This is a rush transcript from "On the Record ," October 29, 2008. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Moments ago, Senator Obama aired a 30-minute infomercial on several major networks. Now, none of us knew what to expect. No questions, no debate, just Senator Obama talking to you. Well, not surprisingly, much of the infomercial focused on the economy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: As president, here's what I'll do: Cut taxes for every working family making less than $200,000 a year, give businesses a tax credit for every new employee that they hire right here in the U.S. over the next two years, and eliminate tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas.
Time and time again, what we're seeing is companies who owe their workers retirements, pensions, shedding those obligations. When you make a commitment to workers at a company, those aren't idle promises. Those are promises that should have the force of law.
Americans, they don't expect government to solve all their problems. They're not looking for a handout. If they're able and willing to work, they should be able to find a job that pay a living wage. They should be able to retire with some dignity and some respect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAN SUSTEREN: Was Senator Obama's infomercial a good political move or does look like he is ducking questions? Bill Sammon and Juan Williams are back with us. Bill, his supporters are going to say that was great. His critics are going to say that awful. And so it's really the undecideds that really matter, and frankly, only in a couple states. So that's really what we're talking about tonight. How do we measure whether this was -- I guess we wait until tomorrow, wait until Tuesday (SIC)?
BILL SAMMON, FOX NEWS DEPUTY WASHINGTON MANAGING EDITOR: Yes, you're going to have to wait and see how it shows up in the polls. I mean, I thought it was very well done. I thought it was devoid of any news or any revelations or any risks. You know, this guy's in the lead and he's not taking any risks. He's trying to reassure people at this stage of the game. In fact, this infomercial was basically his stump speech with illustrations, with audio-visuals.
VAN SUSTEREN: Well, but then -- then I think to myself, OK, the way you describe it doesn't sound at least, you know, exciting. And you know, at this point, it's got to be show biz. You got to -- if you want people to listen to you for half an hour...
SAMMON: Well...
VAN SUSTEREN: ... You better have...
SAMMON: The production values were very high. And they cut away to a lot different, you know, sob sister stories about Joe Smith who's, you know, struggling to keep his health insurance, and Susie Jones is a single mom, you know, the usual stories. And they were very touching and they were very real. And I'm not trying to diminish them. But it was safe material. And again, you know, there was this shot of him at one point, he's sitting in a room that looked like a cross between the Oval Office and Camp David. It was walking a line between being presumptuous, because you don't want to make him look like he's in the Oval Office because then, you know...
VAN SUSTEREN: Right.
SAMMON: ... Because then he's measuring drapes. But also, I think the real effect was that it got people used to the idea, Oh, I can sort of see this guy as president. He looks OK like that. And I think that was the intent of this entire 30 minutes.
VAN SUSTEREN: I'm dying to see the ratings tomorrow. Juan?
JUAN WILLIAMS, NPR, FOX CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, well, you know what? I don't think the ratings are going to be great. But you know what? If you've never heard of Barack Obama -- and believe me, there are people, and especially the thin slice of people who have yet to make up their mind, the apolitical sorts, who said, Who is this Barack Obama? What's he like? Well, that's the crowd that's going to be determine the outcome of the election.
Barack Obama wanted to have a last moment. Greta Van Susteren, you know about closing arguments in a courtroom. And this was a closing argument coming from his campaign, in which he says, You've heard this talk about my associations, I might be a Muslim, I'm not a patriot. He wrapped himself in the flag in this ad. He made it very clear he shares values with the average American, that he's a patriot. That's what he wanted to do. So there's no news, as Bill was saying.
VAN SUSTEREN: But here's the problem. If the media wants to tomorrow morning, they can really go after him because of the way it was done. This is him talking to the American people. He's not taking tough questions. I mean, there are still tough questions out there. I have a tough question for him...
(CROSSTALK)
SAMMON: ... Saying, if the media wants to go after Barack Obama...
VAN SUSTEREN: I have a tough question...
(CROSSTALK)
VAN SUSTEREN: I have a tough question for him and I have a tough question for Senator McCain. And I wish that they would -- you know, I wish that we'd -- the media would get another...
WILLIAMS: But you have to be fair and balanced about it because both sides do this. And in fact...
VAN SUSTEREN: I -- I...
WILLIAMS: ... Senator McCain has his ads coming up.
VAN SUSTEREN: I said I have a tough question for him, too.
WILLIAMS: Right. So I'm saying what you get here is politicians playing it safe. This is their territory. This is their story. And all of us...
VAN SUSTEREN: That's why...
WILLIAMS: ... Sitting around the table...
VAN SUSTEREN: But that's what I'm saying.
WILLIAMS: ... Don't get to ask the questions.
VAN SUSTEREN: But you said -- but you both said they sort of wrapped in the presidential flag, it looks great and everything else. But I'm saying that tomorrow morning, if we woke up and all of a sudden, the media said, Hey, why didn't you answer this question? Why (INAUDIBLE) you know, the two questions I laid out on GretaWire, I laid out two for each of them that I think aren't answered by either one of them -- you know, then all of a sudden, the sort of -- you know, this -- the thing that he -- that you saw with looking presidential isn't going to look so great.
SAMMON: There's a slight risk of, you know, the criticism that he's going to get about, Well, you're too presumptuous and you're showing off and you got all this money to burn. You raised three quarters of a billion dollars, and you can -- this is like chump change. Buying seven networks for 30 minutes is nothing to him. And John McCain, believe me, would love to be able to afford...
VAN SUSTEREN: Without any doubt.
SAMMON: ... To get the half-hour right after or before it, and he can't afford it.
WILLIAMS: The ad that, really, I think is going to make more news, Greta, is the one in which Barack Obama talks about the economy and then says, Here's Senator McCain, and here's the choice of the person he made to help him with economic issues and has Palin winking.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right. I got to go. Bill, Juan, thank you both.
SAMMON: Thanks, Greta.
WILLIAMS: You're welcome.
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