Let's face it, Obama made a BIG MISTAKE talking about Canbrindge police

[JayMusgrove]

He's not a man who was ther to see it. He's talking from some few reports, probably not the best factual onse.

He should learn to speak as a President of the USA, not the President of Cambridge, Mass.

I love the guy, he made a mistake.....talking about a stupid incident in Cambridge Mass.

Do you agree? I'm not a black professor, so I can't comment on this further...but a President of all of us....

Heck, he goofed.........you agree? or not, and why?

[graywarrior]

1. The People's Republic of Canbrindge?

Where's that, east osh gosh?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. He was asked a question and he answered it. I don't see a problem at all.

[question everything]

14. He was not consistent. First he said that he did not have all the details

How, then, can he describe the actions as stupid?

I think that with this one reply he erased all hopes and hard work to transcend race. Even his last week NAACP was not exactly a race event. In fact, when someone asked Gibbs about this being the first time that the President addressed a black audience, Gibbs replied that the first time was the inaugural address.

The fact that the Gates story has dominated DU, and, perhaps, other forums, shows how many are just too happy to put Obama as the "Back President." (Yes, I know he is black, but he tried hard not to run as one).

That people at Times Square in NYC applauded his reply - as per Soledad O'Brien - well, many African Americans applauded the acquittal of O.J Simpson.

I think that the White House will have to work hard to restore Obama to a president who transcends race.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

29. I cannot believe you mentioned OJ in the same breath as Gates.

[Solomon]

80. That's what they do, you see, to prove every black man in America

is guilty.

OJ. OJ OJ

[Raineyb]

38. What do you mean transcend race?

I notice that white people always seem to use that about black and brown people as though we have to overcome being somewhat inferior and transcend what we are in order to be considered possibly equal to them. It's bullshit and insulting and frankly your use of the phrase tells me everything I need to know about you and determine exactly how much credibility to give you.

BTW the amount of credibility you get is zero.

[Empowerer]

57. Why aren't white politicians ever expected to "transcend their race?"

Bill Clinton was great on race issues, but I never once heard that term used in conjunction with him.

Our blackness is not something we need to get over in order to be deemed acceptable. We don't need to "transcend" being black anymore than white people must "transcend" their whiteness. What we're trying to do as a nation is transcend our racial divides, which is a two way proposition.

[Raineyb]

87. Exactly!

That phrase "transcend race" pisses me off. I wish people would stop using it.

[pot luck]

40. Obama never presented himself as a president who would transcend race.

That title was given to him by people who wanted his election to be seen as an end to racism. I thought the GOP's reaction over the last year and a half would be enough evidence that we're no where near a post-racial America. Us pretending otherwise will cripple any effort to actually combat racism in this country.

I also think putting America's racial problems on the shoulders of one man is unfair. No one person should bear the burden of ending racism nor be blamed for the setbacks in this area. It's an issue that we all have to deal with and try to end together.

[Jim Sagle]

55. 'Everytime I think I am out they keep pulling me back in.'

Not his fault. A chinless piece of shit reporter asked him this question and he COULDN'T duck it. But somehow it's his mistake. Bullshit.

[quiller4]

63. I couldn't disagree with you more. n/t

[mkultra]

71. you dont have all the details but im sure that hasnt stopped you

from making a preliminary judgment.

I know you trying to make a point by tying this event to OJ simpson but i would point out that while simpson was probably guilty, he was still faced with a racist cop who planted evidence at the scene.

This fact switches your intended meaning to the opposite.

[JayMusgrove]

17. I see a problem ........sorry you don't

He wasn't there,
He doesn't' have both sides, no video, no real reports, start to finish.

I hope this cop gets punished for not being reasonable.....but Obama, as our Prez, should have tossed this issue back to Mass, without comment.......my opinion.

You disagree?

Sure, it was a great chance to talk about arrests for no charges dissproportionately, let's make sure America deals with this issue soon

[Rincewind]

43. I see a problem too

A very big problem, I see people who see nothing wrong with a world renowned professor being arrested in his own home for not having the proper attitude while speaking to a police officer.

[mkultra]

72. i agree

in the end, the facts have shown out that the arrest was not based on law. In the end, they did act stupidly.

