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After pointedly saying he believed the Cambridge, Massachusetts police acted stupidly to arrest Harvard academic Henry Louis Gates Jr. for disorderly conduct in his own home, President Obama only ended up fanning the flames of the controversy. The GOP and police officials criticized him while questions were raised about how much racial progress has been made in the country. Obama defended his remarks last night on Nightline, saying, "I have to say I am surprised by the controversy surrounding my statement, because I think it was a pretty straightforward commentary that you probably don't need to handcuff a guy, a middle-aged man who uses a cane, who's in his own home."
Obama added, "I think that I have extraordinary respect for the difficulties of the job that police officers do. And my suspicion is that words were exchanged between the police officer and Mr. Gates and that everybody should have just settled down and cooler heads should have prevailed. That's my suspicion." Here's video:
Sergeant James Crowley, who arrested Gates last week, told a local Boston TV station, "I acted appropriately...I support the president of the United States 110 percent. I think he's way off base wading into a local issue without knowing all the facts, as he himself stated before he made that comment." He added that Gates was shouting, "Mr. Gates was given plenty of opportunities to stop what he was doing. He didn't. He acted very irrational. He controlled the outcome of that event...There was a lot of yelling, there was references to my mother, something you wouldn't expect from anybody that should be grateful that you were there investigating a report of a crime in progress, let alone a Harvard University professor."
It was also pointed that Crowley teaches a racial profiling class at the police academy; Lowell Police Academy Director Thomas Fleming said, "Former police commissioner Ronny Watson, who is a person of color, hand-picked Sgt. Crowley. ... I presume because he would be the most qualified and most professional. He’s a very good instructor. He gets very high reviews by the students." The Cambridge police chief promised a review of the arrest, but said he supported Crowley and that Obama's remarks "deeply hurts the pride of this agency."
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Obama never should have mentioned the incident. It had nothing to do with why he was on television speaking.
He was asked a direct question about the incident. He did not bring it up on his own.
He shouldn't have judged the PD by using the word 'stupidly'.
The rest of his remarks are fine.
Agreed. Waste of a president's time addressing the local crime blotter. Even if he is a friend of Professor Henry Three Names, he should have deferred to the local officials.
Why?
If Obama knew this man for years why shouldn't he say he thinks it's stupid to arrest a non-violent, middle-aged Harvard professor, who needs a cane, in his own home, after he showed the police he lived there?
Why is his opinion worth less than mine or yours?
Why? Because he is the President. He was elected to run the executive branch of the federal government, not the local police department of Cambridge, Mass.
More than that, considering his position of authority and (declining) popularity among many people, it should be easy to see how this could influence the investigation into the incident, and poison many potential jurors should there be a trial.
He's not running the local police. He's not using any of his authority over the local police. He's commenting on the same thing you, me and everyone else is. However, he knows this man and cannot believe how stupid this situation is and said so. Like anyone else.
Big deal.
It is a big deal because of his position. He is not you or me, he is the President of the United States. Big difference.
So by your logic, the most powerful man should never open his mouth?
He's President, not a god.
It's not illegal to yell at a cop. If a cop comes to your house and accuses you of being a criminal, anger is expected. Any cop who arrests you for yelling is stupid. If you need the assitance of a cane, any cop who arrests you for yelling is straight up retarded. Not to mention this definitely must cross some line of civil liberties.
Proof-read Fail
Democratic president calling Law Enforcement "stupid" = more ammunition for the GOP that Dems are weak, lily-livered bleating sheep.
I don't think so.
The image people are going to see over and over on TV is going to be a middle-aged Harvard professor with a cane and no criminal record arrested in his own home.
No fear = No police support.
Can we get a picture of Obama taking a sexy bite from a strawberry?
its ridiculous that one of obama's big selling points during his campaign was bridging racial divide.. now he decides to play the race card on an issue that didn't concern him or anything relavant to his news conference? comments like his only worsen racial tension in this country. i am from boston, and know cambridge to be one of the most tolerant and liberal citites out there.. not that racism can't exist in such places, but the whole thing is just blown completley out of proportion. the neighbor saw someone apparently breaking into the house so she called 911 which is what i would want any of my neighbors to do for my home, even if it was me trying to get in because i forgot my key.. then he throws a fit when asked for his id and starts crying about race? what a child. also, local news in boston has had interviews with the police officer in which he stated that gates made derogatory remarks about his mother.. and this guy is a harvard professor? everyone needs to relax and obama needs to shut up. and i voted for him!
my neighbor did see someone lurking around my apartment and instead of blindly calling the cops, looked at the person first to see if she recognized him. she didn't, so then she proceeded to do what needed to be done, but if it had been me or a roommate who had just forgotten a key - no harm, no foul, no waste of police time, and heck, she probably would've helped me get in.
so can we at least all agree that unless the neighbor just moved in, she should have recognized gates?
