I have been busy over the past week, which should explain the paucity of posts, but I am dismayed I didn’t read or blog about the Obama/Gates affair until now.
So, an African-American professor gets arrested for a minor issue and the President of the United States makes a phone call about it?!
Gates may be a respected Harvard professor but no one has the right to say this to an officer of the law:
Ya, I’ll speak with your mama outside
Of course, a Harvard professor has a constitutional right (Gates Amendment, forthcoming) to scream at and abuse a police officer. The police officer was wrong the minute he even responded to the breaking and entering call – he should be suspended and exiled to Kiribati.
Is that what we’ve come down to? Is this what engages President Barack Obama all day long? Did we elect him to scold allegedly “racist” police officers and bail out nasty liberal professors?
With over 10% unemployment, half a million people losing their jobs every single month, trillions in tax dollars spent away without any results, states running out of UI money, Obama still has the time to call a police sergeant when his friend gets arrested?
I am thinking of switching sides and befriending Obama. That’d be like a “Get Out of Jail Free” card. And, he’s always available to make the call too. Day or night. Sweet.
#1 by Reggie Greene / The Logistician on July 24th, 2009
We have three observations about the Harvard professor incident:
1. We find it interesting that the fact that this was the professor’s home was evidently not established early on way before the dispute escalated;
2. We find it fascinating that the versions of two members of society, who most would ordinarily view as responsible and honest citizens (this obviously does not include politicians), would vary so dramatically from a factual point of view.
3. Finally, considering that the reading and viewing public were not present at the scene (and thus have no first hand knowledge), and that there is no video tape to our knowledge of the sequence of events and what was said, how so many have formed conclusions, and made assumptions, about who did what and who was wrong.
There are some things which Professor Gates might have considered upon the arrival of the police, no matter how incensed he may have been.