And I pushed for some core principles: making sure that taxpayer can get their money back if they're putting money up.
And I think that it's going to take some time to work itself out.
We've got some long-term challenges in this economy that have to be dealt with.
Now, Sen. McCain, the centerpiece of his economic proposal is to provide $200 billion in additional tax breaks to some of the wealthiest corporations in America.
And that requires us to make some important choices. 
But there is no doubt that we've been living beyond our means and we're going to have to make some adjustments. 
And some of the cuts, just to give you an example, we spend $15 billion a year on subsidies to insurance companies.
But what is absolutely true is that, once we get through this economic crisis and some of the specific proposals to get us out of this slump, that we're not going to be able to go back to our profligate ways. 
And, in fact, an across-the-board spending freeze is a hatchet, and we do need a scalpel, because there are some programs that don't work at all.
There are some programs that are underfunded.
Now, you've shown independence -- commendable independence, on some key issues like torture, for example, and I give you enormous credit for that.
The notion, though, that because we're not doing town hall meetings that justifies some of the ads that have been going up, not just from your own campaign directly, John, but 527s and other organizations that make some pretty tough accusations, well, I don't mind being attacked for the next three weeks. 
 I mean, look, if we want to talk about Congressman Lewis, who is an American hero, he, unprompted by my campaign, without my campaign's awareness, made a statement that he was troubled with what he was hearing at some of the rallies that your running mate was holding, in which all the Republican reports indicated were shouting, when my name came up, things like "terrorist" and "kill him," and that you're running mate didn't mention, didn't stop, didn't say "Hold on a second, that's kind of out of line." 
And what they want is the ability to just focus on some really big challenges that we face right now, and that's what I have been trying to focus on this entire campaign. 
Apparently what they've done is they were paying people to go out and register folks, and apparently some of the people who were out there didn't really register people, they just filled out a bunch of names. 
It's not just that he has some of the best foreign policy credentials of anybody.
I do want to just point out that autism, for example, or other special needs will require some additional funding, if we're going to get serious in terms of research.
That's an example of, I think, the kind of use of the scalpel that we want to make sure that we're funding some of those programs. 
And I think that we should look at offshore drilling and implement it in a way that allows us to get some additional oil.
If we can get that right, then we can move in a direction not only of energy independence, but we can create 5 million new jobs all across America, including in the heartland where we can retool some of these plants to make these highly fuel-efficient cars and also to make wind turbines and solar panels, the kinds of clean energy approaches that should be the driver of our economy for the next century. 
Just yesterday, I was in Toledo shaking some hands in a line.
And they were desperate for some way of getting coverage, because, understandably, they're worried that, if they get sick, they could go bankrupt. 
This will cost some money on the front end, but over the long term this is the only way that not only are we going to make families healthy, but it's also how we're going to save the federal budget, because we can't afford these escalating costs. 
And in some ways, it may be difficult to -- to reconcile the two views. 
But there surely is some common ground when both those who believe in choice and those who are opposed to abortion can come together and say, "We should try to prevent unintended pregnancies by providing appropriate education to our youth, communicating that sexuality is sacred and that they should not be engaged in cavalier activity, and providing options for adoption, and helping single mothers if they want to choose to keep the baby." 
Those are all things that we put in the Democratic platform for the first time this year, and I think that's where we can find some common ground, because nobody's pro-abortion.
In some cases, we are going to have to invest.
Right now, I meet young people all across the country who either have decided not to go to college or if they're going to college, they are taking on $20,000, $30,000, $50,000, $60,000 worth of debt, and it's very difficult for them to go into some fields, like basic research in science, for example, thinking to themselves that they're going to have a mortgage before they even buy a house. 
And that's why I've proposed a $4,000 tuition credit, every student, every year, in exchange for some form of community service, whether it's military service, whether it's Peace Corps, whether it's working in a community. 
But I do think that it is important for the federal government to step up and help local school districts do some of the things they need to do. 
Charter schools, I doubled the number of charter schools in Illinois despite some reservations from teachers unions.
Recently his key economic adviser was asked about why he didn't seem to have some specific programs to help young people go to college and the response was, well, you know, we can't give money to every interest group that comes along. 
And if we're going to do some of the things you mentioned, like lowering loan rates or what have you, somebody has got to pay for it.