Newt: Obama calling Cambridge policeman ‘classy way to apologize’

Newt Gingrich tweeted late Friday afternoon that he thought President Barack Obama’s decision to call Sgt. James Crowley, the Cambridge police officer who arrested Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, was a “classy way to apologize:”

It was very wise of President Obama to call the policeman he had criticized in his press conference It was a classy way to apologize

Obama may have appreciated the compliment, but it was not immediately clear if he actually did apologize to Crowley or not for saying that he acted “stupidly” in making the arrest.

At the White House daily press briefing today, Obama apologized for causing a media furor over the issue of Gates’ arrest. Yet he did not apologize for wading into the racially sensitive matter. The president also invited Crowley to “have a beer” at the White House.

Obama also placed a call to Gates to discuss his conversation with Crowley.

This was the second time the former House speaker and conservative activist publicly praised Obama on Twitter on Friday. Gingrich made positive comments about the president’s education reform agenda earlier today.