Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Michelle Obama: Harry Reid has ‘no need to apologize’

First Lady Michelle Obama said today that Senate Majority Leader Harry "has no need to apologize" to her for his racially insensitive remarks about her husband, the New York Times is reporting.

In a roundtable interview with a small group of reporters the first lady added her voice of support for the majority leader.

"Harry Reid has no need to apologize to me because I know Harry Reid," Michelle Obama said. "I measure people more on what they do rather than the things that they say."

Reid contacted President Barack Obama and black leaders from his home in Searchlight on Saturday after the senator was quoted in a new book as Obama would do well in the 2008 election as a "light-skinned" African-American, "with no Negro dialect."

The comment unleashed a furor of criticism and calls by Republicans for Reid to resign as leader.

But the African-American community in both Nevada and Washington has largely defended Reid as a champion of Civil Rights, despite his poor choice of words.

Some have noted that Reid's comments were made as he was working behind the scenes to support the first African-American get elected to the White House.

The president swiftly came to Reid's defense on Saturday, saying he accepted Reid's apology "without question."

Michelle Obama's comments in the Times can be read here.

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