Gates Arrest Controversy / Obama's Statement

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32113088/ns/politics-white_house/#storyContinued

BOSTON - Many police officers across the country have a message for President Barack Obama: Get all the facts before criticizing one of our own.

Obama's public criticism that Cambridge officers "acted stupidly" when they arrested black Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. could make it harder for police to work with people of color, some officers said Thursday. It could even set back the progress in race relations that helped Obama become the nation's first African-American president, they said.

"What we don't need is public safety officials across the country second-guessing themselves," said David Holway, president of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, which represents 15,000 public safety officials around the country. "The president's alienated public safety officers across the country with his comments."

Interesting brewhaha this has become, compounded by Obama's statement. Regardless of what happened, I think Obama's comments were out of line by commenting on an on-going case and basically choosing a side (publicly) already, especially when he admitted he didn't have all of the facts.

I don't know...honestly, the notion that the police overreacted doesn't seem that outlandish to me. Obama did clarify that he was addressing the story as he knew it, but yeah, as such a visible figure, maybe waiting would have been prudent. Luckily I, as a far less public voice, can sit here and rail that this whole thing was probably more police abusing their power. But hey, we'll see.

On a different note, I wonder if the neighbor would have called in the prof if he had been white?

Would the Prez had been asked about it if the Prof was white and the cop was black?

This is Obama's Terry Schiavo... butt the F out and do your job... While race relations should certainly be on any president's plate, he should have stated that he didnt know all the details of the case and that he thought the local authorities and the local justice system should be allowed to take it's course...

For the president to specifically address such a single situtaion in such an indelicate manner is really outside the scope of his job.

Pez wrote:This is Obama's Terry Schiavo... butt the F out and do your job... While race relations should certainly be on any president's plate, he should have stated that he didnt know all the details of the case and that he thought the local authorities and the local justice system should be allowed to take it's course...

For the president to specifically address such a single situtaion in such an indelicate manner is really outside the scope of his job.

He is friends with the guy .... just like when you shoot one of the punks in your neighborhood I will go on record immediately supporting you.

Fair enough, friends or not tho, he himself said he was reporting on the story "as he knew it." It just strikes me as being out there on a limb where the president has no business... He should have called his friend and said the cops acted stupidly, and not make those remarks public.

Just my take on what I "think" happened.
Neighbors (who apparently do not like Gates) call police (for whatever reason) the police respond, while there, Gates comes home (cops don't know who Gates is and that he lives there, they are on a call, so it is act now, ask questions later) Gates thinking he was being "profiled" blew a MAJOR Hissy Pissy Cork, cops tried to calm him (even though Gates was screaming everything under the sun at them) cops decide, enough is enough and just arrest him (he can calm down in jail)

I think the only reason that race came into place is because Gates brought it there front and center.
I agree, a private call from Obama to Gates would have been MUCH better choice. A public statement (regardless of what it was) was HUGE no-no!

Obama says regrets remark in racially charged case
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN2447761120090724?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews&rpc=22&sp=true

Obama made his comments after talking on the telephone to Sgt. James Crowley, the Cambridge, Massachusetts, police officer who made the arrest, and discussing inviting Crowley and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates to the White House for a beer.

"I'm sorry, let's forget about, you wanna have a beer, my treat"

ROFL... you have to admit that's kind of novel...

The best thing about this is we don't have to hear about his health care plan for a couple of days. That is if he had a plan, and could answer the questions at his press conference. (please note by his plan, it is really the house and senate plan).

Heard the cop keyed his mike so the whole incident could be voiced tape. I hope that is the case and let the chips fall where they may.

iberlingirl wrote:Just my take on what I "think" happened.
Neighbors (who apparently do not like Gates) call police (for whatever reason) the police respond, while there, Gates comes home (cops don't know who Gates is and that he lives there, they are on a call, so it is act now, ask questions later) Gates thinking he was being "profiled" blew a MAJOR Hissy Pissy Cork, cops tried to calm him (even though Gates was screaming everything under the sun at them) cops decide, enough is enough and just arrest him (he can calm down in jail)

I think the only reason that race came into place is because Gates brought it there front and center.
I agree, a private call from Obama to Gates would have been MUCH better choice. A public statement (regardless of what it was) was HUGE no-no!

i may be wrong but my take from the news coverage is..a neighbor (may not be racist particularly) calls in a possible break-in and that she sees 2 black men with back packs struggling to gain entry to a neighborhood house, and the cops show up. by the time they arrive, mr gates is in his home after having struggled, alone on his porch, with his suitcase and his cane while trying to get the door to open with his key. the cops knock on the door and mr gates answers. the cops start demanding to know who hie is and state they got a report of a possible break in. mr gates allows them to enter the home and shows his id, and points out pics on walls, of him with various presidents and nationally-known dignitaries. he is angry and tired and frustrated and keeps demanding the officers' names and badge numbers which they refuse to give him. they are all basically angry and shouting. it dawns on the disgruntled officer he cant arrest the guy in his own home, so the officer finds a way to persuade mr gates to step outside a moment. the officer then arrests mr gates and charges him with whatever--which amounts to the fact that the homeowner probably shouted and expressed anger and was as loud and effective as the officer at his verbal sparring..how dare he.

and this same officer is the go-to guy on his force who teaches to others diversity and how to make sure officers are able to respond respectfully and appropriately in potentially racially charged situations. and he acted stupid indeed.

obama should have been more cautious in his response but it seems to me the cop did act stupid. and i appreciate that obama would like to get with the officer and his friend mr gates and try to discuss together what really went wrong here.

