Monday, July 27, 2009

Obama - 'I do Not Have All The Facts, But The Police Acted Stupidly'

Obama's comments regarding the arrest of Black Harvard professor Gates by White police officer Crowley were making the rounds last weekend. If you missed the back story; Gates got home from a trip and did not have his keys, so he 'jimmied' his way through the front door. Neighbors saw and reported the incident as a home invasion. The police responded and found a belligerent Gates, who then arrested him for disorderly conduct, not because they thought he was a home invader. Gates accused Crowley (the arresting officer) of racial profiling. Obama weighed in at his healthcare press conferences basically saying 'I do Not Have All The Facts, But The Police Acted Stupidly'.

Video embedded below (from http://hotair.com/archives/2009/07/24/obamateurism-of-the-day-84)



In the aftermath it came to light that Crowley actually teaches a class on how not to racially profile and the black officer who was there supports his partner completely. Demands for apologies flew back and fourth, threats of lawsuits were also bantered about, Obama has backtracked a bit (sort of), and now Obama wants to host the two for a beer and to make up.

It seems to me (and Patterico) that Gates was the one that stereotyped Crowley, not the other way around (http://patterico.com/2009/07/24/the-officer-didnt-stereotype-henry-louis-gates-henry-louis-gates-stereotyped-the-officer). Obama came down on the wrong side of this and if he did not know enough about the situation (which he admitted he did not) he should have said that and left it there.

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