Obama apologizes to Nancy Reagan for seances remark

Washington, Nov 8 : US President-elect Barack Obama has called Nancy Reagan to apologize for joking that she held seances in the White House.

At a news conference in Chicago, Obama said he had spoken with all the living presidents as he prepares to take office in January. Then he smiled and said, "I didn't want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about doing any seances," FOX news reported

The 87-year-old former first lady had consulted astrologers during her husband's presidency. But she did not hold conversations with the dead.

Obama spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said the president-elect later called Reagan "to apologize for the careless and offhanded remark."

She said Obama "expressed his admiration and affection for Reagan that so many Americans share, and they had a warm conversation."

It actually wasn't Nancy Reagan who was linked to conversations with the dead; it was Obama's top Democratic challenger for the presidency, Hillary Rodham Clinton, FOX News reported.

Nancy Reagan consulted an astrologer to help set her husband's schedule, wrote former White House chief of staff Donald T. Regan.

The revelation created a furor and then President Reagan even broke with his policy of not commenting on books by former White House staffers.

"No policy or decision in my mind has ever been influenced by astrology," Ronald Reagan said.

In his book "The Choice," Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward described how Clinton consulted with a spiritual adviser who led her through imaginary conversations with her personal hero, Eleanor Roosevelt.

ANI