Interview: Deval Patrick

President Obama just announced his reelection campaign. How will he win?
I think he is going to win by talking to the American people as adults, which is not something they get from a lot of the other would-be candidates.

In your new memoir, you write about your wife Diane's depression following your election in 2006. She checked herself into a psychiatric hospital, and you offered to quit your job. Why didn't you resign?
Diane is the person who said, "No, we should finish what we started." It is a good thing that she didn't run for governor because I'd be toast.

You're headed to Wisconsin, where Gov. Scott Walker has challenged the unions. What do you make of him and this new crop of Republican governors?
They are political bullies. That's nothing new.

Is Massachusetts's health-care plan, the model for national reform, working?
We have over 98 percent of our residents with health insurance today. There is no other state in America that can touch that.

You caught a lot of flak for ordering a new car and replacing the office curtains after being elected in 2006. Did you do any redecorating when you won this fall?
No. I'm all done.

You didn't need a new carpet?
What I do need, I pay for myself, thank you very much.

It will be your job in 2012 to attack Mitt Romney, the previous Massachusetts governor, right?
No, that is not right. Anybody who knows me knows that I'm no attack dog. I'm proud of health-care reform here. I think that Governor Romney should be proud of it, too.

Another Massachusetts Republican, Scott Brown, will be on the ballot in 2012.
I think that Scott Brown is eminently beatable.

So why aren't you running against him?
I don't want to be a senator.

You're promoting a book, traveling the globe, preparing to work for Obama's campaign, but you once mocked Mitt Romney for being a “recreational governor.” Do you regret that?
Let me tell you what the difference is. I'm out promoting Massachusetts. That is very different from what my predecessor was doing.