Obama Apologizes For Reagan Seance Joke
President-elect Obama called Nancy Reagan on Friday to apologize for joking that she held seances in the White House.
At a news conference in Chicago, Obama said he had spoken with all the living presidents as he prepares to take office in January. Then he smiled and said, "I didn't want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about doing any seances."
The 87-year-old former first lady had consulted with astrologers during her husband's presidency. But she did not hold conversations with the dead.
Obama spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said the president-elect later called Mrs. Reagan "to apologize for the careless and offhanded remark." She said Obama "expressed his admiration and affection for Mrs. Reagan that so many Americans share, and they had a warm conversation."
It actually wasn't Nancy Reagan who was linked to conversations with the dead; it was Obama's top Democratic challenger for the presidency, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.
In either case, use of the word "seance" might be overstated.
Nancy Reagan consulted an astrologer to help set her husband's schedule, wrote former White House chief of staff Donald T. Regan. The revelation created a furor and President Reagan even broke with his policy of not commenting on books by former White House staffers.
"No policy or decision in my mind has ever been influenced by astrology," Reagan said.
In his book "The Choice," Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward described how Clinton consulted with a spiritual adviser who led her through imaginary conversations with her personal hero, Eleanor Roosevelt. Newsweek magazine, which was promoting the book, characterized the visits as "seances," a term that White House officials quickly tried to squelch.
"These were people who were helping her laugh, helping her think," said Neel Lattimore, Clinton's spokeswoman. "These were not seances."
© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. At a news conference in Chicago, Obama said he had spoken with all the living presidents as he prepares to take office in January. Then he smiled and said, "I didn't want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about doing any seances."
The 87-year-old former first lady had consulted with astrologers during her husband's presidency. But she did not hold conversations with the dead.
Obama spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said the president-elect later called Mrs. Reagan "to apologize for the careless and offhanded remark." She said Obama "expressed his admiration and affection for Mrs. Reagan that so many Americans share, and they had a warm conversation."
It actually wasn't Nancy Reagan who was linked to conversations with the dead; it was Obama's top Democratic challenger for the presidency, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.
In either case, use of the word "seance" might be overstated.
Nancy Reagan consulted an astrologer to help set her husband's schedule, wrote former White House chief of staff Donald T. Regan. The revelation created a furor and President Reagan even broke with his policy of not commenting on books by former White House staffers.
"No policy or decision in my mind has ever been influenced by astrology," Reagan said.
In his book "The Choice," Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward described how Clinton consulted with a spiritual adviser who led her through imaginary conversations with her personal hero, Eleanor Roosevelt. Newsweek magazine, which was promoting the book, characterized the visits as "seances," a term that White House officials quickly tried to squelch.
"These were people who were helping her laugh, helping her think," said Neel Lattimore, Clinton's spokeswoman. "These were not seances."
Popular in Politics
- Romney condemns "breach of trust" in Washington 159 Comments
- Officials on Benghazi: "We made mistakes, but without malice" 346 Comments
- For GOP, scandals could be an electoral plus - or minus 327 Comments
- IRS targeting overlooked biggest soft money groups
- Republicans use IRS scandal to tar Obamacare
- Ousted IRS chief: "I did not mislead" the American people 262 Comments
- Why Obama should worry that current scandals might impact 2016 243 Comments
- Immigration deal reached in House
what''s this ... cbs news covering something bad about obama?
how can this be ... they''re totally in the obama camp ... filtering all the bad stuff ... only reporting the good.
isn''t this the claim from the right ... the msm and all that? what''s going on? can someone please outline why the msm is printing something bad about obama?
After all the rancor of the last eight years, it would be nice if we could laugh at ourselves once in awhile without having to be 100% politically correct.
Also, that Obama would be big enough to personally call Mrs. Reagan shows how classy the guy really is. I''m sure he meant no harm by the joke, but still was kind of him to show Nancy her well earned respect.
Posted by perceptions5
First, I would not call the gaffe, huge.
Second, his correction was more funny than insulting.
And Third, It is refreshing to listen to a leader who actually listens to himself while he speaks.
Most of the Bush gaffes, Bush was told about after he was through speaking.
Posted by USA-No1 at 11:27 PM : Nov 09, 2008
I guess you haven''t heard yet - McCain was the loser. Obama WON the election and is now the President-Elect. And a very classy one at that.
Posted by CBSisPravda at 12:16 PM : Nov 08, 2008"
Maybe Joe Biden should out an undercover CIA agent too ?
Posted by FromTexwLove at 04:01 AM : Nov 09, 2008
President-Elect Obama has alot of class. You have shown through your mind-numbing posts that you do not.
Posted by deathofusa at 09:43 PM : Nov 08, 2008
What an odd interpretation. What I saw was Obama making a self-deprecating joke on himself. He had started saying that he had talked to "all living Presidents", then quickly saw that that was a silly, redundant thing to say because of course he hadn''t talked to dead Presidents. He tried to make a joke on the silliness of his statement by referring to seances and made a reference to Nancy Reagan in this context. That''s hardly "picking on a 90 yr old woman". Your bias is showing.
Posted by deathofusa at 09:43 PM : Nov 08, 2008
What an odd interpretation. What I saw was Obama making a self-deprecating joke on himself. He had started saying that he had talked to "all living Presidents", then quickly saw that that was a silly, redundant thing to say because of course he hadn''t talked to dead Presidents. He tried to make a joke on the silliness of his statement by referring to seances and made a reference to Nancy Reagan in this context. That''s hardly "picking on a 90 yr old woman". Your bias is showing.
Posted by deathofusa at 09:43 PM : Nov 08, 2008
We are already a third world country.
Check where we stand in Infant Mortality Rate and quality of life...