For those of you who are outside New England or are unfamiliar with the controversy around the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. by Sgt. James Crowley of the Cambridge, MA police department, please let me state the obvious: This story is going "nuclear." By this I mean that it is expanding quickly and exponentially. This is no flash-in-the-pan kind of story. This is a story that reaches to the very heights of America. And as more information comes forth, the recent remarks made by Barack Obama -- remarks that were apparently premeditated -- that "the Cambridge police acted stupidly," may not only define his presidency, they may end it (and I believe they should end it). Call it whatever you wish. Call it a "tipping point." Call it his "Waterloo." Call it Gates-gate. Whatever it is named, it reveals two important things: It reveals an abuse of power by Barack Obama, and it reveals that he lacks competence and/or integrity. But before delving into these bold assertions, a relevant aside might prove helpful.
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GETTING UP TO SPEED
If readers have not closely followed this story, they should, because this is history in the making. Real history.
First, this tidbit reported by the Associated Press (also reported here) is nearly too good to be true:
Readers should know by now that Mr. Gates, who is apparently rather famous, is a professor at Harvard University and is touted as something of an authority on race relations. Forgive this writer's undue lack of deference. All I can say is that I had not ever heard of Mr. Gates until this week. I cannot vouch for his credentials, though I will admit that, on paper, he is surely a qualified academic. But there is something richly ironic in the fact that the policeman Mr. Gates accuses of being a racist, is himself something of an authority on race relations, particularly on how race plays out in law enforcement.
It seems quite safe to say that Mr. Obama, who admitted before calling Sgt. Gates stupid that he did not know the facts, was profoundly ignorant of the amazing fact that Sgt. Gates is considered a specialist in racial profiling.
Another important thing is to hear what NPR's Juan Williams, a left-leaning black journalist who moonlights on Fox News, said about Mr. Obama's unarguably reckless remarks. Check out Mr. Williams in this video:
If readers have not closely followed this story, they should, because this is history in the making. Real history.
First, this tidbit reported by the Associated Press (also reported here) is nearly too good to be true:
"Cambridge Sgt. James Crowley has taught a class on racial profiling for five years at the Lowell Police Academy after being hand-picked for the job by former police Commissioner Ronny Watson, who is black, said Academy Director Thomas Fleming."
Readers should know by now that Mr. Gates, who is apparently rather famous, is a professor at Harvard University and is touted as something of an authority on race relations. Forgive this writer's undue lack of deference. All I can say is that I had not ever heard of Mr. Gates until this week. I cannot vouch for his credentials, though I will admit that, on paper, he is surely a qualified academic. But there is something richly ironic in the fact that the policeman Mr. Gates accuses of being a racist, is himself something of an authority on race relations, particularly on how race plays out in law enforcement.
It seems quite safe to say that Mr. Obama, who admitted before calling Sgt. Gates stupid that he did not know the facts, was profoundly ignorant of the amazing fact that Sgt. Gates is considered a specialist in racial profiling.
Another important thing is to hear what NPR's Juan Williams, a left-leaning black journalist who moonlights on Fox News, said about Mr. Obama's unarguably reckless remarks. Check out Mr. Williams in this video:
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MR. OBAMA'S FALL
Please note the one thing Juan Williams highlighted about Barack Obama's remarks. He highlighted that Mr. Obama was trying to sell a plan to sweepingly reform health care in America, and yet, in a senseless incident, shifted attention from that important topic to something not only irrelevant to health care, but to something incendiary, controversial, and divisive.
In fact, the Obama mistake seems so foolish as to suggest that Mr. Obama's advisors led him to commit political suicide before the entire country; it was as if they intentionally set out to make him look the fool. What, pray tell, was he thinking?
Here are a few of things to understand.
First, Barack Obama is, as president of the United States, ostensibly the chief law enforcement officer of the land. It was to this post he was elected; people expected him to enforce the laws that keep the peace in America. He was NOT elected to serve as Race-Relations Expert-in-Chief. In fact, his position is to be race-neutral in a very real sense, as he is the incarnation of the body politic: he represents us ALL.
Second, since Mr. Obama's first statement on this issue was to say that "Skip Gates" is a "friend," and that as a result, he might be "biased," it behooves us to note that Mr. Obama failed to add that, as chief law enforcement officer of the land, and as the figurehead of a democracy who was, at that moment, speaking as PRESIDENT of the United States, he is also and PRIMARILY the "friend" of all law enforcement officers in the country. Hence, he should have at best recused himself completely; at worst, he should have said that he would withhold judgment until he KNEW ALL THE FACTS. But he had already admitted he was ignorant of the facts; the sophomoric summary of the facts he presented proved that the facts he thought he knew were utterly fantastic and invented.
Hence, Barack Obama ABUSED HIS OFFICE, he abused his POWER, by throwing the power of the presidency into the assertion that the Cambridge police "acted stupidly," and Mr. Obama did this in order to protect his friend, Henry Gates. Mr. Obama assumed a privilege of clairvoyance and understanding he believed his office gave to him intrinsically; he believed that, despite his ignorance of the facts, he could nonetheless conclude that the Cambridge police were stupid.
Third, Mr. Obama DOES NOT UNDERSTAND simple law regarding disorderly conduct. Either that, or he lacks the integrity to admit that he made a huge mistake in prime time. Even today, Mr. Obama continues to conflate the breaking and entering report with disorderly conduct. He seems to think that, because Mr. Gates proved he was rightfully in his own home and he rightfully broke into his own domicile, the Cambridge police had no business arresting him for disorderly conduct. This idiocy on Mr. Obama's part is doing him no favors; it is only compounding his problem. What is also compounding his problem is that his spokesman yesterday said that his remark that the police "acted stupidly" did not mean he was calling the arresting officer "stupid."
All this shows a man -- arrogant to no end -- clinging to power by saying whatever the hell he feels like saying. Mr. Obama either clearly DOES NOT understand law, or he does. If he doesn't, he has no right being in the White House (nor should he have ever been editor of the Harvard Law Review). But if he does understand the law, then Mr. Obama is being dishonest: he is manipulating language in order to save his position. But if this is the case, then the man lacks integrity. He is a deceiver, a charlatan, an equivocating con man.
Without question Mr. Obama has backed himself into a corner. What are his options? Can he say he made a mistake, that what he said was stupid? I doubt it. Can he continue to equivocate? Can he continue to conflate basic trespassing or illegal entry with disorderly conduct; can he continue to act surprised that a man "with a cane" could be arrested for disorderly conduct even after proving he was in his own home? No, he can't. There is no out for this man, is there?
Bottom line: This was, and continues to be, an abuse of power on the part of Barack Obama. He will do as he wishes; he will speak as he sees fit, and to hell with the consequences. Because he is president, he will pronounce judgments from his bully, thuggish pulpit against a police officer in order to protect a "friend." And he will make those judgments even if he -- by his own admission -- does not know all the facts.
For this, and for his inability to square with America and the nation's police, Barack Obama should immediately resign.
___________________
A BRUTAL IRONY
Recall with me that the first people in America to deny that Barack Obama was authentically black, were black intellectuals. Mr. Obama's credentials as a true African-American were called into doubt precisely because his narrative did not include one essential ingredient, namely, that he was a descendant of African-American slaves. In fact, Mr. Obama himself admitted his struggles with black identity; he "chose" to self-define as black despite the fact that his story was not typical at all. Nevertheless, as time passed and he gained political advantage, his critics pulled away from their claim that he would not be the first black president. His critics became his supporters.
Henry Louis Gates is, without doubt, a black intellectual. Since he is a "friend" of the president, I doubt he ever dismissed Barack Obama as inauthentic. However, what is amazing is that this lofty professor, this Harvard intellectual who was trained at some of the world's finest schools; this expert on race relations in America, may have, in his petulant temper tantrum wherein he played the race card, fatally damaged the presidency of the "first black president in US history."
Wall Street Journal on-line columnist James Taranto, whose work consistently impresses me, was so incredibly wrong in his analysis of most of the Gates/Crowley/Obama story that he may have lost my adoration. Here is what Mr. Taranto wrote yesterday:
Because this was ESSENTIALLY a legal and not a racial matter; because Mr. Obama is the chief law enforcement officer of the land; because Mr. Obama was not elected to weigh in on matters of race; because Mr. Obama chose loyalty to a black friend over his duty as guardian of law; Mr. Obama's words on the matter should not have carried any weight in matters of race. NONE.
But because Mr. Obama is convinced he is bolstered by millions of people who think like Mr. Taranto, he believed his skin color -- and his POWER as president -- entitled him to speak with reckless abandon.
This all may become the most ironic moment in presidential history. And we witnessed it.
©2009/Contratimes. All rights reserved.
Please note the one thing Juan Williams highlighted about Barack Obama's remarks. He highlighted that Mr. Obama was trying to sell a plan to sweepingly reform health care in America, and yet, in a senseless incident, shifted attention from that important topic to something not only irrelevant to health care, but to something incendiary, controversial, and divisive.
In fact, the Obama mistake seems so foolish as to suggest that Mr. Obama's advisors led him to commit political suicide before the entire country; it was as if they intentionally set out to make him look the fool. What, pray tell, was he thinking?
Here are a few of things to understand.
First, Barack Obama is, as president of the United States, ostensibly the chief law enforcement officer of the land. It was to this post he was elected; people expected him to enforce the laws that keep the peace in America. He was NOT elected to serve as Race-Relations Expert-in-Chief. In fact, his position is to be race-neutral in a very real sense, as he is the incarnation of the body politic: he represents us ALL.
