Harry Reid's remarks racist?

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) pauses while speaking after a meeting with President Barack Obama and other Senate Democrats on Capitol Hill December 6, 2009

A new book on the 2008 election reports that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid championed Barack Obama’s entrance into the presidential race by saying the future president was “light-skinned” and with “no Negro dialect” unless he chose to have one. Republican leaders, including RNC chairman Michael Steele, are calling for Reid’s resignation over his racially charged comments. Democratic leaders, including President Obama, have accepted an apology from Reid, and are throwing their support behind the Senator’s 2010 campaign for reelection in Nevada. Is an apology from Senator Reid enough? Are Republicans simply maneuvering for political advantage, or are they right in calling for Senator Reid’s resignation? What are the long-term political costs of this scandal, and what does it say about race relations in America?

A new book on the 2008 election reports that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid championed Barack Obama’s entrance into the presidential race by saying the future president was “light-skinned” and with “no Negro dialect” unless he chose to have one. Republican leaders, including RNC chairman Michael Steele, are calling for Reid’s resignation over his racially charged comments. Democratic leaders, including President Obama, have accepted an apology from Reid, and are throwing their support behind the Senator’s 2010 campaign for reelection in Nevada. Is an apology from Senator Reid enough? Are Republicans simply maneuvering for political advantage, or are they right in calling for Senator Reid’s resignation? What are the long-term political costs of this scandal, and what does it say about race relations in America?