President Obama Inviting Gates and Crowley Over For A Beer? Brilliant!

[TomCADem]

Let me ask you this, is this different from the G-20 meeting when France and China were at each other's throats because of the way a certain sentence was phrased? Each side dug in its heals, and President Obama worked to reach common ground.

The fact of the matter is diplomacy is personal, and so are racial issues, when individuals really don't want to get to know the other side. Crowley felt upset because he was responding to a call, and Gates was yelling at him. Gates was upset because Crowley was hasseling him in his own house, and did not walk away when it was clear that Gates lived at the house.

It was not fair that Gates gets reported for breaking in to his own house, then arrested because the Officer got pissed. It was not fair that Crowley gets accused of racism for responding to a call.

Now, we could all continue to dig in, including the President. But, the President swallowed his ego, and worked to resolve the problem. The question is whether Gates or Crowley decide to continue to posture in order exploit the event. Or, do they both own up to the fact that they acted like pricks.

Whether it is a cop and a professor or China and France, diplomacy comes down to relationships between people, and putting your ego on the backburner and solving problems.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/obama-expresses-his-regrets-on-gates-incident/?hpw

###

The president conveyed his sentiment to the police sergeant, James Crowley, in a telephone call earlier Friday. Mr. Obama said he disagreed that he should not have stepped into the issue, saying it is the job of the president “black or white” to contribute to improving relations.

At the end of the call, Mr. Obama said, there was a discussion about the sergeant, Professor Gates and him having a beer at the White House.

“I obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up, I wanted to make clear that in my choice of words, I think, I unfortunately, I think, gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sergeant Crowley specifically,” Mr. Obama said. “And I could have calibrated those words differently. And I told this to Sergeant Crowley.”

###

[damntexdem]

1. Well, the President better not get too 'uppity' while Crowley is there:

we don't want to see an arrest in the White House. ;-)

[wryter2000]

2. Now, that's a photo op I want to see

My best guess is both the Officer Crowley and Professor Gates will agree and it will be a Very Good Thing.

[Sebastian Doyle]

3. As long as he checks his gun and his tazer at the door, why the Hell not?

:toast:

[CTyankee]

4. Obama IS brilliant!

This will just kill the rwingers who have made this thing into a circus. They won't be able to run their show any more! Obama has just owned them bigtime. I'll bet they are FURIOUS!

[glitch]

7. It is good, can't wait for the photo op. :) nt

[Phx_Dem]

5. I hope they both accept! The media might lean how to be a grownup.

[DefenseLawyer]

6. I never cease to be impressed

that the President pays so little attention to the "conventional wisdom" of the chattering class. Every talking head in America has spent the last two days talking about how the President should drop this issue, run away, change the subject, distance himself blah blah blah.

[AuntPatsy]

8. If only to teach him that not all black men should be so labled

[cleveramerican]

9. Three way apology coming?

over those beers
I'd bet that will happen.

[TomCADem]

14. All We Need Is Jeremy Piven From Entourage Saying, "Hug It Out, B*&^ch"

Heck, President Obama has Ari Emanuel's brother as chief of staff. Why not?

Apologies to anyone who does not watch Entourage on HBO.

<>

[boppers]

10. "He said my lawn was bigger"

You have to see the tape, Obama does it again.

[alsame]

11. Our President knows how to appeal to the

better angels in people. This will have a positive outcome.:-)

[Aramchek]

12. Holy Shit! Imagine the Photos

The Symbolism is thick.

Neither of the men involved are who they are being portrayed in the press as.
But it doesn't matter. The Public perception is more powerful than the reality in this case.

To the People, it will seem as if Obama is bringing together the Racist White Man and the Angry Black Man.
They will shake hands.
Obama will be the Uniter.

Who could ever think that Obama could bring together these polar opposites?
The Far Right and Far Left actually having a Beer together.

Obama is going to turn this into a step forward.
The Republicans fell right into his trap by overreacting and portraying the men as caricatures.

[mnhtnbb]

13. If that is true, that is such a STFU to the media. I love it.

[democracy1st]

15. more importantly its stfu moment for the bigots who wanted to see this grow

[Karenina]

16. He slapped the media into next week, didn't he?

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

[Cha]

19. And, that's a big

important part of it as well as attempting a healing from all this.

Just look at the cop barrett and how stupid he was..

kpete (1000+ posts) Wed Jul-29-09 08:34 PM
Original message

"Officer suspended for Gates slur in e-mail"
Source: Boston Globe

July 29, 2009 07:35 PM

By Matt Collette, Globe Correspondent

An officer in the Boston Police Department was suspended yesterday for allegedly writing a racially charged e-mail about Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. to colleagues at the National Guard, a law enforcement official said. Mayor Thomas M. Menino compared the officer to a cancer and said he is "gone, g-o-n-e'' from the force.

The law enforcement official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Officer Justin Barrett referred to the black scholar as a " jungle monkey" in the letter, written in reaction to media coverage of Gates's arrest July 16.

Barrett, a 36-year-old who has been on the job for two years, was stripped of his gun and badge yesterday and faces a termination hearing in the next week, said police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll. He has no previous disciplinary record, she said.

"Yesterday afternoon, Commissioner Davis was made aware that Officer Barrett was the author of correspondence which included racially charged language," she said. "At that time, Commissioner Davis immediately stripped Officer Barrett of his gun and badge, and at this time we will be moving forward with the hearing process."

Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3992401

[deaniac21]

17. Yeah, this whole thing has made him look like a world class diplomat!

I'll bet he hopes something like this will happen next week!

[Spazito]

18. Yep, this is what happens when a 'community organizer' is elected instead of....

a privileged 'frat boy'. A community organizer who, from having his feet on the ground defusing potentially explosive situations, knew what need to be done and how to do it.

He really is a smart cookie, your President.

To paraphrase a quote from "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (still one of my favorite action movies, lol), 'You chose wisely'.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

20. Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade

But I agree with you wholeheartedly :hi: