'We are not cured of it': Barack Obama deploys 'N-word' while discussing racism in US

President Barack Obama says the United States has not overcome its history of racism and yesterday used the N-word to make his case. In an interview, Obama weighed in on the debate over race and guns that has erupted after the arrest of a white man, Dylann Roof, for the racially motivated shooting deaths of nine black church members in Charleston, South Carolina.

"Racism, we are not cured of it," Obama said. "And it's not just a matter of it not being polite to say 'nigger' in public. That's not the measure of whether racism still exists or not. It's not just a matter of overt discrimination. Societies don't, overnight, completely erase everything that happened 200 to 300 years prior."

Obama's remarks came during an interview with comedian Marc Maron for his popular podcast, where crude language is often part of the discussion. The president said while attitudes about race have improved since he was born to a white mother and black father, the legacy of slavery "casts a long shadow and that's still part of our DNA".

Obama also expressed frustration that "the grip of the NRA (National Rifle Association) on Congress is extremely strong" and prevented gun control from advancing in Congress after 20 children and six educators were massacred in an elementary school in 2012.

"Right after Sandy Hook, Newtown, when 20 six-year-olds are gunned down, and Congress literally does nothing - yes, that's the closest I came to feeling disgusted," he said. "I was pretty disgusted."

With the campaign to replace him heating up, Obama said he thinks he would be a better candidate if he were running again, because although he's slowed down: "I know what I'm doing and I'm fearless. I've screwed up. I've been in the barrel tumbling down Niagara Falls. And I emerged and I lived. And that's always such a liberating feeling,"