CNN’s Roberts: ‘Grandeur of History’ With Hillary or Obama Nomination

CNN’s "American Morning" co-host John Roberts and CNN senior political correspondent Candy Crowley gushed over the "historic" nature of the Obama and Clinton race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Roberts seemed almost giddy over the coming primaries on Super Tuesday. "Yeah, it is going to be a transformational primary here on the Democratic side of things. Do you get a sense that people are recognizing this idea of the grandeur of history involved here?"

Roberts echoed his colleague at CNN Wolf Blitzer, who began the debate Thursday night by declaring, "This is truly an historic moment for the Democratic Party. It's the first time that we will see a woman and an African-American vying for the Democratic presidential nomination."

Video (50 secs): Windows (2.99 MB), plus MP3 audio (371kB).

Barack Obama, in his opening statement, expressed his agreement with Blitzer by using two "history" lines of his own. "[I]t is a testimony to the Democratic Party, and it is a testimony to this country, that we have the opportunity to make history, because I think one of us two will end up being the next president of the United States of America." He later said, "I believe we're at a defining moment in our history."

After Roberts’ "grandeur of history" line, Crowley answered by agreeing that there was a sense of "history" involved on the "Democratic side of things." "I think so, and I think that you have that sense all along, but now it's just so crystallized, because you didn't know exactly what was going to happen. But I recall standing out in very chilly Springfield, Illinois, when Barack Obama announced. And a lot of people I talked to there said, 'Oh, you're an Obama supporter?' I said no, but you know, this might be history. I wanted to bring my kid. Same with Hillary Clinton. I brought my daughter, you know, because I think this might be history."

The two CNN on-air personalities, who had this exchange at the top of the 8 am Eastern hour on Friday’s "American Morning," were copied by two of the Big 3 network’s morning shows, which also used "history" lines. ABC’s Diane Sawyer on "Good Morning America" described the Democratic presidential debate between Obama and Clinton as "this truly historic debate last night," and CBS’s Harry Smith began "The Early Show" with the line "a presidential debate for the history books."

At the close of the segment, Roberts apparent giddiness about the Hillary/Obama match-up reached its height. "Yeah, it caught some people by surprise. They suddenly said, 'Oh, my God, history will be made this year.'"

The full transcript of the exchange from Friday’s "American Morning:"

CANDY CROWLEY: You know, afterwards, John, I talked to some people on both sides, and what they said was what they loved about last night was they thought that viewers now are really focused. It is very clear one of these two people is going to be the Democratic nominee and they think for the first time, each of them had a clear shot without the buffer....

JOHN ROBERTS: Yeah, it is going to be a transformational primary here on the Democratic side of things. Do you get a sense that people are recognizing this idea of the grandeur of history involved here?

CROWLEY: I think so, and I think that you have that sense all along, but now it's just so crystallized, because you didn't know exactly what was going to happen. But I recall standing out in very chilly Springfield, Illinois, when Barack Obama announced. And a lot of people I talked to there said, 'Oh, you're an Obama supporter?' I said no, but you know, this might be history. I wanted to bring my kid. Same with Hillary Clinton. I brought my daughter, you know, because I think this might be history. So they're definitely was that, but now I think the whole country is kind of involved than it. Where it was before, we were sort of state by state.

ROBERTS: Yeah, it caught some people by surprise. They suddenly said, 'Oh, my God, history will be made this year.'

CROWLEY: Exactly.

ROBERTS: Candy, thanks very much.