Is there nothing that Obama can’t do?
President Obama may have wanted health care to dominate coverage of his news conference, but at best that topic is sharing space with Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Obama said Cambridge, Mass., police “acted stupidly” in arresting Gates, an African-American scholar who teaches at Harvard; the president also said race “still haunts us,” and that too many blacks and Hispanics are still pulled over without cause.
Was the question a set up?
Obama went out of his way to call on that reporter as the last questioner of the night — even when some confusion about whether he’d called on someone else resulted in his having to go back to her after taking another question.
For a wartime president managing a slew of manufactured “crises” in a reeling economy, he was sure armed with an astonishing level of detail about the arrestee’s side of the story in a local breaking-and-entering case that had resulted in no charges being filed. Obama even had a “spontaneous” joke at the ready about how he himself would probably get “shot” if he ever tried to break into the White House. The joke, of course, fell flat. Trust me on this one (I used to be the guy who decided whether to file federal charges in Westchester County in the first few years after the Clintons moved there): Outside the courtiers of the White House press corps, no one — especially the Secret Service — likes jokes about American presidents getting shot.
And it is just shameful for an American president to describe the police as “stupid” and feed into the racializing of the Gates case. At this early stage, no one has testified, the matter can’t possibly have been thoroughly investigated yet, and the real facts simply aren’t known. Obama, moreover, is not just the president; he’s a lawyer. He’s supposed to know better — though last night he sounded like exactly the sort of lawyer he used to be back in the good ol’ ACORN days.
(Officer’s response and police report.)
Notice the African-Amercian policeman in the foreground of the photo? And they’re trying to claim that race played a role. Mr. Gates was probably just being a big twit, and got arrested for his behaviour.
Obama is a black liberation theology follower, so he never misses a chance to diss ‘the man’. A flagrant abuse of a presedential press conference: comments prior to knowing all the facts.
I’m amazed that these very rich Black folks teaching at Harvard still go around claiming that they are victims of racism. If racism was as bad as they claim it to be they’d be washing the floors and working in the kitchen.
I’d be willing to bet that I have been stopped, searched and detained by the police for no reason more than the Gates and Obama families combined. Who do I get to complain to?
I don’t know about the rest of you but if my neighbor called the cops because she thought someone was breaking into my home I’d be grateful that they responded so promptly! If Gates would have shown a little respect instead of freaking out and accusing the officer of racial profiling this situation would never have become a news item. Or… maybe that was the intended effect. The photo from the scene shows a black officer at the scene with Sgt. Crowley, racial profiling indeed!
Look! The Taco Bell dog died!
We came back from vacation late one night earlier this year…our neighbours didn’t know. They saw lights and called police; They entered the house and called out.
We thanked them for checking and thanked the neighbours for keeping watch. Case closed. It proved we lived in a great neighbourhood.
obama is truly a petty narcissist, and the fact that he’s flailing madly on healthcare and using racism as a diversion or backup just illustrates he’s unsuitable for the Big Leagues.
I guess “race” is OK when he uses it to win the White House, but is “bad” when the country has the effrontery not to mindlessly do his bidding.
This is the puling and whining of a man who’s lived a charmed life never had to hear “no” from anyone. What a complete and worthless amateur.
mhb23re
at gmail d0t calm
Bill Cosby had some different ideas – such as why don’t we wait until all the facts in this case are known. I guess suggesting Obama had perhaps jumped to a conclusion without the facts.
I would have thought that the neighbour must have seen Gates go in and out of his house enough times to recognize him. Why was the initial reaction “house invasion”? And is the neighbour white or black? Or, are all Americans totally paranoid? If I’d been Gates I would have been just as insulted as he was, black policeman in the background or not.
Since paranoia is becoming part of my own makeup, I’m beginning to understand it better. When you live in a quiet area that has just seen the drowning deaths of seven (count them) Muslim women and daughters in a few weeks, watching a loving Muslim family outing will never be the same.
Like the neighbour, if they go near water I’ll be calling the police to report a possible drowning in progress.
Petty is right.
Imagine GWB dissing southern police officers for manhandling rowdy rednecks.
Kate, thanks for bringing that little twist into the equation as to the question being potentially a set-up…We know for a fact that Barry is not again’st press “set-ups” as we recently witnessed him doing just that with the “Huffington Post”.
Hell, most of his press conferences are huge staged events with softball questions anyway.
