Whoopi Goldberg on Barack Obama's Nomination

Tonight, of course, is Barack Obama accepting his place in history as the first African American nominee. I think it’s very interesting that the other side has sort of been saying, "Oh, he’s such a rock star." Of course, he’s in a giant stadium with pillars that look like they come directly out of antebellum — the antebellum south you look at where he’s going to be talking. In a funny way it looks like the opening of "Gone With the Wind," but the Republicans sort of equate this with a rock star’s status. This is a status that they actually applied to Ronald Regan. Remember, he’s the great orator. He could mesmerize crowds and of course we’ve placed this directly in our own hands, in our own laps, because we don’t want a president who doesn’t have that feel. Because we want people to come out of the woodwork wherever our president goes, and here’s what he has to say. We want him to be good-looking. We want him to be articulate.

They were all over Obama today because, if he’s not on the teleprompter, he’s not as smooth. Well, my gosh, if I’m not up on a teleprompter on "The View" I’m not as smooth. No one is as smooth as they are with a teleprompter, so let’s hope John McCain adapts to that teleprompter, because he could use some help. It’s a shame no one ever said to George W., "Hey, man. Try a teleprompter or something."

I’m listening to all of this and I’ve seen some of the attack ads that are coming out and I am wondering if the Democratic attack ads are going to be the same as the Republican attack ads, showing  the various other people who ran for president, talking about the person who gets the nomination, which we’re assuming is going to be John McCain on the Republican side. Can you imagine — all the talking heads like Rudy Giuliani talking about John McCain, how he’s not a real republican, and all these other guys who were running around, talking about how John is not a real Republican? And he doesn’t hold the Republican values? This is going to be a riot.

It’s a kissy-face-fest whenever you do the conventions so, of course, the Clintons have gotten on board and they took care of business last night. I thought Bill was extraordinary and Hillary was extraordinary. I have to say, I tip my hat to Hillary Clinton because one of the things that didn’t happen during the campaigns –because no one really stopped and said out loud, "Is this a little femophobic?" (That’s what I call it when people go after you because of your gender.) They couldn’t go after Barack for his color because, my goodness, that would have totally rocked the boat, so everybody felt free to go after Hillary for her gender and no one really talked about it. They talked about it a little at the end of her campaign but not a whole lot, but I think she pulled it together and it will be interesting to see if people can tell the truth — why they’re afraid of Barack Obama.

Are they afraid because they think, "Oh, my goodness. I’ve seen black men in rap videos and how do I know he’s not going to turn into that?" I know that sounds silly but I’ve heard stranger things. I’ve heard John McCain say he’s not like us. Well, I don’t know how he’s different except that he’s black. And of course some of his ideas were the same as Barack’s ideas, but John has changed his mind on things like choice. At one point he thought it was a woman’s right to choose what she was going to do. He personally didn’t feel that it was a decision that he should be making. He thought a woman should have the right to choose. Of course, now he’s changed all of that. He once thought that illegal immigrants should be dealt with with dignity and clarity and figure out a way to make it work for everybody, but no more. He’s taken up that other banner. I guess he’s going to start building a up a new wall. It will be interesting to see how tonight goes and what the future brings.