Gates is a race-baiting whiney whanking arsehole. Watched him on History Dectectives one time pushing and pushing a well know Afro-Am actor to react with indignation upon learning his ancestor was a slave. Actor told him "sorry i cant feel any anger over something that happened that long ago". Another time i watched his documentery about his return to Africa to discover his roots. He confronted a native African woman about her ancestory selling his ancestors into slavery and asked her if she felt any guilt about it....she looked him dead on and said HELL NO.
Its no wonder he walks with a cane....probably needs support for all those chips he carries around on his sholders.

The only racist in that house is Gates. I mean geez a cop gets a 911 call about a possible break in and Gates throws a tizzy fit because he is asked to produce some ID to show he lives there (and takes his time about getting it) while all the time belittling the cop. Gates had no right to belittle the cop, and yes the cop could have arrest him in his home for being disorderly. Nothing like having him come out on the porch though to have witnesses (both police and civilian) of his disorderly conduct. The city of Cambridge should have had some backbone and kept the charges against Gates he deserved the fine.

LTRT wrote:Obama says regrets remark in racially charged case
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN2447761120090724?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews&rpc=22&sp=true

Obama made his comments after talking on the telephone to Sgt. James Crowley, the Cambridge, Massachusetts, police officer who made the arrest, and discussing inviting Crowley and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates to the White House for a beer.

"I'm sorry, let's forget about, you wanna have a beer, my treat"

See, I agree Obama's quick response was out of line and I would have handled the recovery the same way. I like that guy.

Cheers

the police report completed by the officer who arrested gates:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0723092gates1.html

the 911 call and the callers comments about the police report:

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/07/27/Gates-911-caller-police-report-at-odds/UPI-32501248723655/

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/27/raw-data-transcript-cambridge/

META??!! i missed you!

LTRT wrote:

so you post this link which shows segements of 3 speeches, with no comment? is it supposed to show what a racist idiot he is? i didnt get that feeling..

floridafun wrote:so you post this link which shows segements of 3 speeches, with no comment? is it supposed to show what a racist idiot he is? i didnt get that feeling..

That's fine, we'll leave you on your utopian cloud.

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2009/07/26/nr.comrade.in.arms.cnn

Feel free to put your finesse to work at spinning this in the favor of the left.

Wow. Is anyone surprised that am exhausted with this topic now.

LTRT wrote:

floridafun wrote:so you post this link which shows segements of 3 speeches, with no comment? is it supposed to show what a racist idiot he is? i didnt get that feeling..

That's fine, we'll leave you on your utopian cloud.

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2009/07/26/nr.comrade.in.arms.cnn

Feel free to put your finesse to work at spinning this in the favor of the left.

already provided the police report he wrote and the proof he lied on it.

floridafun wrote:

LTRT wrote:

floridafun wrote:so you post this link which shows segements of 3 speeches, with no comment? is it supposed to show what a racist idiot he is? i didnt get that feeling..

That's fine, we'll leave you on your utopian cloud.

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2009/07/26/nr.comrade.in.arms.cnn

Feel free to put your finesse to work at spinning this in the favor of the left.

already provided the police report he wrote and the proof he lied on it.

From the clip: 'I supported him. I voted for him. I will not again'.

floridafun wrote:
already provided the police report he wrote and the proof he lied on it.

Really? Because I've looked at the report and your comments from the other thread and I'm still not seeing it. The only inconsistency is that he wrote on his report that the 911 caller reported seeing 2 black males when in reality she said she did not know what their race was. He got that fact wrong but I certainly wouldn't call it lying. Unless you were there as a witness you have no idea if anything he said about the arrest was untrue.

And your history lesson about racism in Cambridge is interesting, but a history of racism shouldn't enter into the equation. If I was a cop, I wouldn't want to be judged based on incidents in the past. Race only entered into it when Gates decided to play that card. I really wonder if you would be this critical of the officer had Obama not commented on it.

Hmm, I think I would be good at the "Jump to Conclusions" game. I heard the 911 call, and the caller certainly didn't sound like someone who was targeting Gates because he was black. She sounded rather polite and understanding that the guy might have just locked himself out. So I guess that part of my speculation seems pretty iffy if not wrong.

The police situation - I'm now sort of undecided on that. I've heard the recordings of the officer during the incident, and it sounds like he was pretty reasonable. HOWEVER, I'm not sure how - after providing evidence of home ownership and all - someone can be arrested for disorderly conduct when they are on their own property. Ranting at the police shouldn't be an arrestable offense, IMHO, especially if they're not even attempting to arrest him. At most, cite the guy for it and move on.

Cheers Savoy for sticking your comments to the meat and potatoes of the situation. I think for the most part our perception of the dissimilar reporting of facts (recorded vs. recalled) is congruent. Officer Fife began the response professionally. Clearly, Gates was the first to tip his hand and aggravated the situation by being belligerent to Barney from the start. That said, I also think the officer established - in short order - there was no crime.

I heard a comment on NPR (even they can beat a story to death) that the "disorderly conduct" is in the top 3 of the "most broad charge" for which someone can be arrested. I still think Obama shouldn't have commented on this but "stupidly" fits. Stupid is as stupid does. Ofc. Fife could have left and carried on with protecting and serving but decided not to and now the arresting action justifies the comment from Obama or anyone else. We have to hold our public servants to a higher standard.

I think the whole "profiling history" discussion has more to do with appealing to the non-polarized public opinion rather than supporting either side's claim that the opposite did something wrong. I say non-polarized because the polars already know the truth, hehe.