[alcibiades_mystery]

3. Probably a minor goof

Certainly not a BIG MISTAKE.

It surely is exposing a lot, though.

[Jim Sagle]

34. A whole LOT of mistakes right here on this thread.

;)

[Starry Messenger]

4. err-is this satire?

[rwheeler31]

5. Poop this happens all the time, the racist police need to

learn a lesson.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

6. Does John McCain keep James the Cop under his bed too?

along with Joe the Plumber? SNL

[justiceischeap]

7. It shouldn't matter but he is our first black President

He's really damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. That question he was asked was a loaded question and I think he handled it well.

I have to wonder if the neighbor saw two white guys, dressed in khaki's and a polo shirt, trying to unstick a door would they have had the some reaction. i.e., calling the cops. If they did and the cops rolled up on two white guys, I wonder if the outcome may have been the same.

Whether the cop considers himself a racist or not, you have to admit that (probably) 90% of the time, if a (white) cop rolls up on two black guys, his mind is probably already heading in a certain direction.

[Mimosa]

19. Justice, you might be right

You said: "I have to wonder if the neighbor saw two white guys, dressed in khaki's and a polo shirt, trying to unstick a door would they have had the some reaction. i.e., calling the cops."

Being a good neighbour I definitely would call the cops if I saw any two people shouldering open a door. I'd simply ask the cops to check the situation.

Justiceischeap said: "If they did and the cops rolled up on two white guys, I wonder if the outcome may have been the same."

Maybe. Cops get stressed out. They don't like it when people BS and mouth off, so who can say.

I'll be more inclined to judge cops come the day when I am risking my own life to protect lives and property of others every damn day.

This could be one of those incidents where both parties were in the wrong.

[uponit7771]

23. RIGHT!!! The black guy in this case had a cane and was around 60 yrs old!!!

[JayMusgrove]

24. I tend to agree

Nothing else to say...Obama, sort of black, could have been this poor guy in Cambridge.

[Window]

85. No reporter would have asked a white president that question. That pisses me off.

That's what's wrong with the country right there. However, being the first black president, he had to answer.

[JI7]

8. he was a black professor at one time

[Thrill]

9. Bullshit. what they did was stupid. You didn't need to be there to see that

There is a reason they dropped the charges.

[Cha]

28. It's like wtf! Blame the victim 'cause

the police fucked up and are on the attack.

Homey doesn't cower.

[jenmito]

10. Hey, Jay...

I disagree. He spoke as a human being AND stuck up for a friend. He also spoke as the first president who totally related to the event.

:hi:

[quiller4]

32. You're right, jenmito. I'm really glad Obama spoke out. n/t

[jenmito]

36. Thanks, quiller. n/t

[BlueJazz]

11. Good Grief ...the way half the population is acting, you would think he called them: No Good Sorry..

...Mother-Fucking Crooked Diseased Child Beating Dog and Kitten Killing Sons-a-Bitchen Bastards.

[alcibiades_mystery]

13. More like Cracker-Ass Cracker

:rofl:

[JayMusgrove]

25. Please try to explain yourself......or just make me look like the fool you are for posting....

nonsense.

[alcibiades_mystery]

27. What are you babbling about?

[Diamonique]

12. I agree with you.

I felt it as soon as he started talking about it.

I thought he should have said, "Gates is a friend, I don't have all the info, so I'd rather not give an opinion."

[question everything]

22. Yes, a much better reply

After all, when asked about other issues on previous occasions he would say that he waited to have all the info.

[JayMusgrove]

35. BESTresponse he could have given.....

NO comment........this is about Health Insurance.......no comment......we will trust the courts to sort this out.


What a fool to get caught up in this.......not wise.....sorry, as much as I love him. Big mistake. IMO

[Political Tiger]

15. I have to disagree.

He was asked a question and he offered an opinion. I think it's probably one of those no-win-situation type of thing. If he refused to answer the question he would be criticized for that too. And he was honest, he admitted he knew Professor Gates and was "biased," and he admitted that he didn't know all the facts, but based on what he did know he felt a certain way.

I think what's getting missed in this discussion is what Obama what was really saying, and that is that race still matters in this country and that minorities such as African-Americans and Latinos still suffer discrimination.

