Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid apologized for once describing Barack Obama as "light skinned" and as speaking without a "Negro dialect." The apology was released on January 9, 2010, in response to The Atlantic website's post of excerpts from Mark Halperin and John Heilemann's new book titled Game Change. Reid made the comments about the then-Senator Obama during his run for president in 2008.http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100109/ap_on_el_se/us_obama_reid

On January 8, 2010, TheAtlantic.com's Marc Ambinder, posted excerpts of the new book in a post titled "The Juiciest Revelations In Game Change". He said that the remark, which can be found on page 37 of the book, was said "privately" and that Reid was talking about the then-Senator Obama's "racial appeal."http://politics.theatlantic.com/2010/01/the_juiciest_revelations_in_game_change.php The excerpt read:

• "He was wowed by Obama's oratorical gifts and believed that the country was ready to embrace a black presidential candidate, especially one such as Obama -- a "light-skinned" African American "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one," as he said privately. Reid was convinced, in fact, that Obama's race would help him more than hurt him in a bid for the Democratic nomination."http://politics.theatlantic.com/2010/01/the_juiciest_revelations_in_game_change.php

On Saturday, January 9, 2010, Senator Harry Reid, Dem-Nevada, issued an apology which read:

"I deeply regret using such a poor choice of words. I sincerely apologize for offending any and all Americans, especially African-Americans for my improper comments. I was a proud and enthusiastic supporter of Barack Obama during the campaign and have worked as hard as I can to advance President Obama's legislative agenda."http://rawstory.com/2010/01/reid-backpedals-negro-dialect-remark-obama/