American Ambassador: The American election

Please note 'The Andrew Marr Show' must be credited if any part of this transcript is used.

ANDREW MARR: Now the American people have spoken.

It's going to be all change, though not for another 70 days, so how does the transition from one administration to another actually work?

How high are the expectations in America for an immediate impact when Team Obama moves into the White House?

Well with me is the United States Ambassador in London, Robert Tuttle - Bush appointee, to be heading home in due course. And I'm also joined by the jazz singer Curtis Stigers, diehard Democrat who supported the Obama campaign.

Welcome to you both, gentlemen. Of course unlike British ambassadors, American ambassadors are political appointees, so what happens now? How does it work?

ROBERT TUTTLE: Actually all ambassadors, Andrew, whether they be political or foreign service, will submit their resignation prior to January 20th to give President-elect Obama the maximum flexibility.

ANDREW MARR: Right.

ROBERT TUTTLE: I do expect that there will be a new ambassador in the United Kingdom. I've been here three and a half years and I've loved it.

ANDREW MARR: So you have to prepare to go home. Do you have any note... When will you hear who your successor is going to be? Presumably because Obama's got a lot of appointments to make and he'll be making all the ones at the top first and then moving down to ambassador.

ROBERT TUTTLE: It's just a guess, but I would guess he would make that selection some time in January or February.

ANDREW MARR: Right. Now looking back at the campaign, the Republican Party seemed to be quite sort of divided between the Sarah Palin tendency if you like and John McCain, who was sitting on that sofa, the more mainstream. Is the party going to go to war with itself now, do you think?

ROBERT TUTTLE: I think there will be a lot of internal debate, as there is in every campaign after you lose. Part of history, the Goldwater debacle against Lyndon Johnson in 1964 - the one bright light was a speech by a relatively unknown actor at the time, Ronald Reagan. A couple of years later he was Governor of California, and a few years after that he became President of the United States. So sometimes out of defeat come great changes and great leaders.

ANDREW MARR: Curtis, as I say you were campaigning and I think doing benefit concerts and so on for the Obama campaign. There's been a lot of talk that it was different organisationally with sorts of lots of people putting small amounts of money in and so on. How did it feel to be part of it? Did it feel different?

CURTIS STIGERS? Well yeah. I mean it was clearly an entirely different way of campaigning, an entirely different way of raising funds. They raised small amounts of money from people that had never even been part of the political process before. The Internet obviously brought everybody into it, so many young people. But I think what really is important is how inspiring this man is. That is clearly what brought people to this. He's a very special kind of candidate, you know. And we were talking off camera about the idea that maybe this is a new way of campaigning, but I think without having someone with the great charisma and with the leadership skills... This is a man who can lead America rather than sort of run it, I think, and that's what I really like about him.

ANDREW MARR: But there must be a danger - there have been so high expectations raised everywhere...

CURTIS STIGERS: Sure.

ANDREW MARR: ... that it's going to be, it has to be a bit of a letdown. So I'm just wondering about the transition period.

CURTIS STIGERS: He's definitely been handed a tough job, hasn't he? He's been handed a world that is clearly more broken than it was eight years ago. I think the thing about, the thing that impresses me about President-elect Obama is how calm he is always - how able to weather the storms of attacks. I mean the things that were said about him during the campaign were scandalous, I think, and so brutal, and he's able to remain calm and I think he'll bring calm to the country. I pray that he does.

ANDREW MARR: One of the ways in which this was clearly a great election for American democracy was the way that for instance John McCain responded afterwards. I mean there has been a healing process already, hasn't there?

ROBERT TUTTLE: Absolutely. I think it was the best concession speech ever given in a presidential...

ANDREW MARR: (over) That moment when he said, "It was my fault." You know "We all struggled, but in the end the blame is mine."

ROBERT TUTTLE: Well it's the old expression�

ANDREW MARR: You don't often hear that in public life.

ROBERT TUTTLE: We have this expression, 'fish stinks from the head down', and when you lose you've got to accept responsibility, and that's what Senator McCain did.

CURTIS STIGERS: I think it was very magnanimous the way he chose to take the blame. You know I'm a Democrat. I went through you know a tough eight years and a very tough campaign where a lot of things were said, and I think Senator McCain made some poor choices in the way he ran the campaign. I think choosing Sarah Palin was a very bad choice and I think many Democrats do. I think that went a long way toward getting people...

ANDREW MARR: Pulling some of the poison out.

CURTIS STIGERS: ...getting people to forgive him, but there's still a little bit of, there's still a little venom, I think.

ANDREW MARR: A final thought, Ambassador?

ROBERT TUTTLE: One of the things I'm very proud of this administration is that they're already starting an effort way before the election to make this the best transition in history. President-elect Obama chose his transition leader way in advance - so, as Curtis said, we've got big problems, but I think we're well on the way in the next 75 days to putting together effective administration on January 20th.

ANDREW MARR: Right. Well for now... We're going to hear Curtis, you're going to play us out...

CURTIS STIGERS: Do what I really do, yeah.

ANDREW MARR: �at the end, but for now thank you both very much indeed.

INTERVIEW ENDS

Please note "The Andrew Marr Show" must be credited if any part of this transcript is used.

NB: This transcript was typed from a recording and not copied from an original script.

Because of the possibility of mis-hearing and the difficulty, in some cases, of identifying individual speakers, the BBC cannot vouch for its accuracy

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