Shepherd, whom "View" creator Barbara Walters classified as one of the show’s conservatives, then described how Obama can win the War on Terror with his charm.
"But, yeah, I, you know, and the thing about Barack, I love Barack because, even though Hillary, you know, says that she has more experience, I think Barack’s secret weapon is his art of persuasiveness. Because I think Barack, he would find Osama Bin Laden. He wouldn’t go looking for him. He would call up his wife Benita Bin Laden. That’s what Barack would do. I think he would call Benita and he’s so persuasive, he’d go ‘Benita, it’s not about race. And I would never disown you the way I wouldn’t disown my grandmother. Benita, put your hand in your heart and feel the thump, thump of your heart. Benita where is Osama?’ And she’d go ‘he is in the cave! One kilometer down. No war, peace Obama!’ [laughter and applause] I think, Barack, I can sleep on Barack."
The transcript of the relevant exchange is below.
JAY LENO: Now, I’m starting to think you’re a flirt. You come on here and you flirt with him, and then Friday, you got Barack Obama on the show.
SHERRI SHEPHERD: Oh! Barack Obama!
LENO: Look, look, look. You just dumped him like a hot potato.
SHEPHERD: No, I didn’t dump you don’t worry. Oh, you’re married. I gotta- mmmmmm.
LENO: Yeah, Barack Obama is also married.
SHEPHERD: Barack Obama, he’s married too, but, you know, the thing about it was Barack came out, and he was so confident and charismatic. He looked and he acted like the next president. Barbara Walters was the one who said he was sexy. I wanted to talk about world peace, but since Barbara brought it up, he is sexy!
LENO: Now, we got a picture of you. Here’s you and him.
SHEPHERD: The picture, yeah. That’s like my prom picture. I’m telling everybody that Barack [laughter] took me to the prom. And even if they say "well, how come you both have gray hair?" Well, that’s what we looked like at 17. And we broke up and he got with some girl named Michelle. I don’t know what happened with them. But, yeah, I, you know, and the thing about Barack, I love Barack because, even though Hillary, you know, says that she has more experience, I think Barack’s secret weapon is his art of persuasiveness. Because I think Barack, he would find Osama Bin Laden. He wouldn’t go looking for him. He would call up his wife Benita Bin Laden. That’s what Barack would do. I think he would call Benita and he’s so persuasive, he’d go "Benita, it’s not about race. And I would never disown you the way I wouldn’t disown my grandmother. Benita, put your hand in your heart and feel the thump, thump of your heart. Benita where is Osama?" And she’d go "he is in the cave! One kilometer down. No war, peace Obama!" [laughter and applause] I think, Barack, I can sleep on Barack.