"so can we at least all agree that unless the neighbor just moved in, she should have recognized gates?"
I believe it was reported that it was Gates himself who recently moved in.
Could you tell me about your super special powers? Ya know, where you're able to tell that Obama brought out the "race card." He didn't say it was stupid because of race.
"you probably don't need to handcuff a guy, a middle-aged man who uses a cane, who's in his own home."" Oh, right, Obama's way in the wrong there. Totally about race.
It was about "not being deferential" enough to the police. Which is bullshit. It's not a crime to get pissed off at the police. And, it's also hard to imagine that a white guy would get hauled away for getting pissed off at a cop for thinking he was burglarizing his own home.
"everyone needs to relax" well no shit. It's just f---ed up that one side can just haul you off to jail when you hurt their feelings. Let's be grateful the cop didn't tase the old professor and give him a heart attack or something.
There's no question that the prof overreacted. But that doesn't mean he deserves to go to jail for it. I don't know why people don't see this distinction.
Calling a cop racist & saying, "your mama can meet me outside" = petty, immature, and wrong. Throwing someone in jail solely for insults = much much worse.
Couldn't agree more. And did any of you others actually watch the press conference?? I did. Obama is acquantences w/this man, and even stated he had spoken to him on the phone after th inciden, he doesn't strike me as one to play favorites here, so MAYBE Gates fabricated the story he told Obama, maybe he didn't and Obama was stating the obvious. As far as not even getting involved, why don't you blame the correspondent who brought it up & asked the question in the first place, THEY involved Obama.
My "Couldn't agree more" statement was in reply to your your reply NattyB, just so we're clear.
Hate to get involved in this (a - because its a sticky topic, and B - because I voted for him - though I'm not that happy with how things are going), but Obama did bring out the race card in his statement during the press conference when he spoke about the percentage of blacks getting stopped by the police (though he failed to talk about how those percentages fit into actual crime stats), Not sure if you watched the press conference, but his answer clearly spoke about race. I too hoped he would help us get beyond this, but it appears we are even more mired in this topic than ever.
The reporter who asked the question was the one who dealt the race card. At that point, Obama could have demurred by stating that it was inappropriate to comment without knowing all the facts, but instead he decided to play along. You are correct that he tried to separate the issue of race from his assessment of the police officer's actions, but it would have been wiser for him to avoid answering a question that conflated Gate's arrest with the broader issue of race relations in America.
"You are correct..."
Just to be clear, I'm referring to NattyB's reply.
this is such a non-issue. all obama said was the cop acted stupidly. did he? yes.
-you can't commit disorderly conduct in a private home.
-it's unconstitutional to arrest someone for verbally disrespecting or protesting a cop's conduct.
the amount of deference people give cops sickens me. when did americans become a bunch of jackboot lickers? 9/11?
I couldn't agree more. People give way, way, waaaaaaaaayyy too much deference to cops. The audio will be released soon and the cambridge cop will be looking for a new line of work....and he will probably find it with all of the racist assholes in Boston.
Obama suck the fck up already you werent there you dont know how the interaction took place you dont know what was said. The professor is a bigot we all know that. the cop was there to do his job Its a he said he said situation for you to call out the cops and say he acted "stupidly" is stupid on your part...Thanks Libs
Cops look on the guys ID and see Oh Gee the address
matches the residence, you live here but we are gonna bust you for being a wise ass...
They finally realize they were wrong and drop the charges...
That is not stupid?
Extremely stupid. I don't care what anyone says, racism is alive and running rampant, Cops abuse their authority, each & every day. As New Yorker's U should all know & agree w/that, especially considering all the sh!t they pull here.
You have convinced me, Nyctini11, with your well-articulated argument!
I'm moving to Mississippi!
i wonder why they didn't look at his id as well
Can I see your ID?
WHY..CAUSE IM A BLACK MAN?
Im investigating a report of a burglary?
YOU A RACIST
They will release the audio and 911 soon
Chip...meet shoulder.
Seriously, if the cops were doing their job correctly they would have looked at his id as soon as he told them he lived in the house. Someone broke into my house 4 years ago, and the cops looked at my id to confirm my story. I'm white. They were doing their job. You have to realize that regardless of color, they still have a job to do, and if someone reports a robbery they respond to it like one. It was their mistake to not corroborate his story on the scene. He should have never been taken in, and THAT is a racial thing. It's sad that minorities are treated like that, and it's absolutely not right. But, if he never told the police that he lived there and just got angry at the situation, then it's his fault, because in that situation, you have to do that.
Ahhh well said
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj0mtxXEGE8
It's either sad, funny, or annoying how often this applies.
watch this! i completely agree with this woman about the gates incident.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYKYbB5Z5Aw
A woman with that kind of "personality" has no business ridiculing anyone for being "uppity."
He shouldn't have commented on it in the first place. The media only asked about it because the professor was black and Obama fell right into the trap. Another rookie mistake.
it appears even having ID is not enough.
I'm freaking glad I voted for President Obama.
I don't care if it's only for four years, I'm loving it.
enough already, you slobbering media hyenas.
In my opinion the parties involved in the incident may have both been at fault- officer: possible racial insensitivity // Professor: hypersensitivity to race. As for the prez, he can say whatever he wants he's the president. It's not like he shot anyone in the face.
Good for Crowley. Not giving in to this pressure.
He should not be sorry for doing his job. He should not be sorry for for anything. If anything I think he's owed an apology.
What a bunch of bullshit.
If you're dumb enough to mouth off to the cops, especially when they're on a potentially dangerous call, then you deserve what you get.
This asshole Gates should shut up now, just like he should have when the cops came into his home and asked him questions.
No apology, no lawsuit, pay your fines and shut up.
A man was arrested on the front steps of his home. Had this been a white Republican, the wingnuts and racists on the right would be up-in-arms (literally and figuratively when it comes to the arms part) about the sanctity of one's private property.
Instead, because the person arrested is a liberal black man, it's the cop who is infallable; even though tje Cambridge Police Department has, in a way, admitted they were wrong by dropping the charges. If Gates really did something to deserve to be arrested, then he would have been prosecuted. Case closed. Now go back to worrying about Obama's Kenyan (or is it Indonesian?) citizenship!
That is a complete assumption and you know it.
Just like you and the other wing nuts on the left are currently?
Charges get dropped all the time, perhaps they just gave into all the pressure because everyone wants to hear this asshole's story.
If he had kept his mouth shut like the rest of us would have none of this would have happened.
As Officer Crowley says, Gates was driving the situation and making it escalate.
Who is Obama's chief of PR or whatever. They should be fired.
He should never have commented on this story. It detracted from the REAL issue of healthcare and now, once again, an old black guy is ruining his chances of success (anyone remember his pastor?).
Obama needs to cut himself off from the NAACP and Co. as soon as he can. These guys are just going to drag him down.
Which is NOT to say he needs to distance himself from the eradication of racism and class struggle in this country. Just that some of these other older guys are doing and saying things that are just embarrassing.
Why should he turn his back on the very community that supported him from the beginning? Is there a higher office he should be planning for and worth selling his soul?
DID they support him from the very beginning?
Julain Bond, the NAACP Chairman supported CLINTON during the elections. (Wtf right?).
Also, as I recall, Jessie Jackson said on a microphone that he wanted "to cut his balls off" (not that he had anything to do with the NAACP).
And from the NYTimes
"This time, however, a lot of the old activists stood in the path of an African-American’s advancement rather than blazing it. While Democratic black voters embraced Obama by ratios of 8 or 9 to 1 in a lot of districts, the 42 House members in the Congressional Black Caucus, for a time, split more or less down the middle between Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, and the country’s leading black ministers and mayors trended toward the Clinton camp. "
They were not on his side back then, and why should he go to bat for them now?
because he has integrity? i dunno....
I've been reading a bit of Buddhist literature, all about "Right Speech," (also called speaking skillfully). The two questions one is always supposed to ask before one opens one's mouth are, "Is what I'm about to say true?" and "Is what I'm about to say useful?"
I don't think the president could answer either one of those definitively in the affirmative when he said the Cambridge police "acted stupidly" by arresting Professor Gates. Read more on Everyday Ethics and let us know what you think!
And this asshole Gates is considering a lawsuit!!!
"Its so terrible but give me some money and everything will be all right"
Scumbag
A lawsuit won't change the situation, it will only cost his neighbors more tax money. Just because he has to be a pompous ass who shot off his fucking mouth!
Shut the fuck up and pay your fine.
Im surprised that most of you took time out of your day from reading The Post to come and comment on this story. Go watch FoxNews morons.
And you can go back to CNN to find out the latest on which hand Michael Jackson used...
I'm sure he is "surprised" and not pleasantly surprised either. Regardless the bandwagon you choose, know that Obama acted "stupidly" at the press conference. This is a gift to his opponents. Every minute that this goes on is to Obama's detriment politically, and its HIS camp that continues to dig. It will get worse when those tapes are played. lol
Now the Cambridge Police Dept is DEMANDING an apology, for the the Presidents remarks.
and thereby acting stupidly. again.
is it illegal to mouth off to a cop? no, but cops are more than happy to get an old man to come out of his house in order to arrest him for pissing a cop off. oh, wait, gates was not disturbing the public, trying to assault anyone, or fleeing the scene (aka HIS HOME)? then what constitutes disorderly conduct in this case?
this has less to do with race than the fact that cops are jerks. black cops are jerks, white cops are jerks. if you mouth off to them (even if you are right) they will use their power to haul you in and 'teach you a lesson'.
Why was it OK for George Bush Sr. to comment on the Rodney King videotaped police beating as something terrible and why isn't it acceptable for Obama to comment on a professor he's known for years?
This is not a right/left issue.
"you can't commit disorderly conduct in a private home."
He was arrested after following the cop outside, and continuing to yell at him in the presence of onlookers and after have been warned that he would be arrested if he didn't calm down.
In other words, circumstances under which any one of us would be risking arrest.
I can understand that cops may not know who Henry L. Gates was. Maybe they don't watch 'African American Lives" and so forth. So yeah, they had to arrest him.
But why didn't his neighbors, presumably other educated types who should know a thing or two, call the cops? Did they not know whom their neighbor was?
If its dark and late and you going to walk outside to your neighbor's house to see who is breaking in?
Obama's checkered history with Cambridge PD:
According to the Somerville Times in 2007, as a Harvard Law School student, Obama got 17 parking tickets during 1989-1991 from the Cambridge Police Department that he left unpaid until just weeks before he announced his bid for the presidency.
"In other words, as a practicing lawyer in Chicago, he allowed these tickets and penalties to remain unpaid; as an Illinois state senator he allowed these tickets and fines to remain unpaid; and as a United States senator he allowed these almost-two-decade-old signs of his disdain for the law to remain unpaid," commented John LeBoutillier on Newsmax.com.
The Washington Post said two years ago that the tickets included parking without a proper permit and parking in a bus stop.
The Associated Press reported in 2007 that Obama's "healthy stack" of parking tickets was finally paid, including late fees, "two weeks before he officially launched his presidential campaign."
OOoh parking tickets!
Great find!
You really busted him now!
And he was born in Pakistan to a Yemeni mother! Go ahead, make that call to Hannity...
It's not illegal to yell at a cop. If a cop comes to your house and accuses you of being a criminal, anger is expected. Any cop who arrests you for yelling is stupid. If you need the assitance of a cane, any cop who arrests you for yelling is straight up retarded. Not to mention this definitely must cross some line of civil liberties.
The interesting thing to watch is if Obama will be able to convince black "leaders" to shut up, and help this embarrassing display of Obama's racially-motivated stupidity go away.
The only one who needs to do some serious apologizing (as well as eating the biggest piece of humble pie you can imagine) is the racist Harvard Professor Mr. Gates, who clearly "profiled" the white cop very, very wrongly by presuming him to be "rogue" "racist" and Lord knows what else, all because he was white and he was cop. It looks like Mr. Gates didn't know who he was messing with. Mr. Gates was fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to have one of the good cops show up at his door. Perhaps if Mr. Crowley is feeling generous, he can offer to teach Prof. Gates all about the evils of racial profiling, free of cost, of course.
Maybe if he had a pair and would man up he should also publicly apologize to Mr. Crowley for his obvious mistake, and for dragging Mr. Crowley's good name through the mud, but that' not likely to happen is it? Black racist cowards like Prof. Gates can never admit that they are wrong; they can never admit that, contrary to black myth, not all white people are evil racists who have it in for people like him. He's already embarrassed himself and Harvard on the national stage, so no way will he had the integrity or character to apologize. Even a blowhard bigot like Al Sharpton has distanced himself from it all, LOL.