"Academic politics are so vicious precisely because the stakes are so small," Henry Kissinger quipped years ago. The controversy surrounding another Harvard professor proves the axiom. The Cambridge cops have dropped disorderly conduct charges against Henry Louis Gates. Henry Louis Gates can't seem to drop the matter. His friend, the president of the United States, has weighed in on the tempest in a teapot. "I don't know all the facts," Obama admits, but he nevertheless opines that "the Cambridge police acted stupidly." Couldn't the same thing more justifiably be said of Henry Louis Gates? Didn't he act stupidly in refusing to show identification when asked and calling the cop--who gave dying Celtics star Reggie Lewis mouth-to-mouth sixteen years ago--a racist for investigating a suspected burglary at his house? Couldn't the same thing also be said of the president? It's not a good idea for the nation's chief law enforcement officer to slam cops for doing their jobs. Let's not make a federal case out of everything, particularly something so petty as a dropped disorderly conduct charge.

Of course they are deferring to the police we have spent a lot of time constructing the Black man as a criminal the fact that he is a Harvard professor is probably just some sort of aberration.
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Without punctuation, the sentence structure of the previous comment is a bit hard to make out. Adding punctuation, the logic of the previous comment is a bit hard to make out.

If there is any racism in this case, it is on the part of the neighbor who called the police. The neighbor reported that someone was attempting to force his way into the house (a statement that appears to be accurate). When the police arrived, they asked to see the man's (Gates's) I.D. He refused. What were the police supposed to do?

On a related note, the Rangers swept the Bo-Sox and are only two games behind them for the Wild Card.

Well, the bads guys have to know know, the cops may stop at a few extra lights getting to Gates' house, if any neighbor might call again.

Well, our 'post racial' President (who has never let a news cycle slip as a chance to get some press out it) weighed in on this to say the cops acted stupidly. I suspect if what happened with Gates had happened to some cracker professor we wouldn't have heard a peep out of this most racially focused rube.

The question is: Is this guy on the side of the radical, law evading citizen/country every time? I think the answer, so far, is yes. Yes he is.

Dan, this post smacks of the sort of ideological, knee-jerk reactions that you rail against. You rarely make such mistakes.

The fact is that you don't have enough facts about the incident to determine who - if anyone - acted stupidly.

I think it goes to show that, despite your claim to the contrary (and your broken promise to defend that claim), the ideology of conservatism can make smart people fall for dumb ideas.

We have very few facts. I place the onus on the cop to prove he wasn't being heavy-handed or tyrannical. This is because the facts that we do have are thus: (1)Professor Gates was accosted in his own home and (2) the charges were dropped. This at least on the surface lends itself to supporting Professor Gates.

There is a video of the cop on the DrudgeReport. In lieu of any hard facts, an appeal to emotion could be made based on the demeanor and disposition of the cop in that specific clip that he is an ana1 retentive tool with an inclination toward sadism who trips on his power. We've all met these people, and it's one of the reasons these types go into law enforcement, to indulge their egos and pretend they're important. I can't prove this, just like you obsequious corporate cheerleaders cannot prove that Professor Gates is a jerk. But it's fun to hurl insults.

ASDF,

Two things:

1) If this would've happened with a different professor, who was Obama's FRIEND, I'd say there's a good chance Obama would've said something.

2) I just watched a clip of Obama's statements. He appears to only comment because he was asked a question. From what I see, it doesn't appear that he simply talked about it without provocation. He merely responded to a question. Your post seems to ignore that.

Would the media have questioned Obama about a similar situation, if it happened with one of his "cracker" buddies?

Who knows?

Now you're being naive Herman. Those questions are prepped and screened to the n'th degree. This was a question that the White House wanted to be asked.

In the real 'moving on' world where the importance of such a question would have been assessed, the post racial Presdident and his handlers would not have allowed it.

And if, by some rare chance, the question was sprung on an unsuspecting Obama, the right thing for the Leader of the Free World to do would be to give a 'no comment' as a question like that and its inferences are definately below his pay grede.

But this guy is all about the plunk and his qualifications to handle the job are questioned more by his actions each day.

Very few facts PMA? We have the diatribe on the profs own website; we have the full police report along with the cops' corroboration; we have the original caller; neighbors and numerous other eyewitness accounts, etc, etc, etc.

There are plenty of facts. And all of them point to the perp being wrong and the cops being right.

The only 'facts' that don't exist are the ones where the outcome might be different.

Assuming there aren't enough facts in evidence to make any determination here, why is the President weighing in with his two cents worth? Where is the evenhanded, wise response? Whatever happened in Gates house Obama's response is unnecessary and ill considered, hardly qualities desirable in the Commander-in-chief.

ASDF, you're right. I may be naive. Good point (if you are correct) about the white house screening questions.

Still, I think Obama would've commented on the matter if it happened to one of his white buddies.

F%&k the police! F%&k Obama too!

if the guy would have been white, nothing would have been said. the police did their job. gates was just trying to make a big deal -i'm black so they took me to jail.

It’s something like the plot out of the mind of O where doctors do unnecessary operations on unsuspecting children just for the money. Un-fing-believable.

In between accusing the Cambridge police of being stupid and, essentially, racists the O made sure he put a dig in to those greedy unethical uncaring doctors who are only in it for the money.

Not much said about the ambulance chasing tort lawyers who spike the costs to doctors, e.g., medical costs in general by filing multiple lawsuits.

But ya know, the race thing worked for the O during his campaign and election. Just wondering if, because his health care boondoggle is in trouble, whether or not this incident might work as the next national diversion using race.

Just goes to show that you can take the community organizer out of the neighborhood, but you can't put him in the White House.

Our new "president" is showing his incompetence and lack of understanding with what it means to be The Chief Executive every time he hits the stage and opens his mouth. Especially when he weighs in on the other side of the law regularly his naive radicalism shines through.

His comments on an unimportant private civil matter in a small Massachusetts community without knowing the facts has focused not only on his one sidedness when it comes to choosing the position that the alleged victim is right but highlights his (and Governor Patrick's) racism where black is right and white is wrong. Evertime.

Saul Alinsky and the Rev. Wright are smiling somewhere and are proud of their pupil.

Damn, Herman. If you aren't he case of the tu quoque parrot! What "dumb idea" did Dan fall for? That the cops may have acted appropriately? That Gates may not have, in berating cops for wanting to see ID of the man they found in the house where a possible break in was reported.

The idea isn't BIG enough to "fall for" in the same sense that Dan uses it in IM. It's an incident, people of all bents can jump to conclusions about what happened there, it doesn't make it an "ideology".

Dan DID give you an answer. You might just not be sharp enough to pick up on it.

BTW, to everybody: Obama has acted appropriately in the aftermath, and definitely since he didn't outright imply that it was a racial incident. Although he did mention the history of black-and-blue opposition. But there was no direct link, he could even have been suggesting that in view, of that history, the police should have used more care, and they acted "stupidly" in not understanding Gates' sensitivity. Obama has made his mea culpa of sorts, let's not act like liberals--where acceptance of apology always has to do with how progressive the speaker is--and forgive the man his trespass, as we would have our trespasses forgiven.

I think Ed Morrissey said it best right when the gaffe happened: if you say you don't know the facts, stop right there.

Of course, in the aftermath Runescape Gold has shown everybody what a knee-jerker apologist he is.