Obama on "Letterman": "I Was Actually Black Before the Election"

"First of all, I think it's important to realize that I was actually black before the election," Obama said.

Responded Letterman: "How long have you been a black man?"

Obama said of the state of discourse: "One of the things that you sign up for in politics is that folks yell at you," he said. He noted that "whenever a president tries to bring about significant changes, particularly during times of economic unease, there is a certain segment of the population that gets very riled up."

Obama also talked more seriously about Afghanistan, with the top commander warning that the war would be lost without more troops. Obama said that he is going to be asking some very hard questions" in making a decision what to do next.

“The most important duty I’ve got is before I send some young man and woman in uniform over there and I’m answerable to their parents that if they don’t come back I’ve got to write a letter to them saying that their child has sacrificed on behalf of America—before I make those decisions I’ve got to make sure that the policy in place is worthy of their sacrifice,” Obama said. “That’s something that we are going to work through systematically in the coming weeks and months. We’re not going to make a decision about any further troop deployments until we know what exactly is our strategy….I’m going to be asking some very hard questions.”

Letterman also did a Top Ten List, the top ten reasons Obama agreed to go on his show.