WASHINGTON — President Obama is “waving a tar baby over his head” by blaming oil speculators for the rising price of gasoline, Rep. Michele Bachmann said in an interview released Wednesday.

Bachmann was discussing oil prices with The Shark Tank, a conservative news website from Florida. She said Obama was a “complete and utter fraud” for blaming oil speculators in part for the rising cost of gas when he hasn’t supported policies that Republicans say could help bring prices down.

“This is just about waving a tar baby in the air and saying that something else is a problem,” Bachmann said, adding later: “The president is a complete and utter fraud and a hypocrite on this issue, with all due respect to the president."

 The “tar baby” remark is a reference to a doll made of tar used to trap Br’er Rabbit in an Uncle Remus folktale, and has come to represent a sticky situation, which was what Bachmann was trying to say, spokeswoman Becky Rogness said.

But the term has negative racial connotations, as well. Politico has a recap of politicians who have used the phrase (and, in some cases, who have subsequently apologized for it), including Mitt Romney, John McCain, John Kerry and, most recently, Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn, who said associating with Obama was like “touching a tar baby and you get it, you’re stuck, and you’re a part of the problem now and you can’t get away.”

Rogness said Bachmann’s remark was meant to be innocuous.

“The Congresswoman values all human life – regardless of race, color or creed,” she said in an email. “If you listen to the interview, Rep. Bachmann was making a point about the President’s poor understanding of oil prices, which has nothing to do with race. The President doesn’t understand the oil market and, hence, has gotten himself into a sticky situation.”

Devin Henry can be reached at dhenry@minnpost.com. Follow him on Twitter: @dhenry