In a hasty and wise bit of damage control, president-elect Barack Obama quickly telephoned former First Lady Nancy Reagan this afternoon to apologize for "a careless and offhanded remark" he made about her this morning during his first post-election news conference.
Obama was asked how he was preparing to take over the White House, what books he's reading, if he'd talked to any ex-presidents. He replied:
In terms of speaking to former presidents, I've spoken to all of them that are living. Obviously,President Clinton -- I didn't want to get into aNancy Reagan thing about, you know, doing any seances."
The passing reference to the former First Lady's alleged interest in horoscopes struck some observers as a gratuitous slap at an old lady at a time Obama was trying to set a positive, professed bipartisan tone for his transition.
UPDATE: OBAMA apologizes to Nancy Reagan.
