The White House said Friday President Barack Obama regrets the controversy his comments about the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. have caused in the media.

"I think he would regret... if he realized that... how much of a overall distraction and obsession it would be, I think he would probably regret distracting you guys with obsessions,' White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told a group of reporters when asked if Obama regrets weighing in on the case.

Obama said police acted stupidly in arresting the professor.

Gates, 58 who is an african american was arrested by a white police officer outside his house porch for disorderly conduct for loud and tumultuous behavior, according to police.

The police officer requested Gate's identification on speculation he wasn't the owner of the house but a person trying to force into it since the officer had responded to an emergency call from a neighbor.

The charges were later dropped and Gates referred to the incident as racial profiling.

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