Obama's family owned slaves ("The report carries a disclaimer that it is a "first draft")

This is politics from the sludge pits.

A geneologist claims that somebody on Obama's mother's side owned slaves, but "The report, on Reitwiesner's Web site, carries a disclaimer that it is a "first draft."

Reitwiesner, the researcher, declined to be interviewed for this article. "I'll let my Web page speak for itself," he said in an e-mail. The Obama report contains a disclaimer that appears on all of Reitwiesner's work: "The following material ... should not be considered either exhaustive or authoritative, but rather as a first draft."

I have no idea if it's true or not, but this story is printed when even its "proponent" claims it's not certain and he won't do interviews? (And, of course CNN's political blog picked it up, and now it's everywhere. AP, NYTimes, FoxNews, etc.)

AND, This story just happens to hit the press the day right before Obama's speech at Selma commemorating the bloody civil rights march. And the papers that morning, and every story after the event will say Obama's family owned slaves.

Maybe it's true and maybe it's not, but with all the talk of Obama's "blackness" and the high profile appearance in Selma, the timing on this is just too good to be an accident.