on July 24, 2009 by Adam in Economics, News, Comments (6)
Obama Loses His ‘Politicalness’
In a rare show of rashness Obama said that “the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home.” He even admitted not knowing the facts of the case but decided that calling an entity and in fact an officer stupid would be the proper course of action.
Tags: Barack Obama, government, Obama, police
JimC
July 24, 2009 @ 12:58 pm
Obama: “I don’t have all the facts yet”, but “the police acted stupidly”.
Obama doesn’t have all the facts, yet he’s made up his mind – the black man is right and the police are wrong.
CarlPeters
July 24, 2009 @ 1:47 pm
Gates has powerful friends, Obama is one of them. I dont see this as particularly unusual as people who have powerful friends enlist their help. However, it makes me question Obama’s judgement, that and this healthcare money pit he is proposing. I dont know if id vote for him again now.
I dont think the CPD was stupid, Obama despite living in Cambridge must not be familiar with Mass. General Law 678: ‘Any person who during the course of a burglary investigation within their place of residence whom upon producing proof of residence grows cross with, challenges, or offers insults to a sworn officer in the presence of other sworn officers is subject to arrest’.
Mike Tarpey
July 24, 2009 @ 3:32 pm
Once again, people miss the real point behind all of this. Why did race ever have to have anything to do with this? There are 3 parts to this story, that of Mr Gates, the arresting officer and then what really happened. However, by Mr Gates own admission he was the one that brought race into it but does not make any claims that would suggest the officer at any point did anything to support that his actions were based on racist views (from what I’ve read). The real issue here is that had the exact same incident occurred between 2 black or 2 white men, it would have remained a minor incident. However, because it was an interaction between a black and a white man, too many people assume that any mistake made on the part of the police officer (if a mistake was made) must be due to race.
It is too often assumed that white people because as they are often referred to as the majority are the racists in society. Any one can be a racist regardless of skin pigment. I don’t know all the facts, only 2 people do, Mr Gates and Mr Crowley but if Mr Gates did jump to the conclusion that the officer was racist with the only evident reason being that Mr Crowley was white then it is Mr Gates who in this situation committed an act of racism.
Christopher Smith
July 25, 2009 @ 4:35 pm
The very issue i have a hard time with is why is our president involving himself in such a matter of this, when there are so many more issues that should be addressed, it goes to show we were not ready for the likes of Obama, when he first mentioned something about racism in some of his opening statements upon being elected there were red flags raised inside my head and after this little stunt i actually had goose bumps when i heard his statement about the professor and to be real honest i wasn’t really for him to be our president and the more i listened to him the better i felt about him, i truly thought here is a man that will change the way we as a whole feel about racism but as long as he surrounds himself with the likes of people like this professor the worse i feel about this whole picture. The professor is mad at the fact someone would call the sheriffs department on him because he is black and of course he would stereo type the situation because he is merely a man with issues in regards to racism had he been white he would have never responded in a manner of this nature because the racism issue would not have been there, now in saying this. I feel if indeed this guy is a friend of the president our president should pick better people to surround himself with, this guy has caused exposure to our country that at this moment in time we did not need. This will harden a lot of peoples beliefs that our president was merely elected because he was black and the white people in this country our going to have a ruff time with this whole subject due to our president announcing this racism issue. Hello racism has been almost forgotten but due to his irresponsible speech’s we are experiencing it once again and why must we travel down that road again it saddens me to think we are reliving that horrible time in the world were it was acceptable and not just here in the U.S.
T. Sommer
July 25, 2009 @ 4:38 pm
Based on my own professional and personal life experience I came to the following conclusion. I do not believe that Sgt. Crowley is a racist or had any racist intentions, however what matters to Prof. Gates was Prof. Gates’ perception of the incident. It is very unfortunate and tragic that in many Black and Hispanic people’s reality, they are already victims of police profiling and police misconduct even before any police contact took place. If for example I would be approached by a police officer while I am trying to force entry into my own house, I would be grateful that the police did its job and keep my house safe. I would gladly identify myself to the officer and all should be good. If however in my mind I would be convinced that the officer is questioning me only because I am a minority, I would be offended and uncooperative. I might then get arrested which proofed to me, to my friends and to my family that police racism, profiling and misconduct is alive and well. The tragedy is that many people have to live in an unfair world of racism and abuse by authority even though they don’t have to. This explains why people of the same ethnic background can have completely different experiences and perceptions of authority and the world in general. Prof. Gates’ pre-existing view of law enforcement in the US determined his role during this encounter and subsequently turned him into a victim of police misconduct and got him arrested. I am sure the experience was as unpleasant for Sgt. Crowley as it was for Prof. Gates. No perpetrators, just victims. As nowadays, the remaining, marginally existing racism and prejudice has shifted its color and direction, I can only hope that time will be able to dissolve this cycle to free people of the burden of being a victim.
Adam
July 26, 2009 @ 6:56 am
Looking back I think it was just his emotions got the better of him…