Barack Obama tries to explain that 'good people' still hold racial stereotypes

BY MICHAEL McAULIFF in Washington and MICHAEL SAUL in New York
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Friday, March 21st 2008, 4:00 AM

Sommer/Reuters

Barack Obama tried to put finer point on 'typical white person' comment.

He said what?

Barack Obama suggested Thursday the "typical white person" - much like his grandma - fears black men on the street, prompting a quick backpedal from his aides, who conceded the senator's words may give the wrong impression.

During an interview on a Philadelphia radio station, Obama was asked about his candid remarks about his white maternal grandmother during an address on race relations Tuesday. In that speech, he said his grandmother confessed "her fear of black men who passed her by on the street."

"The point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesn't," Obama told WIP Sports Radio.

"But she is a typical white person who, if she sees somebody on the street that she doesn't know, there's a reaction that's been bred into our experiences that don't go away, and that sometimes come out in the wrong way, and that's just the nature of race in our society."

In the speech, he sought to calm the fury surrounding the controversial remarks of his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, saying he could no more disown Wright than he could his grandmother, who helped raise him.

Obama said his grandmother "on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe."

Obama aides rushed yesterday to clarify the "typical white person" remark. Ben LaBolt, an Obama spokesman, said, "His intentions may have been misconstrued."

On CNN last night, Obama explained, "What I meant really was that some of the fears of street crime and some of the stereotypes that go along with that are responses that I think many people feel."

He added, "Good people - people who are not in any way racist - are still subject to some of these images and stereotypes and it is very hard to escape from them."

The flap comes as the Democratic front-runner's campaign is struggling to end the Wright controversy, which polls show may be driving some voters away.

Republican strategist Rich Galen said the slip could hurt Obama in Pennsylvania's April 22 primary vs. Hillary Clinton.

"I think 'typical white people' don't want to be categorized any more than 'typical black people,'" he said.

One of his top supporters, Sen. Claire McCaskill, was also forced to backpedal on a clumsy comment of her own.

"He, for the first time, I think, as a black leader in America, has come to the American people not as a victim, but rather as a leader," she said.

A McCaskill spokeswoman said she misspoke, too.