Presidential Candidate Senator Barack Obama responded to an invitation
from Barbara Walters to appear on The View this morning, taking on
Republican Elizabeth Hasselbeck, while fielding questions from a
sympathetic Joy Behar, Barbara and Whoopie Goldberg.

First on
the agenda, Senator Obama responded to the controversy surrounding
recently-retired church pastor Jeremiah Wright. Obama is taking fire
for remaining in the church after the pastor's controversial antics: as
early as 1993, Wright called for the primarily African-American
congregation to sing, "God Damn America," rather than God Bless
America, as well as placing responsibility for the 9/11 terrorist
attacks squarely on the United States itself.

Obama is on the
record as "categorically" denouncing any rhetoric "that disparages our
great country." His impassioned speech on racial relations, as
Hasselbeck noted, "crossed party lines," and won many undecided
supporters over, calling for an open-minded, inclusive discussion of
the issues.

Still, the shadow of Wright's legacy hangs over
Obama's head, and as he has remarked before, "I can no more dismiss
this man [Wright] than I can my white grandmother." Barack's outspoken
and independent wife, Michelle, didn't help matters when, in February,
she passionately cried out during a campaign stop in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, "For the first time in my adult life I am proud of my
country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback." No
doubt her words were intended as praise for her husband's success;
however, her poorly-worded comments only sparked outrage over what many
saw as further denigration of America.

In addition, continuing
to attend Wright's church for 21 years suggests to many a tacit
approval with Wright's divisive sentiments; opponents argue that Obama
only distanced himself from the pastor when the relationship was
brought out into the open.

This morning on the View, Obama
weighed in with, "I'm not vetting my pastor. I didn't have a research
team during the course of 20 years to go pull every sermon he's given
and see if there's something offensive that he's said." Obama went on
to say that the picture the news media has given the American people is
merely, "a snippet of the man."

Obama also went on to address what he considers the three major focal points of his presidential campaign:

Removing our military force from Iraq "as carefully as we carelessly went in."

Putting forth a bill that will "allow every family to receive affordable health care."

Dealing
with the nation's economy. Earlier this week, Obama railed against
Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain for taking, as he put it,
"a sit back and watch" approach to the failing economy in the midst of
what analysts say is an economic recession. Obama denied that he would,
as McCain suggested Tuesday, raise taxes. Instead, he plans to "remove
tax breaks from the richest Americans", who, he points out, don't need
the breaks as much as the average worker needs to hang on to his house.

After Barack's stint on the view, Sherri Shepherd, former
comedienne and survivor of the infamous "flat earth" discussion in
which she disavowed evolution, declared herself won over by Obama's
appearance and declared herself willing to campaign for him.

Hopefully, after facing down all this controversy already, the Senator is savvy enough not to take her up on her offer.