But, if it’s the case and the way things look with the potentially pre scripted joke in there, I now not judge Barry as a complete cabbage head for having called the police stupid right after stating he did’nt have all the facts (Another non teleprompter moment?) but I’m seriously pointing at deliberate instigating of unwaranted racial tension in his own country.
This is the President of the United States of America?
This guy is seriously deranged. Poor America.
The guy has no class
He is an embarrassment
Oh, and get this.
Talk about petty vs. professional
Here is a quote from the police officer in question:
From the transcript:
“Well, I should say at the outset that Skip Gates is a friend, so I may be a little biased here. I don’t know all the facts.. The police are doing what they should. There’s a call. They go investigate what happens… Now, I don’t know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that. But I think it’s fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home; and, number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there’s a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. That’s just a fact.”
The only “facts” we really have here is that Obama is biased in favor of Professor Gates, that he doesn’t know “not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that.” This doesn’t prevent him from saying the Cambridge police “acted stupidly,” and by inference, that officer Brawley is stupid.
He’s really starting to annoy me.
Sorta along the lines of this post,what is up with cnn lately?I have noticed a huge slant towards ‘pro-black’ stories (is that racist to say?)It is just very obvious,and I wonder why..can anyone here help explain?
Well we aren’t talking about healthcare reform anymore 😉
Sure helps if the media is playing a race-card sleight of hand trick so we don’t pay to much attention to the St. Louis Fed’s recent report on commercial paper.
Enjoy the ride!
Many years ago I went to work on the weekend and I guess somehow I tripped a silent alarm in the building and I went to my office. Upon my departure I came across two officers investigating the alarm and they initially treated me cautiously and asked a lot of questions and had me verify my employment at the firm. Once I did that they allowed me to leave. I did not curse, challenge, charge, obfuscate with the officer I answered their questions. But alas, I was white and the officers were both non-white. I suppose I should have claimed racism. Nahh, I guess it doesn’t work that way. Obama should have been chiding his friend for acting like a petulent, immature child and tell him to grow the F**** up.
Keep it up, Barry. Your extreme arrogance and bias will ultimately sink into even the most thoughtless liberal.
Shame on Lynn Sweet for being such a “toolette” and asking a preorganized planted question. Obama wants to micro manage every situation in every corner of the world. What a tool!
Well, I have no trouble believing the police officer was a jerk. Hey, look at the Vancouver taser incident and lying cops at the inquiry. I also have no trouble believing it had much to do with power tripping, something a lot of cops can’t resist, and little to do with race. I’m also prepared to believe it could have been about race. What I’m not prepared to do is jump to the progressive P.C. conclusion without further investigation.
Years ago we had neighbors who were in their 70s, but still very active. One night we heard giggle, and some banging, calls to be quiet and not wake the neighbors. Looking out the window we saw a ladder against the wall and someone climbing up to the open window. We debated calling the local police, but then recognized the climber. Seems they had forgotten their keys and found their ladder and were attempting to get in. Being the good neighbor my 23 yr old hubby went out to help them. Got in, opened the door for them and all had a good laugh. This was at 3.00a.m. She said it was the most exciting thing that had happened to them in years.
if the Obamessiah can be distracted enough to not spend the treasury, perhaps the US can get through this debacle.
Was that a speech by the President of the United States – or Al Sharpton chirping away?
Obamba openly has proclaimed to the people of the US that he is a petty little racist man. I would be very worried as an American with the accusations and slurs he “slipped in” of police forces across the US in general (not just the arresting officer and department).
I also liked the “read between the lines” part of his speech when he said that the arresting police department came to its senses and released his homey. With the timed lowered growl in his voice it was apparent to me the release followed a personal call by the POTUS to some desk jockey in the department. A gang of black thugs in suits.
Apparently, Gates and an acquaintance were struggling to open the door. A neighbour wondered if these struggles were actually a break-in – and there is no need to assume that the neighbour KNEW Gates or was a recent resident and therefore assumed it was a break-in.
Apparently as well..there had been a spate of breakins in the same area. The neighbour was right to call the police. Who was wrong? Gates – who refused to provide identification to the police! And accused them of racism! But if you are called to investigate what might be a break-in, then, the correct thing for Gates to have done would be to show some identification to prove that he was the legitimate resident. He refused.
Obama? That was a planted question, totally irrelevant in a session devoted to ONE Topic – Health Care. But, very, very useful as part of Tactic Three of The Obama Triadic Strategy of Managing People (Misinform, Manipulate via Emotions of Fear and Hope; and Accusations of Bias).
