Q: Is there a great line from a political speech that you wish you had written? One that you go around saying, "Man, I wish I had pulled that one off. That's one of the greatest lines of all time"?

A: Well, I think there have been some great speeches in my time, including Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963, but I don't know of any better speech or more quotable speech than Abraham Lincoln in his second inaugural and in his Gettysburg Address. As far as I'm concerned, Milton Friedman or not, "Of the people, by the people, for the people" is still the best definition of democracy there is.

Q: How do you describe yourself politically?

A: I'm a liberal, I should say a liberal Democrat . I'm still self-editing (laughs).

Q: Have your politics changed in any significant way since your JFK days?

A: No. Again, please read the book "Counselor." It's available at Amazon.com and local bookstores. In the one-third of the book about my years after Kennedy, I stressed that my views had not changed, even though a lot of other people's have. Once when I needled my friend Pat Moynihan, a good fellow, a little bit about some of his slippage in views, he said, "Why, Ted, you sound like a 1960s liberal." And I thought to myself, "Yes, I still am a 1960s liberal."

I also quoted in the book that when the FBI did its first field search on me when I was first applying for a lowly job in the federal government after I graduated from law school, one of my law school classmates said in answer to the FBI questions -- I know this because this appeared in the report, when I got my FBI file -- "Ted's real liberal, but he's a loyal American." As I said in the book, and as I say now, "I'll take that verdict on both counts."

Q: You feel comfortable with today's Democratic Party and you believe JFK would as well?

A: Yes. Oh, there are always going to be Democrats who didn't think JFK was not liberal enough, aggressive enough, or that Kennedy should have spent more money on this or that. He was actually a fiscal conservative and I worked with him on that. Part of my responsibility was to keep the budget below $100 billion. Now they're up there in the trillions.

Q: Do you have any claim on the Kennedy line, "A rising tide lifts all boats"?

A: No. That came from a business group -- although I have to admit I stole it from them and had something to do with passing it on to JFK. That was the slogan of the New England Council, which was like a regional chamber of commerce. Their slogan was, "A rising tide lifts all the boats."

Q: Which is a wonderful metaphor.

A: It is. I like it.

Q: When you write a speech do you write it for the eye or the ear?

A: Both. You've got to remember the ear, because that's how it's going to first be received by the immediate audience in the room and if it has words that are difficult to pronounce, or understand, or distinguish from the word before or the word after, it can diminish the impact of the speech. Of course I am writing for the eye because of the way a speech is reported in the press. I think everyone writes for the eye. But for a good speech, some sense of the poetic is important and poems are clearly written totally for the ear.

Q: Is there a line or two or a big thought or a timeless theme that you'd insert into Mr. Obama's speech if you had the chance?

A: If he asks me, I will give him some suggestions for his ear only and I think I won't do it through the Pittsburgh press.

Q: If you were writing a speech for Mr. Obama, is there a trick you'd want to pull out of the Ted Sorensen speechwriting playbook that would fit Obama's speaking style and oratorical skills perfectly?

A: I don't have tricks in a playbook, but I think it's going to be a great speech and it's going to emphasize the need for a more peaceful world and a more united country in which we can restore confidence in our leadership and our economy.