Second, since Mr. Obama's first statement on this issue was to say that "Skip Gates" is a "friend," and that as a result, he might be "biased," it behooves us to note that Mr. Obama failed to add that, as chief law enforcement officer of the land, and as the figurehead of a democracy who was, at that moment, speaking as PRESIDENT of the United States, he is also and PRIMARILY the "friend" of all law enforcement officers in the country. Hence, he should have at best recused himself completely; at worst, he should have said that he would withhold judgment until he KNEW ALL THE FACTS. But he had already admitted he was ignorant of the facts; the sophomoric summary of the facts he presented proved that the facts he thought he knew were utterly fantastic and invented.
Hence, Barack Obama ABUSED HIS OFFICE, he abused his POWER, by throwing the power of the presidency into the assertion that the Cambridge police "acted stupidly," and Mr. Obama did this in order to protect his friend, Henry Gates. Mr. Obama assumed a privilege of clairvoyance and understanding he believed his office gave to him intrinsically; he believed that, despite his ignorance of the facts, he could nonetheless conclude that the Cambridge police were stupid.
Third, Mr. Obama DOES NOT UNDERSTAND simple law regarding disorderly conduct. Either that, or he lacks the integrity to admit that he made a huge mistake in prime time. Even today, Mr. Obama continues to conflate the breaking and entering report with disorderly conduct. He seems to think that, because Mr. Gates proved he was rightfully in his own home and he rightfully broke into his own domicile, the Cambridge police had no business arresting him for disorderly conduct. This idiocy on Mr. Obama's part is doing him no favors; it is only compounding his problem. What is also compounding his problem is that his spokesman yesterday said that his remark that the police "acted stupidly" did not mean he was calling the arresting officer "stupid."
All this shows a man -- arrogant to no end -- clinging to power by saying whatever the hell he feels like saying. Mr. Obama either clearly DOES NOT understand law, or he does. If he doesn't, he has no right being in the White House (nor should he have ever been editor of the Harvard Law Review). But if he does understand the law, then Mr. Obama is being dishonest: he is manipulating language in order to save his position. But if this is the case, then the man lacks integrity. He is a deceiver, a charlatan, an equivocating con man.
Without question Mr. Obama has backed himself into a corner. What are his options? Can he say he made a mistake, that what he said was stupid? I doubt it. Can he continue to equivocate? Can he continue to conflate basic trespassing or illegal entry with disorderly conduct; can he continue to act surprised that a man "with a cane" could be arrested for disorderly conduct even after proving he was in his own home? No, he can't. There is no out for this man, is there?
Bottom line: This was, and continues to be, an abuse of power on the part of Barack Obama. He will do as he wishes; he will speak as he sees fit, and to hell with the consequences. Because he is president, he will pronounce judgments from his bully, thuggish pulpit against a police officer in order to protect a "friend." And he will make those judgments even if he -- by his own admission -- does not know all the facts.
For this, and for his inability to square with America and the nation's police, Barack Obama should immediately resign.
___________________
A BRUTAL IRONY
Recall with me that the first people in America to deny that Barack Obama was authentically black, were black intellectuals. Mr. Obama's credentials as a true African-American were called into doubt precisely because his narrative did not include one essential ingredient, namely, that he was a descendant of African-American slaves. In fact, Mr. Obama himself admitted his struggles with black identity; he "chose" to self-define as black despite the fact that his story was not typical at all. Nevertheless, as time passed and he gained political advantage, his critics pulled away from their claim that he would not be the first black president. His critics became his supporters.
Henry Louis Gates is, without doubt, a black intellectual. Since he is a "friend" of the president, I doubt he ever dismissed Barack Obama as inauthentic. However, what is amazing is that this lofty professor, this Harvard intellectual who was trained at some of the world's finest schools; this expert on race relations in America, may have, in his petulant temper tantrum wherein he played the race card, fatally damaged the presidency of the "first black president in US history."
Wall Street Journal on-line columnist James Taranto, whose work consistently impresses me, was so incredibly wrong in his analysis of most of the Gates/Crowley/Obama story that he may have lost my adoration. Here is what Mr. Taranto wrote yesterday:
As he is the first president who is black, Obama’s views on a subject involving race relations were bound to be of interest and to carry considerable weight. And Obama evidently did have a strong interest in the matter.
Because this was ESSENTIALLY a legal and not a racial matter; because Mr. Obama is the chief law enforcement officer of the land; because Mr. Obama was not elected to weigh in on matters of race; because Mr. Obama chose loyalty to a black friend over his duty as guardian of law; Mr. Obama's words on the matter should not have carried any weight in matters of race. NONE.
But because Mr. Obama is convinced he is bolstered by millions of people who think like Mr. Taranto, he believed his skin color -- and his POWER as president -- entitled him to speak with reckless abandon.
This all may become the most ironic moment in presidential history. And we witnessed it.
©2009/Contratimes. All rights reserved.
