A teachable moment about useless symbolic photo ops
Barack Obama held a meeting today.
Liberals everywhere should celebrate.
What was the meeting about? It does not matter. What was discussed? Irrelevant. Were any tangible agreements reached? Immaterial. Were there any safeguards or enforcement mechanisms to make sure that agreements are not breached? Totally inappropriate to even ask.
There was a meeting, and that is a victory.
For those who do care, today’s meeting took place between Barack Obama, Joe Biden (who was invited because apparently his schedule was clear from whatever it is he does), Professor Henry Louis Gates, and Sgt. Jim Crowley.
(On this White House version of Gilligan’s Island, Sgt. Crowley played Mary Ann, pure as can be. President Obama was Thurston Howell III. Vice President Biden was either Lovey or Gilligan, with the Professor being the Professor.)
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/07/30/beerestroika-drinking-to-distraction/
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/07/31/beer-summit-the-final-summary/
For those who do not know, an arrogant gasbag Harvard professor (redundant, I know) locked himself out of his house. This makes me qualified to be a Harvard professor, since I have done that as well. The professor then compounded his idiocy (yes, it is idiocy when I do it too) by trying to break into his own home.
A concerned neighbor saw a man breaking into the home and called the police. Professor Gates might consider this racism. Others call it being a good neighbor. The police officer then showed up. Professor Gates might consider that racist as well. Others call it doing one’s job.
The matter could have been completely avoided had Professor Gates not tried to play the race card from the bottom of the deck. Being polite to police officers defuses many situations. Being belligerent escalates them.
Yes, I understand that in decades past, police abuse against minorities occurred. Like everything from sexual harassment to hate crimes laws, the pendulum has swung to the other end of the illogical spectrum.
This was a situation of a racially obsessed minority heaping abusive behavior on a law enforcement officer who had no racial animus whatsoever. Additionally, this was about more than race for Mr. Gates. This was about class. How dare a blue collar whitey question a man who is friends with Obama. How dare a Harvard graduate be questioned by a plebeian commoner!
President Obama then pulled “a Biden.” He claimed that he did not have the facts of the incident, but that the cops “acted stupidly.” Even some liberals understood that this was problematic. Naturally, their concern was for how it would appear, rather than what was actually said…liberals and substance, oil and water, etc.
Now the President has invited Sgt. Crowley and Professor Gates to share a beer at the White House.
This is nothing more than a useless symbolic photo op designed to stop the slide in President Obama’s polls.
President Obama wanted this to be a “teachable moment.”
What President Obama means is that he can lecture us in a high-minded manner. We should be forced to understand Professor Gates. Whitey can learn from this, and be more sensitive.
Sorry, Mr. President, the only person that should be speaking at this gathering is Sgt. Crowley.
Barack Obama and Henry Gates have nothing to teach me. There is nothing valuable I could learn from them. One is a Harvard Professor, and the other is a Harvard academic that community organized his way into the White House.
The only thing people who develop Harvard syndrome know how to do it talk…and talk…and talk…and talk…and talk. They don’t listen. They teach, but they don’t learn.
Harvard is not an institution of higher learning. It is a left-wing house of elitism where ideological discussion is forbidden. Liberals are good, conservatives are bad, and then the discussion ends.
That does not cut it with me. I don’t need a toilet paper-sized piece of fancy parchment with letters next to it to teach me common sense or right from wrong.
President Obama screwed up. He issued a namby-pamby, half-hearted, half-baked, too little, too late non-apology apology. The words “I’m sorry” never occurred.
As for Professor Gates, I have very little sympathy for a grievance-monger that earns three times my salary. Yes, in his “nothing has changed since 1863″ world I am the oppressor, but make no mistake about it. His behavior was no different than what police used to do before Miranda. The professor was the one who abused his power and his connections, for no other reason than he thought he could.
Make no mistake about it. The professor is delighted by this controversy. It keeps him in the news, which is great for book sales. He has a tome coming out, and his “street cred” for standing up to “the man” has just gone through the roof.
