President Barack Obama is attempting to backpedal over his insulting comment against the Cambridge police department. He said a white police officer “acted stupidly” for arresting a black “scholar” at his home in Massachusetts. First of all, doesn’t this president have more important things to do? Things like North Korea and Iran come to mind as issues he should be focusing on, not local police matters within a state. But he chose to make a comment about it, which exacerbated the situation, so let’s examine it.

A woman had called the police to report a possible break-in by what she described as a black male “wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry.” As reported by the Cambridge Chronicle, “during the incident, Gates accused Cambridge police officers of racism.” More quotes and details of the incident are described here.

“In the arrest report, police said Gates initially refused to step onto his porch when approached by (Cambridge Police Sgt. James) Crowley. He then allegedly opened his door and shouted, ‘Why, because I’m a black man in America?’

“As Crowley continued to question Gates, the Harvard professor allegedly told him, ‘You don’t know who you’re messing with.’ When Crowley asked to speak with him outside, Gates allegedly said, ‘Ya, I’ll speak with your momma outside.’”

In Officer Crowley’s report, as well as that of another officer at the scene, it describes Gates yelling repeated accusations of racism. He also initially refused to produce identification proving his residence. Gates even admitted to Officer Crowley as he was being arrested that the door to his residence was unsecurable due to a previous attempted break-in. Gates was charged with disorderly conduct for “exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior,” which was later dropped.

Without knowing anything about the situation, and showing how he can heal race relations, Obama immediately sided with Henry Louis Gates Jr. The president reflexively called the white officer Sgt. James Crowley ’stupid’ for his by-the-book professionalism.

Instead of Gates being cooperative and thanking the police for arriving so quickly which would have made this a non-story; instead he had to turn it into something. Sgt. Leon Lashley, a black officer who was at the scene with Crowley at the time of the arrest, said he supported his fellow officer’s action “100 percent.” Sgt. Crowley is described by both white and black officers as being an outstanding cop, and was picked by a black police commissioner to be an expert in racial profiling.

As former police officer Gary Aldrich at Townhall explains:

What we are witness to here is the amazing spectacle of a black man elected to the highest office in our land, continuing the claim that America is a nation plagued with racism. Surely only the most gullible would continue to believe race baiting claptrap like that. The fact is, the professor’s hatred for “Whitey” overwhelmed his judgment and he lost his temper - and that is all that has happened here.

That is, until the president decided to weigh in. When he did, he revealed his heart on the matter of race and it’s sad to find out where he really stands on race relations.

The president now says his words were ill-chosen, but has not publicly apologized for his remark. Whether or not both parties overreacted is really beside the point. This is one of those rare occasions when Obama briefly reveals his true self.  President Obama cannot claim any moral high ground when his own obsession with race makes him incapable of being objective in any situation where race could be a factor.

ADDENDUM:

For those who say they don’t believe the police report — that Gates would say “your mamma” — a video has surfaced of Gates giving a racialist speech in which he uses the N-word and says “your mamma” in part of it.

Here are some excerpts showing the language he used:

“We are trying to end what we call the one nigger syndrome - you know, this place ain’t big enough for more than one of us…”

“What we’re trying to do is end ‘your mamma’ and ‘your daddy criticism,’ which is what African-Americans quite frankly have mastered in for 250 years,” he said.

The police report seems to be consistent with the language Gates has used in the past, so in all likelihood the report is accurate.