President-Elect Barack Obama’s historic victory was the focus of the Hot Topics discussion for the co-hosts of ABC The View on November 5, 2008. Elisabeth Hasselbeck, who had supported the Republican candidates, Senator John McCain and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, (and had sparred infamously with co-host Joy Behar throughout the election season), remarked upon the historic significance of the election.
Hasselbeck talked about watching the election results with her three-year-old daughter, Grace, who asked her who won. She told her daughter that no one lost. “Seriously, today is a victory for this country,” she said. She went on to elaborate, “For me, this was a triumph over negative campaigning. And I appreciate that about Americans today. That they didn’t fall for the Jeremiah Wright ads and this association baloney. They went for themselves. For the country. And it’s such a wonderful feeling.”
Barack Obama with Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia after Obama delivered his victory speech in Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois, upon being elected President of the United States, November 4, 2008 (Photo credit: Getty Images)
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg also shared her story, a discussion with her mother that night in which her mother admitted that she did not think she would live to see the day that an African-American would be elected President of the U.S.
“And the realization that hit me and really messed me up for a lot of the night was that as an American, I always thought of myself as an American with all of the promise that America holds,” Goldberg said. “But suddenly last night I felt like I could put my suitcase down finally.
“When people say, everybody can be president … this is a moment where you realize that you have become the fabric of America, that people really do want greatness for the country and they’re willing to do as much as they can to bring it about. And I was so knocked out by it. ”
Co-host Sherri Shepherd was so emotional about Obama’s win that she couldn’t contain her tears while trying to explain why she finally decided to cast her vote for him. Shepherd was undecided until the very end.
“I took my son with me and he kept saying, ‘Barack Obama, we did it! We did it!’ We’ve always had these limitations on us. And I remember somebody in my family, when I said I wanted to be a comic and an actor, ‘Go get a job at the post office, they don’t let people like us do that.’ So to look at my son and say, ‘No limitations on you.’ It is an extraordinary day for me to be able to tell my son.
[Sarah Palin] spoke to me as a mother who has a child who has special needs. But this spoke to me more. And I know there are people who died to be able to see this day.”
Source: ‘The View’: Guess who’s praising Barack Obama?
Photo: Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd and Elisabeth Hasselbeck on The View, November 5, 2008 (Photo credit: ABC)
Watch the rest of the program on YouTube:
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Video: “The View” Co-hosts React to Barack Obama’s Historic Victory 11-5-08