People, hyped by the media and the right, are trying to make this a personal issue between Obama and the cop. It's not. It's about race and America's reluctance to have an honest discussion about it.

[malletgirl02]

21. I agree with you

If he sidestepped the question, or had some BS answer it would have been "Obama dodges question" all over the news.

[masuki bance]

16. Dyslexia is common, but there is always spell check. nt

[wurzel]

18. What the police did WAS stupid.

They arrested a prominent black scholar for being in his own home. No wonder they dropped the charges.

[uponit7771]

20. WOW!! Blacks and Latinos aren't part of the USA now? Racial profilling is NOT an issue in the USA?

Gates is a personal friend of Obama's, you don't think he let him know what went down?

Come on dude, looking at the facts BOTH sides agree on the cop as out of line and as a black man who has been racially profiled multiple times shit like that gets to be bothersome.

[alcibiades_mystery]

26. They will first deny that African Americans and Latinos actually face disproprotionate police action

Just two days ago some fucking kooks were arguing that perhaps miles driven by cab drivers explain vastly disproportionate ticketing of "non-white" drivers in New York City (something like 87% to non-whites). Taxi cabs! That's the level of denial operating in white America about race and the police. This board has been a wretched shame over the last two days. Nothing stokes the ire of white folks more than any white person anywhere being accused of racist behavior of any magnitude - short of doing a Klan march and cross burning. Because white folks know what it means if another white person is unintentionally performing racism. They know what it means for them.

[Fire1]

30. You know wht's REALLY funny about this whole shit? A white

president would never have been asked such a question.:puke:

[JayMusgrove]

41. Hey, I have to agree......you got right to the issue

Did you ever hear of a white professor who was arrested in their own home for breaking in and showing two ID's?

[Fire1]

46. Can't say that I have and doubt I ever will. Only in America. n/t

[Jim Sagle]

31. Hogwash!

[JayMusgrove]

44. Can I quote you on that? Do you have anything more to say?

I am not sure I know what position you take.

I bet you are white, I bet you are well off, I bet you are retired but don't dare express yourself, for fear of ridicule here.

OK I have said enough. Either you tell us what your post means or?

[Jim Sagle]

56. What are you, three years old?

You start a vacuous thread, you get the horns. I was being polite.

[HughMoran]

74. 2 1/2

:eyes:

[Fire1]

86. On time!!! LMAO!!!!

:rofl:

[BlooInBloo]

33. This is one of the bigger failthreads of late.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

37. Throw it on the pile with the two dozen others. Sheesh. And it has the worst spelling, too.

[JayMusgrove]

49. I have to admit, worst spelling, and this is from the mis-speller himself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You got me.............I hate Obam and worked for him for 1000 hours while unemloyed, (still umemployed) last year because I hate Obama, and gave him $100, of my savings, only because I thought I was giving him $10. You, Obama supporter, love to screw guys like us, ok........I don't spell so well.......fuck your spelling bee.......I love my President.....you love nothing more than fucking around with stupid spellers like me......get yourself off on so many stupid guys like me....have an orgasm....


Yeah, you are on the list of DU fuckers, now....elevated by your own insulting posts.....enjoy your sentence there,,,,,,one more insult, you are OUT OF HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Fire1]

50. Some could be typos, you know, not deliberate. n/t

[JayMusgrove]

47. Yeah, I agree, that's why there are 40 responses in 20 minutes......you've got

a real sense of what is important to DU members...........thanks for your insight.......as blind as it is. Thanks!

[BlooInBloo]

48. You're welcome.

[JayMusgrove]

54. I have started a thread about you on the alternative, only correct spelling DU......

I hope you don't mind, we have found 1000 mis-spelled words in your posts, and have featured them there.......

Don't worry, we have your name, address, email, social security, and all the other pertinent information to make your life miserable for the next 15 years, if you want us to release it, just let us know.

You seem to have done that for me......and you are such a great DU member, making people victims...must be your role in life


I WILL accept apologies. with your public admission that you want to fuck a man like me.......just to make yourself look superior.

[DevonRex]

39. Bullshit. He was asked a question. He answered it.

[Raineyb]

42. Frankly this whole discussion has been quite enlightening

The closet racists have certainly been showing their true colors of late.

