White House tries to clarify Obama statement about police officer's arrest of black Harvard professo

[Sgent]

Source: AP / New Orleans Times Picayune

CLEVELAND -- The White House tried Thursday to calm a hubbub over President Barack Obama's comments about a white police officer's arrest of a black scholar near Boston, saying Obama was not calling the officer "stupid."
Spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters that Obama felt that when it was clear that Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. was not a burglary suspect last week, "at that point, cooler heads on all sides should have prevailed."

At a Wednesday news conference, Obama had said that the Cambridge, Mass., police "acted stupidly" by citing Gates on a resisting arrest charge, which was quickly dropped. He had not faulted the actions of Gates, who he said is a friend.


"Let me be clear, he was not calling the officer stupid," Gibbs told reporters as Obama landed in Cleveland for two health care events Thursday. He said Obama felt that "at a certain point the situation got far out of hand" at Gates' home last week.

A neighbor had reported a possible burglary when Gates and a friend were seen trying to force open his front door, which was jammed. By the time police arrived, Gates was inside and showed proof of his residency. But he did not obey the officer's order to step outside, and after words were exchanged, he was arrested.

Read more: http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/07/white_house_tries_to_clarify_o.html

[wtmusic]

1. Here we go...another "Special Olympics" pseudo-controversy nt

[bluestateguy]

2. Just once I would like this White House to say "No apologies. The president stands by his remarks

and anyone who is offended is invited to lump it."

[parasim]

3. He didn't apologize. He clarified.

from the article...

Gibbs said the president did not regret his Wednesday remarks, but wanted to clarify that he was not calling the arresting officer stupid.

I didn't see anywhere in there where he apologized. Maybe I missed it.

[Robbien]

4. He does do that

when it is lefty progressives who are the ones doing the complaining.

When the wingnuts from the right complain, the WH is tripping over itself in its rush to "explain".

[No Elephants]

17. Are the lefty progressives complaining? I'd be surprised if anyone but righties

are complaining, be they RW Republicans or the Republican wing of the Democratic Party.

[FloriTexan]

5. Why would a "neighbor"

call the police on a neighbor trying to get into his own house? I would hope my neighbors would recognize me.

[tomm2thumbs]

7. I called from inside the house when there was a break in - and I had to exit arms in the air

A burglary is reported. I'm in the spot where it was reported. I'm a suspect at that point regardless of how fair it is - even though I'm telling them I was the one who called. No need to blame it on anything other than being careful. If I had been seen actually breaking in, with a couple of backpacks, I'm sure they would have thought a bit even more about what to do with me, but I left my house on their instruction, police had their guns drawn and I was held until they knew enough that I wasn't the culprit. I know it was because of the situation and nothing else, so can only judge from 1st hand experience. Cannot judge from somewhere I was not.

[Karenina]

10. You're white.

[tomm2thumbs]

12. yes and they didn't just say 'c'mon out here silly guy' when I left my own house

so your point would be?

[Lagomorph]

13. The police have been that way for years...

...arrest everybody, get them in the system. Start a rap sheet. Leverage. Pass enough laws and pretty soon they have something on everybody.

I live in predominantly white neighborhood and the police don't let anybody take a pass on the process.

[Karenina]

29. You have willingly relinquished your Constitutional Rights

to a POLICE STATE. GOOD ON YOU!

[No Elephants]

18. Yes, but the cop ascertained that Gates was the rightful resident and still did not leave. To the

contrary, he then called in the Harvard University Police.

[Native]

20. Exactly. Gates provided identification w/proof of address.

[tomm2thumbs]

26. I did not refuse to identify myself nor scold officers for doing their job

Nor did I refuse officer request for ID or act aggressive or react in such a way that was out of the ordinary, frankly - and if this was University housing, they are likely required to contact the University Police as the University owns the property and they would be able to tell if the professor is breaking into the house after being fired or what is going on. Seems to me if you are locked out of your University-owned home, you call University-security to let you in versus trying to break in the door. Call me crazy.

