Obama used the phrase during an interview on WTIP radio, responding to a question about his speech on race, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

In the speech, the Democratic presidential hopeful spoke of his white grandmother "who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street" and who voiced stereotypes "that made me cringe."

In the radio interview, Obama said his grandmother 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."

Taylor Marsh wrote on Huffington Post Web site: "Seriously, Barack Obama basically called all white people racist. ... Is this guy kidding?"

Later, on CNN's "Larry King Live," Obama said he meant "some of the fears of street crime and some of the stereotypes that go along with that were responses that I think many people feel."