NEW YORK, March 28 (UPI) -- Sen. Barack Obama says he would not have been comfortable staying at his church if its former pastor hadn't acknowledged his remarks were offensive.
"Had not (the Rev. Jeremiah Wright) retired and had he not acknowledged that what he had said had deeply offended people ... and mischaracterized what I believe is the greatness of this country ... then I wouldn't have felt comfortable staying there at the church," Obama said Friday on ABC's "The View."
Wright's comments prompted the Democratic presidential hopeful to deliver a speech in Philadelphia on race and distance himself from the remarks.
"I'm not vetting my pastor," the Illinois senator said, "I didn't have a research team during the course of 20 years to go pull every sermon he's given and see if there's something offensive that he's said."
If elected president Obama said the first three things he would do would be "responsibly and honorably begin a withdrawal from Iraq," offer up legislation that would "give every American healthcare," and address the energy crises.
Saying "I'm skinny but I'm tough," Obama said he prefers to address political attacks by answering "honestly, swiftly, forcefully and truthfully. The truth is a powerful weapon," he said.