I just don't know if the arrest was instigated by either he or the police officer. And I don't claim to know which. Main point is that Obama doesn't know which it was and was incorrect in making a determination without having been there himself. (So much for the big health care press conference message getting out.)

I don't care if the professor sues, or wins or loses or whatever - that is another issue. He can have at it.

[Toasterlad]

31. No...But Then, YOU Called the Cops Yourself And Reported a Break-In

Gates did not call the cops, and was no doubt startled by their appearance at the scene. I can only imagine from the facts reported that the cop was not in any way polite in his initial dialogue with Gates, either. Gates' reaction was completely understandable, and the cops reaction was completely over the top. Whether you were "there" or not, that much is easy to determine from the agreed upon facts of the case.

[EFerrari]

34. He wasn't locked out. He went in through the back door with keys.

He was however trying to assess damage to the front door and trying to see if he could get it open. Most people would do the same thing unless they didn't want to break a nail.

And Obama has the sense to know that this arrest jumped the shark. The charges were also dropped and the mayor apologized to Gates. Obama did have enough information to form an opinion, easily.

[Az_lefty]

35. Couldn't agree more...

too many unknowns, Obama should have stayed out of this until all the facts are known. Clinton made the same mistake when some Marines were accused of beating a gay guy... turns out the guy made the whole thing up and the Marines were exonerated. Not suggesting these things don't happen ( gay bashing, profiling) but it's best for a President to know what he's talking about before jumping in with both feet.

peace..

[EFerrari]

36. Obama was correct in all the facts that he cited.

And by that time, the charges had been dropped and Gates had gotten an apology from the city.

[polmaven]

11. Your IMMEDIATE neighbors probably would.

We don't know that the woman even jived on the same street. She was out for a - walk - I think - maybe a drive, and saw this happening. she may not live directly next door or across the street. Or maybe she is new to the area.

I would hope that if someone sees someone tying to force open my door...even it it is I who is doing it, that the person would call the police if that person does not recognize the one at the door. That is actually MY definition of a good neighbor.

[FloriTexan]

38. So who was she...

Neighborhood crime watch? White? Black? I'd lay odds that she was white. She didn't know who the owner of the home was by site and she just assumed someone was breaking in? Give me a break. That's just being a stupid busy body. Who is going to break in to a front door in broad daylight with people walking down the street, if that is what she was doing.

I walk around my neighborhood and met many of the people in my subdivision. One had told me they had been having problems with some kids in the neighborhood. I know they had two small girls. One day, I was walking by their house and saw two teenagers, one black, one hispanic, acting suspiciously around their front door. I could tell no one was home because their car was gone. I eyeballed them pretty good mentally noting their descriptions. I made sure they saw me watching them--I waved and said hello to them and smiled at them. I did email the owner and told them what I saw. I did not call the cops because someone was hang around someone's front door in the middle of the day. I live in the neighborhood and I considered that they could be neighbors helping out the family or even just leaving flyers or waiting for someone to answer the door. Even if they were up to something they left when they knew they were seen. It was a non-event.

[Raschel]

6. If they don't know the difference between "stupid" and "acted stupidly", then they are stupid.

Too bad the President has to deal with idiots like this.

[fascisthunter]

9. ding

[fascisthunter]

8. don't even bother clarifying for these assholes

they will spin any way they want to. Already we see folks claiming you are apologizing instead of clarifying. They will spin it...

[Chemisse]

14. Obama should not have commented on this in the first place

It is akin to Bush making statements about the DC area shooter a few years ago. The president's job is the big picture; let other people handle the minor spats.

He either had a slip in his cool veneer or he purposely was trying to distract the media.

[No Elephants]

19. Strongly disagree. Police bullying and racial profiling are not minor spats, but huge issues in

this country. And why on earth would he be trying to distract the media from a 45 minute speech on health care he had just made on national TV?