Obama is suggesting that rejecting His Health Reform is an action of racial discrimination, against black people…who are being shown, taking a selective cherry-picked sample, on CNN and elsewhere, as without health care insurance. So, Obama is defining Congress as ‘racists’ for not going ahead with His Health Care.
Obama will do anything, say anything, any lie, any misinformation, any manipulation – to get you to be in his control. He himself is NOT interested in the Bills or Motions; he hasn’t even read the Health Care Bill – he leaves all details and analysis to others. His only interest is in his ability to Control You.
Notice how he declared that His Stimulus had ‘saved the economy’…when in fact, in reality, more jobs have been lost and his stimulus is merely a pork-filled payback costly mess. And his usual – Blame Bush. Then, he went on to Bash the Republicans, ignoring that many Democrats are against his health bill as well.
And ignoring the requirements of democracy – that the elected representatives must READ the Bills, and debate and reason about them. Obama doesn’t want them to do this…
Rasmussen is showing his negative ratings since the beginning of the month, and showing that fewer and fewer people are focused on health care and are instead worried about the deficit.
First, I agree with those who would be relieved to have the police show up at the house so promptly. It would be a source of profound reassurance, both in the vigilance of my neighbours and in the responsiveness of the police.
Second, Gates is a professor of African American studies. His career is all race, all the time. That he plays into the race industry’s race-baiting meme is hardly surprising. It is, after all, his bread and butter. That the Obamessiah jumps into the cesspit with him is a pathetic comment on how utterly bankrupt he is of substantive ideas and any sincere desire to ameliorate the real challenges facing America versus inflaming the race issue for crass, short-term political gain.
I smell Rahm. It’s a tactic to throw Obama’s rabid base a bone whenever he gets stymied on his much-ballyhooed agenda. Gives them something to chew on.
I couldn’t stomach the whole snooze fest last night but the bits I did watch left me with the impression that the Big Owe is becoming mentally unhinged.
He obviously doesn’t do criticism but even so the level he was exalting himself to and the disparaging of “enemies” he was engaging in caused me to wonder when Joe Biden will be president!
I mean the Liberals got rid of Stepon Dion when he became a menace to Canada so obviously continued behavior like last night`s performance by Owe…..
I recall an incident where my brother came to do some work at my house. we had left him a key, and rather than have him worry about the alarm it wasen’t armed. Well when my son left he armed it. My brother ignored it’s promting beep, The police attended and it was tense he said, she had her hand on her gun, and had him produce ID very…slowly. A neighbor came over and vouched for him. This could have had a very different ending. The way to respond to an inquiry of this nature, is to cooperate. The officer has no idea who or what they are dealing with, no place for arrogance or attitude. Perhaps it was about race, perhaps the “white” officer was being subject to a little “racism” from the “black” homeowner. Just as likley as “O”‘s version. IMO
Sammy,
Re: CNN, I notice that too. They’ve been pushing their upcoming “Black in America 2” ad nauseum and they promote it today right after they talk about the Gates thingy…Ummm!
Anyway, just updating on the issue:
-The various Police associations are just livid towards Obama today. One commented that it’s dissapointing for Obama to have come out swinging on this being he’s so cautious speaking about Iran.
-Just heard an interview from the Police Sergeant in question. Pure professionalism.
-Right now, Barry is in yet another town hall to push his Health Care ‘vision’. I’m hoping he’ll get more questions…Stand by.
-Been skimming around different blogs and comment sections around left and right hemispheres and it is a solid majority calling Obama a racist and/or a moron.
IMO: If Barry does not formally apologize today it might just be his Waterloo…BTW: It’s official: His Health Care bill will NOT be ready on his Aug. deadline…The original Waterloo.
Lord, this man is an idiot. All of us, black, white or polka-dotted, would probably get shot trying to break into the WH. Those heavily armed men aren’t up on the roof for the view.
“Obama? That was a planted question, totally irrelevant in a session devoted to ONE Topic – Health Care. But, very, very useful as part of Tactic Three of The Obama Triadic Strategy of Managing People (Misinform, Manipulate via Emotions of Fear and Hope; and Accusations of Bias).
Obama is suggesting that rejecting His Health Reform is an action of racial discrimination, against black people…who are being shown, taking a selective cherry-picked sample, on CNN and elsewhere, as without health care insurance. So, Obama is defining Congress as ‘racists’ for not going ahead with His Health Care.”
E.T
Bulls eye!
Man, the States are in deep Doodoo.
Yes a classic example of misdirection – “now watch the right hand carefully folks”.
1.Do not focus on the health care scheme.
