Wasn't it last week that Obama was "talking down" to the NAACP?

[bigbrother05]

Like him or not, agree or disagree, I find it refreshing to have any politician, let alone the President, expressing an honest, thoughtful opinion re: Gates gate. He knows full well that what he says will get wide coverage, but he obviously views the American Public as adults that can understand nuance and use critical reasoning.

He is probably wrong about the 30% "backwash", but let's hope we deserve the President we elected.

[paulsby]

1. he admitted he was not familiar with the case facts,

but then felt free to call the cops stupid. even bill cosby is slamming him on this. sorry, but it was a gaffe. i'd respect his educated opinion, even if i disagreed with it. i don't respect his making an off the cuff slam on a guy as "Stupid" without knowing the case facts. nobody wants a kneejerking president.

[bigbrother05]

2. Didn't call him racist, criminal, corrupt, or incompetent

To say he acted stupidly seems well supported by the charges being dropped. Would imagine that the Cambridge DA's office had significantly stronger words in private for the quality of the initial arrest.

BTW: he didn't call him stupid or say the officer was stupid, just that he acted stupidly in this particular instance.

[paulsby]

3. it's not "well supported"

disorderly conduct charges are routinely dropped. the arrests are generally made (and i say this as a former MA police officer) to stop breaches of the peace. in the interest of justice, a nolle pros is quite common, although usually AFTER arraignment. that was the only unusual aspect. considering gates considerable political power, it doesn't surprise me. i realize he didn't call the officer stupid, but said he ACTED stupidly. that comment was still based on an uneducated stance. and also, obama,as a friend of gates, would create at least an appearance of personal bias, if not actual bias. ill go with the Cos on this one. obama made a gaffe.

[monmouth]

4. As a former MA police officer, I take your opinion with an enormous

amount of salt. The officer did act stupidly...Had Prof. Gates been white we would not be having this conversation, end of story. Three cops in my family, all USMC backgrounds, all asses...

[paulsby]

5. that is such utter crap

the idea that the cop wouldn't have arrested gates if he was white, is ridiculous. i know lots of boston cops, fwiw. i realize this was cambridge, but don't know any cambridge cops :) i know several harvard U cops, but i digress. gates was a classic example of a guy who talks and screams himself into arrest. not uncommon for whites or blacks. there is no evidence whatsoever that crowley had any racial bias whatsoever. the only racial bias going on (actually more like classism) was gates' instant hostility towards the cop for DARING to ask the great gates (tm) to come outside and show his id. fwiw, gates KNEW he had forced the door to come into the house. so, unless he's an idiot (and he's not), he would have a good reason to suspect why the cop was there (investigating a possible burglary).

[EFerrari]

8. You don't have the facts. Gates let himself in with his KEYS

through a rear door. Maybe you should follow your own advice and refrain from making uninformed off the cuff judgments.

Unlike you, Obama did have the facts in hand and his evaluation is one any reasonable person would make unless they're holding up the big blue wall.

[EFerrari]

7. No, he said he didn't have ALL the facts. And no one has ALL the facts. n/t

[redstate_democrat]

9. President Obama said he didn't have all of the facts to determine if the situation was racial

Not whether the situation was, aside from any possible racial aspect, unnecessary and stupid. I imagine that if additional facts were to come out that would without a doubt point to racial profiling (which I think is what happened here), President Obama would probably amend his comment to state that not only did the Cambridge police act "stupidly" IN GENERAL, but that they did so out of racial bias.

[EFerrari]

10. That's right. He was answering a question about race relations

and that's why he said he didn't have all the facts with respect to the issue of race in this case.

[bigbrother05]

6. Interesting that the OP notes the swing of reactions to Obama

but it has to devolve into more of the he said/he said of the Gates brouhaha.

Had thought we might get a discussion of how the President can be seen to be criticizing the black community one week and viewed as preaching racial division in the next. Think it reflects that he is neither one dimensional nor doctrinal.

Again, think we got damn lucky that he answered the call at this time and we listened.