"People are suspicious of ideology or absolutism and much more interested in solving problems."

The staff of the QUAD-CITY TIMES Springfield Bureau recently sat down with Barack Obama for an exclusive “One-on-One” interview. Here are some fair-use abusing exerpts:

Q: What are the issues in Illinois?

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A: The first is the long-term, structural loss of jobs in the state, that fact that the jobs we’re losing are the $25-an-hour jobs and the ones that are being created are $7- and $8-an-hour jobs. That’s something the people are very concerned about.

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I think they’re very concerned about the ever-escalating price of health care — not just people who don’t have health insurance, but people who do but who’ve seen their premiums and deductibles go up repeatedly and small businesses that are having trouble getting health insurance for their workers.

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Q: As you’ve traveled around the state, what has most surprised you most about Illinois — particularly since you’re fighting the stereotype of being a Chicago Democrat?

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A: I’m struck by how decent people are all around this state. The Midwestern values that I grew up on continue to thrive in communities all across the state: hard work, decency, common sense, the fact that people are suspicious of ideology or absolutism and much more interested in solving problems.

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Q: For the better part of the past two years, the Republican spin machine has been intent on painting you as left-winger. How do you respond to that sort of absolutism?

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A: The problem is that they make these assertions, but when you press them on specifics, it is a pretty thin gruel that they are offering up.

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Q: When you speak in General Assembly debate, you seem to emphasize the points Republicans and Democrats have in common on an issue. Is that by design?

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A: That’s how politics should work. I’m not in politics just to score points or make other people look bad or to diminish them in some fashion. What I’m interested in is lifting up people and creating a climate where we can work together to solve our common problems.

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Q: Who are your political heroes?

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A: We all have personal heroes … my mother and some other people I have known in my life. I guess publicly it would be Lincoln, Gandhi, King. I’m a huge admirer of political leaders who transform the debate. They don’t just take the debate as it exists and work that, but rather they create a whole new language and a whole new way of thinking about our obligations to each other and our ideals.

Be sure to read the whole interview.