Obama for president? That's 'silly'

Landslide winner says he'll be happy to learn the ropes in Senate

Ridiculing it as "a silly question," Democrat Barack Obama pledged Wednesday he would resist any overtures to run for president or vice president before the end of his six-year term as a U.S. senator.

"So look, I can unequivocally say I will not be running for national office in four years, and my entire focus is making sure that I'm the best possible senator on behalf of the people of Illinois."

One day after the state senator from Hyde Park rewrote history by winning the most lopsided U.S. Senate contest ever in Illinois, Obama was doing his best to lower expectations -- about his roles as the nation's only black U.S. senator and a rising Democratic star.

"Look, I'm a state senator who hasn't even been sworn in yet," Obama said." My understanding is that I will be ranked 99th in seniority. ... I'm going to be spending the first several months of my career in the U.S. Senate looking for the washroom and trying to figure out how the phones work."

Obama trounced Republican Alan Keyes Tuesday, 70 percent to 27 percent with 98 percent of the precincts counted.

That 43 percentage-point lead bests the previous record for a U.S. Senate race in Illinois. That was when Republican William B. McKinley beat Democrat Peter A. Waller by 40 percentage points in 1920.

Testy exchange with reporter

But despite that historic victory, Obama was cranky at times when he met with reporters at his campaign headquarters Wednesday. He brushed aside a question from Sun-Times Washington Bureau Chief Lynn Sweet when she interrupted his answer several times asking for more specifics.

"Lynn, you're dictating the answers as well as the questions," Obama said. "Let me move on to the next question."

After the news conference, Obama complained to Sweet "this is like the fifth time you've done this," before walking her into a hallway for a private discussion. Obama's aides said he was just tired after the long hours of the 21-month campaign.

The U.S. senator-elect readily shared his thoughts on President Bush's victory, the challenges facing Democrats nationally and his own plans to establish "a top-flight constituent service office" and travel the state to thank and listen to Democrats and Republicans alike to devise "concrete ways" to improve jobs, education and health care in Illinois.

"And that's my complete and total focus during this new adventure that I'm walking into," he said.

But he seemed less comfortable discussing his own role as a rising national star.

"It's important for me to show the voters of Illinois the degree to which I am concerned with the people of Illinois, because I think that the hype that's surrounded my campaign during this last phase needs to be corrected," he said. "People need to recognize that the

job I've applied for and that they have hired me for is to be the best U.S. senator possible for the state of Illinois."

When he is sworn in in January, Obama will become the only African American in the Senate and only the fifth in U.S. history. He said he feels confident he can speak to the issues black and white Americans care about, but said he is concerned about the "demands or requests on me from across the country.

Sometimes, he'll have to say no

"It's going to be important for me to say 'no,' when it just comes to appearances, wanting to be the keynote speaker at every NAACP Freedom Fund dinner across the country," Obama said. "You know, those are the kinds of things where I'm just going to have to explain to people that there are limits to my time. I've got a family that I've got to look after.

"But when it comes to speaking out on issues that are of particular importance to the African American community, I don't think that's a conflict with my role as an effective legislator for the people of Illinois."

Obama's name had been bandied about as a potential presidential candidate even before his keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention this summer made him a household name.

North Carolina Sen. John Edwards ran for president this year after just one term in the Senate. And exit polling conducted Tuesday found that nearly half of Illinois voters think Obama would make a good president.

But Obama seemed especially exasperated when asked if he would pledge to fulfill his term before looking to the White House.

"I am not running for president in 2008," Obama said. "I mean, come on guys. The only reason I'm being definitive is because until I'm definitive you will keep asking me this question, but it's a silly question."