Treating mistreatment by the police as merely a "black" problem is why the police get away with acting like thugs instead of professionals in the first place. But I guess that's too much for you to process.

[Fire1]

53. Certainly has been enlightening. My buddy list is growing and

so is 'ignore.'

[Colobo]

45. Obama said the truth and that's fucking great.

[fishwax]

51. I have no problem with him answering the question, and certainly no problem with the answer itself

I don't think it's at all like being President of Cambridge or interferes in any way with being "a President of all of us."

[angee_is_mad]

52. Bullshit

and a bullshit post. Obama spoke about what he knows about and probably has experience first hand. When you have been through the same shit you are going to be empathic, particularly if YOU KNOW the victim.
No he wasn't there and neither were you. It amazes me how many people are taking the cop's version as the truth.

[saltpoint]

58. We'll see if there are any other variables in the mix in the next few

days or so.

If there are no new variables that shift the current report that Prof. Gates showed the guy his ID, then it looks to me as if President Obama has it exactly right.

An ID has as its chief function proper match of its carrier. Gates said he was Gates. His ID matched that assertion. And he was not doing anything wrong.

To impose wrong onto not-wrong suggests authoritarian ego to me, and behold, that's what transpired. "Well, very well, then, Professor," the officer might have said after verifing Gates' ID, "we just wanted to check that things here were under control. A very good night to you" would have been an appropriate way to fold the tent.

Instead it ballooned into a racist flare.

[grahamhgreen]

59. No. He needs to learn what he's up against. Let this be a lesson.

[CakeGrrl]

62. Interesting how some assume they know so much more about the ways of the world

than the President. "He needs to learn a lesson" is an interesting form of patronization and condescension.

If you listened to his response, he knew exactly what point he was making. He could have said "I don't think it would be appropriate to comment", but he chose not to. Tough shit if it made people squirm. It was a fair assessment.

Why there's so much hand-wringing is something to which no one has offered an answer. He didn't compromise an investigation; the charges were already dropped. He had an opinion on an issue that took place and he expressed it.

[grahamhgreen]

70. I mean I hope he learns that those on the right are not on his side, did not get him elected, and

will never stand with him, but will always be ready to use the media to attack him whenever he steps out of line and does not cow tow to right wing principals like more war in the mid-east, indefinite detentions, gitmo, patriot act, banker bail-outs, and private health insurance.

He needs to get behind the left that endorsed him and got him elected - the right will always be too willing to, and are simply waiting for their opportunity to bring him down forever.

So the lesson I hope he learns is that the right wing will always want to keep him down, and he should swing to the left and become the next FDR he was meant to be!

[EFerrari]

60. So, you regret the president came out against racial profiling?

[Moochy]

61. Blah Blah Blah

Ignored racist +1 to list

[Darth_Ole]

64. I know this is the unpopular stance around here, but Obama needs to apologize.

to "the Cambridge police force and any police officers he may have offended with his remarks."

Why? Because Obama provided his nationally televised conclusion on a local legal matter in which he ADMITTED HE DOESN'T KNOW THE FACTS. Obama slammed Ed Henry in a prior news conference by saying he likes to know what he's talking about before he opens his mouth. Last night was not a good moment for "No Drama Obama." It was not the same thoughtfulness that produced his masterful Philadelphia speech on race.

Obama's ill-thought out comments have turned a lot of people off, which he doesn't need when he's trying to pass bold health legislation.

His level-headedness is what helped bring him to this point. Don't blame Lynn Sweet for the fact that all the networks talked about today was the Gates episode. Shit, even Jon Stewart hammered Obama for it tonight, so you can't say it's a right-wing, birther, 2010 politics, health care killing conspiracy. All Obama had to say was, "Skip Gates is a friend of mine, so I'm biased. Racial profiling is a concern in this country, one which I spent considerable time on in Illinois. But without having been there and not knowing all the facts, it would be inappropriate for me to comment."

That would have been presidential, honest, dignified, and addressed Lynn's question. Oh, and we would be talking about health care today.

Racial profiling is an important issue. And the police may have acted inappropriately (probably so, in fact). But there are about 4 or 5 stories out there of what happened. It's all here say. And for the President of the United States to opine on a legal matter in which he wasn't there is beneath him.