2.Ratchet up the racial tensions by pitting the police of America against the black man.
3.Cryptically appease your racist and radical ally’s with proof that they put the right black man in the house.
Three birds with one stone, not bad for a Chicago grifter, but not overly impressive either, considering……
Hard to know what the WH insiders were thinking when they set up and delivered this question-and-answer the way they did. At the time it might have seemed clever, but a day later (and to me at the very moment) it looks clumsy.
I suppose Obama, Axelrod, Emanuel etc. thought that it would be advantageous to close the press conference on a topic that Obama supposedly “owns” and is therefore unassailable on — as opposed to another question on healthcare, on which he is getting pummeled. And they may have thought that white Cambridge policemen are easy pickings, an obvious object of ridicule for his urban base.
But Obama and his people are out of touch. Presidents don’t describe people who enforce the law as acting “stupidly,” especially when (as he acknowledged) they don’t know the facts. And they didn’t count on the arresting officer being a sympathetic character (but why wouldn’t he be?). And Obama said what he said after granting that Gates is a friend of his — so he conceded that he’s no objective observer.
And now, of course, the average person is going to start learning a thing or two about Mr. Gates, who, unlike the policeman, is far from a sympathetic character. And this average person will wonder, again, about the friends that Obama keeps (cf. Jeremiah Wright).
The fact that the WH staff manufactured this whole thing even though there was so much that could go wrong about it — and this has the smell of his handlers all over it — raises a lot of questions about them. Are they after all the thugs that we had been led to believe that they are (Emanuel especially)? Do they believe that the President’s popularity is still so deep that he can say anything, even if it’s an attack on an average citizen? Do they think that race will work as a smokescreen for the shortcomings in a social program the size of his healthcare plan? Did they think that some media, at least, wouldn’t recognize that this Q&A was a set-up and would say so? And did they think that the public doesn’t care whether the media are being manipulated in this way? And more.
It might be interesting to hear whether Helen Thomas picks up on this and says something to Robert Gibbs about it at today’s briefing.
I think now would be an excellent time to rob Mr. Gates house. Since no cop is ‘stupid’ enough to do that twice……
Well, at least this is cheaper and less dangerous than the usual “distraction by missle”. It may even answer the question whether the “big empty” is a master opportunist, an evil machine politician, or just plain stupid.
Ah, the sweat sounds of the 1812 overture…Waterloo is in sight.
who would expect anything less than racism from some one who spent 20 years in a racists “church”
…sweet (!)
(mortified)
Apparently the White House and Bammy are making like weasels.
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/07/23/how-not-to-win-support-from-police-unions/
You just gotta laugh at this performance
RHTT, there was a non-apology today, not enough IMHO
I really do wonder if this one single incident is the beginning of the end for Obama.
He defies the Peter Principle, he has not only risen to the level of his incompetence, he has surpassed and eclipsed it
Obama is a black liberation theology follower, so he never misses a chance to diss ‘the man’. A flagrant abuse of a presedential press conference: comments prior to knowing all the facts.
Posted by: Lori at July 23, 2009 11:49 AM
As the in-house marxism bore, I’d like to add that “black liberation theology” is thoroughly marxist in its world view. Obama is a marxist. All events — all — vindicate my early view here that Obama is a marxist, notwithstanding the lack of documentary evidence, which of course was deliberately engineered (see his overwhelming number of Present votes in he senate).
I told an old and confused friend — a supporter of Obama AND Ron Paul in the same election cycle — that an elected Obama would set race relations back several decades. Vindicated again, but not enjoying it!
Finally, when Obama was asked if he favoured reparations, he said no. No, ‘cos they didn’t go far enough. Nationalized health care is his chosen back-door path to a more wide-ranging programme of reparations. When seen in this light, it is not strange at all that he would inject the black victim meme into this debate.
Yeah, clumsy, like when they suddenly remembered to attempt a Nuremberg on Cheney just as Obama ran into trouble at home and abroad. They were saving that juicy bone for a rainy day with the base.
This is a big mistake for BO.
Right now he needs to woo moderate dems in order to have even the slightest chance of getting his three big bills passed. They are moderate WHITE democrats with moderate WHITE democrat and independent bases of political support. They are, more often than not, supporters of tough on crime legislation and they think that OJ did it. This race card plays to the black extremists who think that OJ was framed by the LAPD and the FBI. My guess is that it costs him 2 to 3 percent in public Approval. And any hope that his agenda will pass.
So all in all this is a good thing. Made my day.
