television History, 1948 to 2012. The author is Steve Battaglio, he's the business editor at TV Guide.

(...)

9:48AM ET

GEIST: In our most recent presidential election, 2008, Brian Williams did something pretty unique on election night.

STEVE BATTAGLIO: Well, Brian knew that it was going to be a very special night. We – they went into the night having a pretty good idea that Barack Obama was going to win, and how do you tell this story of the first African-American president? It was such a monumental event. What Brian did was he got a poster, the type of poster that you would see in classrooms across America, with 43 white – 43 ovals on the poster of 43 past presidents, all of them white men, and Brian's message that night was, "Tonight the oval is going to change," and it was really a way to connect with the viewer and almost a personal expression of how really monumental this was, that night was.

(...)