Obama doesn't need a feud like this. If he simply apologizes for using the phrase "acted stupidly," this will be over with in a day, and we can go back to talking about real matters. He simply needs to say that he spoke passionately because Gates was a personal friend, and that he didn't mean to slander any police officers.

And I am a staunch defender of Obama, having formed an Obama student group on my campus a year ago, volunteering for him in Ohio every weekend last fall, and donating numerous times.

Despite that level of support for the man, I grimaced when Obama provided his answer last night.

You have to understand that suggesting Obama apologizing doesn't mean I think the cops were right. There's a good chance they failed miserably at their job. But the point is I HAVE NO IDEA, and neither does Obama, by the way. And that's the point. Using his pulpit to criticize these officers' competence and professionalism when he is clueless on the details.

Did Gates yell at the police? Did he provide his ID right away? Or did he have to be asked numerous times? Was he singled out because of his race? Why didn't his neighbor recognize him?

Obama knows the answers to none of those questions. Ergo, it is undignified for him to draw conclusions, especially in a nationally televised presidential news conference.

Apologizing quickly will put this issue to rest and allow him to take the high road. He'll be the better man for it.

[HughMoran]

76. Asinine

I'd die before apologizing to that overreacting ass hole.

[Warren Stupidity]

79. Oh bullshit.

Why is it that some of us here keep insisting that we apologize for speaking the truth?

The man was arrested for being black in his house and for not being appropriately subservient when confronted by an armed police officer. The charges were dropped. End of story regarding was the arrest justified. The arrest was indefensible.

[Life Long Dem]

65. President Obama doesn't say anything he doesn't intend to say or mean.

Obama wants this on the table and in the open.

[Darth_Ole]

66. Yes, Obama does occasionally slip up.

How about when he apologized to Nancy Reagan for the seance joke? How about when he apologized for calling that female reporter "sweetie"? You may also remember right after he began running that he apolgized for saying the lives of thousands of troops in Iraq had been "wasted."

Obama makes mistakes, too. To deny that is pure stubborness.

[democracy1st]

67. yes he made a huge mistake

[JTFrog]

68. zOMG it was HUGH!!!

Not.

:eyes:

[TexasObserver]

69. He didn't, but you did.

[HughMoran]

73. Idiotic coward thread

Obama can comment on whatever he wants - fuck this cautious shit.

[harun]

78. +1, he shouldn't be a slave to the media machine. If he wants to say

something, say it.

[AuntPatsy]

75. NO mistake, it is an issue that has needed such high publicity for far too long...

Thank you President Obama because this issue does affect all of us and is so easily swept under the rug.

[Bennyboy]

77. He should have said "No Comment" and then

moved on. For one thing, this is way below the radar of the POTUS. had there not been a racial component this question would never been asked. had this been any other POTUS, there would not have been any interest at all. had the Professor been white? Same thing.

[Window]

81. I'm sorry, I wholeheartedly disagree.

The president was asked a question. He had the facts, as well as the rest of us and maybe more since the professor was a friend of his. The President's reply, as follows, was fine:

"I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home; and, number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there's a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. That's just a fact," Obama said.

I feel he would have been dishonest and wimpy; especially to black and hispanic Americans not to give the response he gave. Is he not our President, too?? Why do we always have to appease white people??

[Phx_Dem]

82. I think he gave his honest opinion, and that's never a mistake. Whether

the media likes it or not. God forbid someone disparage a cop with a gigantic ego, because God knows cops have never ever done anything wrong.

[BeyondGeography]

83. It was a great answer, save for one word

Substitute "mistakenly" for "stupidly" and there wouldn't even be a story.

[Splinter Cell]

84. Obama was not wrong in the least

The cops did act stupidly. I've known many people who were police officers, and my family has been involved in police work for several years, and I can tell you most of them have an attitude problem. They get a little authority and it goes straight to their head, and they feel that citizens shouldn't just obey police orders but kiss their behind as well. It's bullshit. They fucked up by arresting this man in his home after they had proof it was his home. Now they're doing what cops do, they're sticking up for each other, even though they're in the wrong.