The only thing worth teaching about this moment is that accusations of racism need to be shot down rapidly and unequivocally. Sgt. Crowley did not back down. He did not give an inch. He was right.
The system is not rigged against black people. Anybody who thinks this should learn about what happened to a coworker of Sgt. Crowley. The coworker sent a mass email that referred to Professor Gates in racially inappropriate terms. To put it bluntly, the email was racist. The officer who sent that email was suspended, and will most likely be fired. The system can work.
That is a teachable moment. Don’t put bad stuff in emails. Email is forever. Also, don’t be a racist. Is it really that hard to wake up and not be a bigot? I think not.
The media will spend endless hours discussing the different flavors of ale each man consumed. At some point they will have Joe Biden fetch them some cigars and then leave the room so that the adults can have a conversation without it being leaked incorrectly to this very same media.
Yet nothing of substance will come out of this, because nothing substantive was meant to come out of it.
The only thing that will improve will be the President’s poll numbers. He will get credit for healing a nation when the truth is all he did was exacerbate a situation with his own bungling.
Maybe he does need a teleprompter to speak eloquently, but if he really wants to make things better in America, he could do what liberal academics simply refuse to do.
He can stop teaching, pay attention to others, listen, and learn.
This is called being quiet and doing one’s job without excuses.
Perhaps Sgt. Crowley can teach him. That is a photo op worth seeing.
eric
July 31st, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Only an American conservative would think it’s okay for a cop to arrest a man on his own property for mouthing off to a cop. Police. State. Wusses.
JMJ
July 31st, 2009 at 10:35 pm
Oh plueeze JMJ. Get serious. This was never about a police states
response to an irritated black guy. The police, as you well know,
are protecting US from people who shoot, knife, and attack first,
and ask questions (or run) later.
Just watch “Cops”, a two 30 minute program on Fox, every
week to see what the police, sheriffs, other law enforcers
face each and every day. I havn’t noticed ANY discrimination
on the program, against whites, blacks or Hispanics…all trouble
makers are handled by the police as the situation warrants.
Racial profiling BTW, is not bac unto itself. It’s done against
all equally, but for different crimes.
Blacks walking along a street in a white neighborhood, white
collar criminals (in banking, finance, etc.), the Russian and Italian
mafioso, crimes of violence, drug offenses…are often times
done by particular groups. Soooo, profiling at airports against
Muslims is intelligent profiling.
Had Muslims been profiled prior to 911, the dots would have
been connected and 3,100 people would today be enjoying their
lives, we would not have been in Iraq and Afghanistan, and over 4,000
soldiers would be alive.
Profiling does not in and of itself, accuse any group of crimes..it
is a selective way of avoiding crimes (against everyone).
Regarding Mr. Gates..anyone who watched a recent PBS documentary
with him narrating against the Civil War, got the feeling that
he is, in fact, a bigot.
I find it amazing that no one in the media, brought out this
PBS offering.
He offended (and purposely), everyone, including blacks and whites
who fought in that war. He stressed that the war was not fought
to win the freedom of blacks…that in fact, blacks were mistreated
for years aftewards, until this very day (Jim Crow).
During one segment, a group of blacks attended a meeting of
pro-Confederate whites. Gates was shocked at this.
These blacks had relatives who FOUGHT on the side of the South,
against the Yankee North. They were proud of this.
Gates approach was condescending, both towards the whites
and blacks present.
This man, is simply someone who likes to provoke, then, when
there is a response (which he assumes) goes again on the offensive.
Obama played right into his hands on this one.
The real question is, will Obama use the same lack of judgement
with Putin, Assad, Abbas, Jong, Chavez, Castro, etc?
Obama may have smarts, but does he have wisdom?
I think the answer is obvious.
He should have said he was sorry for intervening, especially
since he DIDN’T HAVE THE FACTS., and we are innocent
until proven guilty in this country.
I am reminded of a murder that I read in the LA Times about 6 months
ago. Apparently a black man, age 84, shot and killed the maintenance
man in his building. Witnesses said that the maintenance man pleaded
for his life, after receiving 4 45s. He was then shot 2 more times.
Now, wouldn’t it be easy to accuse ALL blacks of profiling…he apparently
hated other minorities?
Perhaps President Obama should have commented…that all blacks
hate non-blacks. But in this case the victim is dead, a middle aged
family man, whose wife just had given birth.
Obviously both of the above are wrong.
But lets look further into the Gates situation. What would have occurred
if the so-called robber was in fact robbing the home, in the absence
of the owner..and pulled a 45 on the cop?
Food for thought.
Folks, what can we do to bring a semblence of wisdom back to
our White House? Well, for starters, vote out the Democrats in 2 years.
That would be a good start.
BTW, latest from the Caspian Sea, is that Russia will conduct
joint sea maneuvers with Iran, also employing helicopters.
I wonder who Iran plans to invade?
You know as well as I do, and it aint Washington D.C.
There goes the neighborhood.
July 31st, 2009 at 10:57 pm
[...] Teachable moments and worthless photo-ops [...]
August 1st, 2009 at 10:08 am
I don’t like Cops. Cops are like rattlesnakes- they have a necessary function in removing vermin from the land.
But one should tread very carefully around them, because they are prone to striking anything that gets too close.
Same with cops. You always treat them with kid gloves. What the prof should have done was calmly offered his drivers license showing this was his address. End of problem.
Now- I have been profiled. Twice. The first time, I was driving to Lancaster the day a cop was killed by a man with long hair and a beard. I have long hair and a beard. Understandable.
The second time, I was on a date with a high school teacher when a cop pulled me over, dragged me from the car, and threw my against the hood before searching me. He did not state a reason, ask for license or registration, - he just decided I was worth shaking down. He eventually ran my license and found Nothing. I have a perfectly clean record.
I don’t like cops. Out of respect for Eric, I’ll refrain from referring to them as Pigs- not sure what the kosher laws are on blog comments.
The person I feel sorry for is the gal who called the police. She’s been accused of racism- and yet her 911 call never mentioned the prof as being black. She just said “a man.” When pressed by the dispatcher, she said she thought he was hispanic, but wasn’t sure.
Yeah, I’d call her a good neighbor. But she went to work yesterday. She didn’t get presidential beer (None of which was American owned BTW) and she doesn’t have a book deal.
August 2nd, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Where I come from if a cops sees you on a piece of property, has no idea its yours, and asks to see proof that its yours and of who you are, and you turn around and tell him its none of your business…then you’re wrong.
Because until he knows these things for his safety and anyone elses he has every right abd reason both morally and legaly to assume the worst and treat the situation as such.
Those who like to spin it and make up BS scenarios by framing the occurance the way jersey did are just as much scum as the the professor for playing the race card and misrepresenting the situation also.
The beer/learning moment thing was an insult to all of us. I learned that Obama has literally “pi$$ poor” taste in beer and that 3 out of four of them still think one of them is an a$$hole.
It drives me absolutely nuts when people say ” we agree to disagree”
Just like Obama whos dressing this whole thing up to be something its not, it say “we got nowhere”
The best learning moment would of been to learn that Obama had a ounce of integrity left in him by apologizing for his stupis sttement.
I would of loved to learn that. But, instead, as it seems now, whatever respect I did have for the man is now gone.
He would of actually brought himself up to a level in my book that would hold some admiration if he’d just said that” we all say stupid things sometimes, yesterday I was one of those guys”
But instead, like the obfuscating chicken livered self indulged self righteous pompous a$$ that he is he had to “recalibrate”
What a humongous crock of crap that goes to telling America…
“I can say whatever I want and you should believe it ”
Sorry bub, the elections over. And as everyday goes buy not only do I believe you less and less but I suspect you more and more of the worst intentions I’ve ever seen in any president.