Slavery Reparations Should Be Obama's Next Stimulus

Spokesperson insists remark had 'nothing to do with race'

(NEWSER) - Michele Bachmann stepped into a sticky situation this week, when she used the term "tar baby" while discussing President Obama's energy policy. In an interview with the conservative blog The Shark Tank on Wednesday, Bachmann opined that Obama is responsible for high gas prices, and shouldn't be blaming oil speculators for them. "This is just about waving a tar baby in the air and saying that something else is a problem," she said. More»

White House meeting comes amid criticism from African Americans

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama will meet with about 20 black religious leaders at the White House today, following a broader Easter prayer breakfast, in his latest attempt to reach out to the African-American community. Criticism of Obama within those ranks heated up last month, the Washington Post notes, but a White House spokesman insists that the meeting “is not about politics. It is about connecting with key faith leaders on the challenges impacting our nation.” More»

(NEWSER) - Henry Louis Gates Jr. and the Cambridge cop who arrested him both say they will take up President Obama on his offer to have a beer at the White House. "It is time for all of us to move on, and to assess what we can learn from this experience," Gates told the Boston Globe. A fellow officer says James Crowley also agreed to the meeting, which looks like it could take place next month. More»

Prez: I could have 'calibrated' remarks on Gates arrest differently

(NEWSER) - President Obama today backpedaled from his comment that the Massachusetts police who arrested Henry Louis Gates Jr. “acted stupidly,” the New York Times reports. In an unannounced appearance at the daily White House briefing, Obama said he “could have calibrated” his words more carefully in speaking on the incident, adding that he’d expressed his regrets in a call to Sgt. James Crowley earlier today. More»

(NEWSER) - The Gates controversy might finally change—for the better—the way the media portray President Obama on race issues, writes Brent Staples in the New York Times. "Up to now, he has been consistently and wrongly portrayed as a stern black exceptionalist who takes Negroes to task for not meeting his standard," writes Staples. Obama himself "is not happy with this characterization." More»