Clinton apologizes to black voters

Clinton made her remarks at a meeting of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, a group that represents 200 black newspapers nationwide.

Asked about her husband's remarks in January comparing Sen. Barack Obama's win in South Carolina to Rev. Jesse Jackson's victory when he ran for president, Clinton said: "I want to put that in context. You know I am sorry if anyone was offended. It was certainly not meant in any way to be offensive." She added, "We can be proud of both Jesse Jackson and Senator Obama."

Clinton called on her lifetime of work to bolster her argument that no offense was intended, according to a CBS News report. "Anyone who has followed my husband's public life or my public life know very well where we have stood and what we have stood for and who we have stood with," she said.

But the presidential candidate also acknowledged that the party will have a lot of work to do after the nominee is determined. "Once one of us has the nomination there will be a great effort to unify the Democratic party and we will do so, because, remember I have a lot of supporters who have voted for me in very large numbers and I would expect them to support Senator Obama if he were the nominee," she said.

Clinton's comments come on the heels of the news that one of her prominent supporters, Geraldine Ferraro, had resigned from her unpaid post with the campaign. In an interview published last week, Ferraro told The Daily Breeze newspaper in California, "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position...And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept." Clinton later said she disagreed with Ferraro.

The New York senator also apologized for other problems beyond her campaign. Asked about the government's response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Clinton apologized for the slow response and then took a swipe at the Bush Administration.  "I've said it publicly, and I say it privately: I apologize, and I am embarrassed that our government so mistreated our fellow citizens ... It was a national disgrace," she said.

Sen. Obama is also scheduled to meet with the NNPA later today. The two face-to-face meetings between the black newspaper publishers and the presidential candidates take place as the group celebrates the 181st anniversary of the black press. The first black American newspaper, Freedom's Journal, was published by John B. Russwurm and Samuel E. Cornish on March 16, 1827 in New York City, according to NNPA.