My tongue within my lips I rein: For who talks much must talk in vain.-John Gay
Those are words President Barack Obama would have been wise to heed when he said Cambridge, Massachusetts Police Sgt. James Crowley's had acted "stupidly" in arresting professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
"The Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home ... what I think we know - separate and apart from this incident - is that there is a long history in their country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately, and that's just a fact."President Barack Obama about the arrest of his friend professor Henry Louis Gates.
Obama's admitting that he did not "have all the facts" before commenting is a damning statement. As an lawyer he should know better than to be making public statements about an event he does not have the requisite knowledge of. He has now made himself vulnerable to attacks from Republicans and they have taken that chance by running an web ads and criticizing him in the press.
In remarks to CNN, National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesmen Brian Walsh questioned how wise it was for Obama to be offering a statement on the case: "This isn't taking sides between the police officers and Mr. Gates. It is the issue of whether it is appropriate for the President of United States to be weighing in and taking sides before, by his own admission, all the facts are known."
Obama found support from prominent African American Congresswoman Barbara Lee(D-Cal) said that Obama was "right on target". Lee continued by saying "We all know, we come from communities where some of us actually understand, and know, and have been racially profiled. It's an example of the unfinished business of America that inequalities and racism continues to exist."
The disparate reactions from two different police unions show the quagmire Obama has gotton himself stuck in.
The Fraternal Order of Police President Chuck Canterbury criticized Obama's comments by saying that they "do little to narrow the void of distrust that too often separates the community from the men and women who work to keep it safe." adding that Obama's remarks were "made without the facts".
In contrast , Ronald Hampton executive director of the National Black Police Association supported Obama "He was right on point. A post-racial society doesn't exist. We're still in a civil rights era. What happened to Gates happens to poor black and brown people every day."
As these comments show, even police organizations are divided along racial lines on this.
This then begs the question of why? Why inject yourself into a controversy that was already going to be divisive racially. The different perceptions between blacks and whites in the US towards issues of race guaranteed that this incident would generate dramatically different reactions.Obama in past speeches has displayed a knowledge of this. So why would he burn political capital on an incident that would have faded quickly? Why give your opponents fodder to use against you?
Race is an issue that has become an intractable problem for this country. The disparate histories of black and white have created layer upon layer of intense distrust helped along by ignorance of each other's experience.Both sides refuse to challenge their respective perceptions. Both whites and blacks are in willing thrall to stereotypes and prejudices that have developed over the centuries through limited intermingling and warped images projected to the respective communities.
We still live in a deeply segregated country.Anyone who thinks that this has or will change in the immediate future is either naive or intent on practicing self deception. There is too much animosity and distrust between the races for our society to be truly integrated in the forseeable future. So long as both insist on adhering to old stereotypes and a monoploy on the truth, nothing will change.
President Obama is an intelligent man. He is well aware of the bitter racial divide of what I just wrote about. Obama has to know that he made a significant tactical mistake. He is no longer a Community Activist or Senator from Illinois. He could make such comments and get away relatively unscathed. But now he is President. He has to represent ALL of the people. He cannot be perceived as "taking sides" in the nation's ethnic disputes. Whether he approves or not of the police officer's actions(and whether his judgment was correct) is immaterial. He is President. He has to be above such things.
Obama is going to need all the help he can get to ensure the success of his Presidency. He cannot afford to antagonize allies. He should never forget that a significant amount of Democratic voters were Hillary Clinton supporters. Many of whom were white, blue collar, and conservative socially It would not take much for these voters to vote Republican in the next election if they perceive the Obama Administration as a threat to their "values".
He is fortunate that this is occurring early in his administration. He can easily recover from it. But he should heed the lesson of this incident and keep silent the next time a racial controversy erupts.
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