I didn't want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about doing any
seances." --after saying he had spoken with all the living presidents as he
prepared to take office, Washington, D.C., Nov. 7, 2008 (Obama later called
Nancy Reagan to apologize)
"I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody." --
defending his tax plan to Joe the Plumber, who argued that Obama's policy
hurts small-business owners like himself, Toledo, Ohio, Oct. 12, 2008
"What I was suggesting -- you're absolutely right that John McCain has not
talked about my Muslim faith..." --in an interview with ABC's George
Stephanopoulos, who jumped in to correct Obama by saying "your Christian
faith," which Obama quickly clarified (Watch video clip)
"I'm here with the Girardo family here in St. Louis." --speaking via
satellite to the Democratic National Convention, while in Kansas City,
Missouri, Aug. 25, 2008
"Let me introduce to you the next President -- the next Vice President of
the United States of America, Joe Biden." --slipping up while introducing
Joe Biden at their first joint campaign rally, Springfield, Illinois, Aug.
23, 2008
"Just this past week, we passed out of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee --
which is my committee -- a bill to call for divestment from Iran as way of
ratcheting up the pressure to ensure that they don't obtain a nuclear
weapon." --referring to a committee he is not on, Sderot, Israel, July 23,
2008
"Let me be absolutely clear. Israel is a strong friend of Israel's. It will
be a strong friend of Israel's under a McCain...administration. It will be a
strong friend of Israel's under an Obama administration. So that policy is
not going to change." --Amman, Jordan, July 22, 2008
"How's it going, Sunshine?" --campaigning in Sunrise, Florida
"On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen
heroes -- and I see many of them in the audience here today -- our sense of
patriotism is particularly strong."
"Hold on one second, sweetie, we're going to do -- we'll do a press
avail." --to a female reporter for ABC's Detroit affiliate who asked about
his plan to help American autoworkers (Watch video clip)
"I've now been in 57 states -- I think one left to go." --at a campaign
event in Beaverton, Oregon (Watch video clip)
"Why can't I just eat my waffle?" --after being asked a foreign policy
question by a reporter while visiting a diner in Pennsylvania
"It's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion
or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or
anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations." --explaining
his troubles winning over some working-class voters
"The point I was making was not that Grandmother harbors any racial
animosity. She doesn't. But she is a typical white person, who, if she sees
somebody on the street that she doesn't know, you know, there's a reaction
that's been bred in our experiences that don't go away and that sometimes
come out in the wrong way, and that's just the nature of race in our
society."