Wilkow!': Obama's Majority Coalition

The full transcript of the 1998 Obama “redistribution” audio has been obtained by The Daily Caller, where in the audio then Illinois State Senator Barack Obama expresses some far-left positions on gun control, universal health care, and welfare reform. In the video, Obama describes welfare recipients and the working poor as a “majority coalition.”

“What I think will re-engage people in politics is if we’re doing significant, serious policy work around what I will label the ‘working poor,’” Obama said in the 1998 remarks during a Loyola College Forum, “although my definition of the working poor is not simply folks making minimum wage, but it’s also families of four who are making $30,000 a year. They are struggling. And to the extent that we are doing research figuring out what kinds of government action would successfully make their lives better, we are then putting together a potential majority coalition to move those agendas forward.”

A 96-second clip from the 1998 remarks made their way to YouTube last week and became a national story, for during the forum Obama says he believes in "redistribution" of wealth, “at least to a certain level to make sure everybody’s got a shot.”

The RNC quickly jumped on the discovery by producing a 50-second web video calling attention to the remarks spliced over clips of Romney criticizing Obama at the RNC for "attacking success," Obama tripping up during a 60 minutes interview, and his now infamous "you didn't build that" comment.

Diana Furchtgott-Roth of the Manhattan Institute appeared on "Wilkow!" Monday to discuss what larger messages can be taken from what is heard in the audio released Monday.