Obama is a racist. What I mean is he believes the whole BS about humans being’s different to the point their not the same. Race mongers like Sharpton & Jesse Jackson continue the lies for political reasons. Mean while you can use this abortion created in the 16nth century to justify slavery. To degrade any group you want or create different classes. In other words eugenics based on Darwin. As I’ve said before. The Democratic party is the slave Party. Always has been, always will be.
Hereditarily people are almost identical. The closest pure breed animals in the world are like different species compared to mankind. Indeed it shows the human race almost died out (Some disaster) to the point genetic variability has almost disappeared in the human genome.
Fact is anyone you marry is your sister or brother 6 times removed.
Race theory is the framework of prejudice by physical features, aligned with cultural prejudices.
People do not have mules or sterile children unless its an individual malady or sickness.
Race is just another name to control others under the umbrella of phony science.
There is only one human race period.
Our ancestors knew this without the benefit of Genetics or what we know about diets, geography with adaptation twined with climate. The whole system has been created to keep people down while making other feel superior. They called slavery what it was. People where property without an excuse.
Today they need one. Thus this insane theory that is taken as fact. Look how this has worked out. See the fruit of murder with the hate its created.
JMO
*
so… president mcdreamy thinks he has it bad?
looky here…
“I had no idea what racism was… until I
came to Canada.”
hey… he was “teased mercilessly”.
*
me no dhimmi – and as the narcissist bore, I’ll maintain that Obama is NOT a Marxist; he’s only an Himself. And what you have to examine is this Obama-Self.
To be a Marxist, you must not be focused on yourself but on The People, The Future Utopia of The World, The What’s Best For The World. Obama is none of this. His focus is on Himself, on his ability to Control Other People. Period.
He fits into a leftist, a Democrat, a Liberal, a socialist political agenda because these ideologies are based on an elitist control of the Mass Population and a rejection of the powers of the individual. The individual as an independent reasoning agent, a questioner, a dissenter, is not part of the utopian socialist system. So, since Obama can’t have independent individuals around him – then, politically, he fits in with this political set.
But I strongly disagree that he is, himself, ideologically, a Marxist. He is a narcissist and his focus is only on Himself.
Below is a very accurate description of the socialist left. It’s from the Blog: Breath of the Beast – a very good article which thoroughly analyzes the Left’s Elitist Control. And Obama.
“The progressive (Obama) demands that we believe his claim that he serves a higher truth and a loftier goal. He tries to force us to accept the idea that his ideas are unassailably good. And, even if they fail to be good, his virtuous pretentions are supposed to indemnify him from guilt or shame. Even if he make mistakes, behaves badly or cause harm, virtue will save him from blame. His “caring and good intentions” are supposed to trump the fact that he cares about the wrong things in the wrong way and his intentions are a humbug. Virtue is more than a sham- it is the prim, ruthless face of coercion. It is aimed outward, at others, as a self-justification; an accusation and, above all, a yearning for Utopia”
And, anyone who rejects The One and Himself and His Control is an enemy. From the same article on this blog:
“These enemies of the “workers paradise” were denounced as counterrevolutionaries and portrayed as so decadent and corrupt that the most selfless and compassionate government ever conceived had to eliminate them.”
Think about the above, when Obama chastizes anyone who disagrees with his Health Care as ‘unAmerican’, as ‘racist’…etc.
Obama is doing a great thng in attempting to reform the American health care sysytem. Universality of health care for all regardles of race, gender, age or creed should be the fundamental goal of any humanitarian govenment. In Canada we must fight to preserve our health care system fo the attempted erosion from the private sector and multinationals who want private system or two tiered system.
As for the other comment, far too many minorities are targeted by police, thank godwe have some judges that realize this when some of these bogus charges come before the court.
This would be a comedy of errors had it not been for the fear-mongering and race-baiting.
Maybe someone should remind the Moron-in-Chief that white people like his mother, voter bases, financiers keep his dream world alive.
As for the professor, I don’t blame him for being in a bad mood but really- if he is as educated as he says, he should put the mess behind him.
Drudge is all over this. James Crowley is the police academy expert on…racial profiling. He was hand-picked for the job by former police Commissioner Ronny Watson…who is black.
Details here:
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D99KBEAO1&show_article=1
If the US is willing to elect a black man then maybe he should feel that one is responsible to point out you own your actions. Apparently the officer tried to revive a black BB player. the blacks were outraged saying he would have done more if the player was white. It seems to me a black president should be addressing the race industry instead of playing with it. Oh that would be leadership in trying to do something positive not on the agenda.