Obama considering White House

2006-10-23 00:03

Washington - Senator Barack Obama, a rising star of the Democratic party, said on Sunday he was considering running for the US presidency in 2008.

Asked on NBC television's Meet the Press programme if it was fair to say he is thinking about running in 2008, the Illinois lawmaker answered: "It's fair, yes."

For months, the first-term senator had ruled out running for the White House, but said he had reconsidered "given the responses that I have been getting over the last several months", he told NBC.

He added that for the time being, he was devoting his energies to campaigning for fellow opposition Democrats running for office in next month's congressional and state-wide elections against Republicans, who control both chambers of congress.

"My focus is 2006 and making sure that we take the congress. After November 7, I'll sit down and consider it," Obama said.

Junior status

"And if at some point I change my mind, I will make a public announcement and everybody will be able to go at me."

Obama, 45, is not quite two years into his first six-year senate term, having been elected in November 2004.

Asked about his relative junior status - 98 of the other 99 lawmakers in the US senate have more seniority - Obama said on Sunday he did not believe that his youth and relative inexperience to be major impediments.

"I'm not sure that anybody is ready to be president before they're president," he told NBC.

"Ultimately, I trust the judgment of the American people that in any election they sort it through," he said.

- AFP