‘The View’: Guess who’s praising Barack Obama?

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It is a new day in America, and a new day on ‘The View.’

Can you guess which co-host of the ABC gab fest said this today?

‘Today is a victory for this country: to have Barack Obama be our president, the first black president, the first black first lady. To have the amount of voters -- 14 million more voters in this election than the last -- present themselves and vote in this election. Today is victory.’

What about this?

‘In seeing the amount of people that were able to gather with enthusiasm, ignited and ready to move this country in a fresh direction under Barack Obama, I think he has a gift. And I think with everyone’s support and prayers, he has the ability to really move us in a new place.’

Was it Joy Behar? Whoopi Goldberg?

Nooo. It was Elisabeth Hasselbeck, the lone Republican voice on the panel and passionate supporter of Sen. John McCain who recently accused Behar of drinking the Obama Kool-Aid.

Hasselbeck and Behar have been arguing a lot lately. Behar has staunchly supported president-elect Barack Obama and the two women have reportedly been fighting behind the scenes, though they adamantly deny that.

Today, after Hasselbeck ‘made nice’ with the president-elect, Behar took the opportunity to gloat. ‘What are you saying? I was right all along?’ Behar said and laughed.

The two women shook hands. Then Behar explained how she viewed the election:

‘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.’

The real winner, all women seemed to agree, was America.

Goldberg opened the discussion by saying that she was bowled over when her mother admitted to her on Tuesday night that she didn’t think America would elect a black president in her lifetime.

‘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.’

Walters played a clip of Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 ‘I Have A Dream’ speech after explaining her feelings.

‘None of us who are white can know what you feel,’ she said, looking at Shepherd. ‘And I didn’t cry last night. But this morning I was brushing my teeth and they had an excerpt of Martin Luther King. I remember that. It was 1963 and I found myself crying. It struck me so that I’ve asked to just play a little bit of that for you who are too young to remember and for those of you who remember and finally his dream came true.’

-- Maria Elena Fernandez