[EFerrari]

23. Wrong. Racial profiling is a big problem and Obama

is the first official in high office to deal with it honestly. I was so proud of him.

Racism in America and particularly in our criminal justice system is not a minor spat.

[Chemisse]

39. But this is not a clear cut case of racial profiling

So this is just going to bit Obama on the ass.

Racism in America is not a minor spat, but this example of it is. If Obama was going to comment on something it should've been the murder of a helpless black suspect by a white cop who says he thought he was using a taser. Now THAT is something to be horrified about. Here there are some ruffled feathers and a lot of questions about who should've said what. The cop appears to have been deeply wrong, but at least no one is dead.

[SkyDaddy7]

15. The President was 110% correct!

It is about time someone spoke out about cops with attitudes!! They think they own the world!

[24601]

25. All generalizations are bad [sic]. The problem here is that people

assumed that he's a cop with an attitude before reviewing the evidence. I hope you didn't mean to imply that all white cops have bad attitudes - because that would be just as inappropriate as saying all black men are predisposed to commit crimes. Both statements are rooted in racial stereotypes.

[EFerrari]

32. Nobody has to assume anything about this idiot.

He managed to arrest Henry Louis Gates in his own home. That's pretty stupid. And now, he's out there saying that it was Gates' tone that was disturbing to his beautiful mind.

LOL. I see a future for this guy in Amway.

[SkyDaddy7]

37. My comments come from years of working with cops...

There is nothing more to say but this...Every American has right to be extremely pissed to have cops in their house uninvited and once the ID was shown REGARDLESS WHAT WAS SAID by Gates the cops should have left, PERIOD! End of discussion! This is the USA, right?

Now, forget race, even though we both know it played a role in this case...First, most cops lack training or their training is subpar. There are very few instances where cops are truly disciplined for their abuses and violating people's rights even when caught red handed via video tape or whatever. This empowers cops to keep doing what they are doing as they know there will be no down side. Even in the cases where disciplinary action is taken it usually is having the cop or cops in question "resign" not get "fired"...This allows these problem cops to get hired at another law enforcement agency.(Seen it happen many times) There are severe problems with our law enforcement today and acting as if there is not, like many do, only helps continue the problem. Most elected officials are scared to speak out about the problems as they know they will be accused of exactly what Obama is being accused and/or being accused of being soft on crime!


I am not going to waste my time listing all the problems that are very very real in the system all I can say is this problem with cops acting like government sanctioned gangs is only gonna get worse unless public officials begin acting more like Obama and not hiding for votes.

Oh yeah, I know there are well intentioned cops out there but they either can't speak up or they will be "fired" (seen it happen!) or they refuse to cross the "blue line" and turn in other cops in to officials who simply could care less about anyone's rights as they know they own the streets...And in this case and many others YOUR HOUSE!!

Besides the voters Judges bare most of the blame as they know the problems but they too are looking for votes not doing what is right. Again, more pressure from elected officials and this problem begins to improve!

[sasquatch]

16. Fuck that shit, the officer acted stupidly

[bluedigger]

21. Predictable.

Who hasn't learned that the word "stupid" can never be thrown around without repercussions? You can only use the word when speaking in generalities, not when referring to specific incidents. I bet the word never crosses the President's lips again (in public).

[2Design]

22. The question was a setup - and it got legs which that reporter wanted /eom

[EFerrari]

24. Obama just secured the continuing support of the majority.

He did great.

[scarface2004]

27. the officer wasn;t stupid...he s a racist cretin!!!

as are all white "police officers"!!

[emilyg]

28. I can match you -

all black "police officers" who ever stopped me are racists.

[Toasterlad]

30. I Would Agree That "Stupid" Was a Poor Choice of Words

"Fascist" would have been more accurate.

[gtar100]

33. Wish he had said: "What part of 'acted stupidly' don't you get"

But I guess that would hurt somebody's feelings.