And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care or education or the need to find good jobs for every American.

As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding and baptized my children.

The profound mistake of Reverend Wright's sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It's that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress had been made; as if this country -- a country that has made it possible…

To the larger aspirations of all Americans: the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man who's been laid off.

Barack knows what it means to be a black man living in a country...

I understand the anger. It's time for us to move to a new place.

The statements that were the source of controversy from Reverend Wright were wrong, and I strongly condemn them. I think the caricature that's being painted of him is not accurate.

Let me be absolutely clear here. I opposed this war in 2002. I opposed it in 2003, '04, '05, '06 and '07.

I have to strongly condemn the statements that were made. They do not reflect my views or Michelle's views.

Had I heard those in the church, I would have told Reverend Wright that, you know, that I profoundly disagreed with them.

And part of what my campaign has been about is how can we push the country into that direction, so that white America and black America are able to recognize this history, acknowledge it, but not engage in the blame and the anger that is…

I have never been naive enough to think that we get beyond these issues of race or gender or our history or our past.

We have a history of discrimination and, you know, slavery and Jim Crow that continues to have a powerful pull on the African-American memory.

What I have said is that we have the capacity to move beyond them and improve our relationship with each other in a way that actually reflects the best of American values and American ideals.

I just don't think that it's necessary to talk about Senator Clinton or anybody in those terms.

I strongly condemn the statements that have been shown on the tape.

She is the love of my life, the rock of our household.

I don't think that there is a directive in the Clinton campaign: 'Let's heighten the racial elements in the campaign.' I don't think that.

I will never hesitate to defend this country and our critical interests.

I don't think that Geraldine Ferraro's comments have any place in our politics or the Democratic Party. I think they were divisive. I would expect that the same way those comments don't have a place in my campaign, they shouldn't have a…

I think it's really premature for any of us to be talking about VP nominations when we're in the midst of a really important contest. And what I think the voters are still looking for is who's going to be the best advocate for them?

I'm grateful to the people of Mississippi for the wonderful support, and, you know, what we've tried to do is steadily make sure that in each state we are making the case about the need for change in this country. And obviously, the people…

This sort of thing has absolutely no place in politics.

I don't know how somebody who's in second place is offering the vice presidency to the person who's in first place.

But I don't understand. If I'm not ready, how is it that you think you I should be such a great vice president?