Gibbs: Obama Can Make Teachable Moments, Facilitate Better Communication on Race
Sunday, July 26, 2009 at 06:23PM Even though his careless words stoked racial tensions in our country when he called Cambridge police “stupid” for arresting a racist black professor and personal friend for disorderly conduct, and that he has refused to show any humilitiy and apologize for his error, Barack Obama believes that he as president can help bring “teachable moments” on race and help us communicate better about it!
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on MSNBC’s Oblermann:
GIBBS: About an ongoing discussion racial issues in this country, I think because of who he is as president and because its obvious these issues are still very raw in our society, I think he believes that he can help bring these type of teachable moments to the forefront, allow our dialogue to take over and communicate better with each other and make society a little bit better because of it.
Talk about a delusion of self-importance and convoluted self-perception!
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Reader Comments (15)
This is almost ver batum what Gibbs said on Fox News Sunday. I guess these guys don't stray far from the script.
Gibbs acknowledged that Obama was prepped for the Henry Lewis Gates question, and considering this crew doesn't stray far from the script, it's pretty clear he meant what he said when he insulted the white policeman.
This is also why he didn't apologize. He believes that the police over-reacted... even though they tried to walk away and Gates followed them out of the house and started down the "your a racist" road.
Facts don't matter to Obama. You don't have to look further than the stimulus and health care plans to see that.
He is also a racist.
There are conflicting versions of exactly what happened. I'm not ready to promote any of them to the status of "fact" just yet.
Obama's statement may have been premature, but at least minorities in America know that their point of view is officially represented. Their reaction to this news is of course anger and fear. Minorities really do get stopped more frequently, and are more likely to be arrested and that's a bigger deal than a policeman feeling insulted. It's more important that the message be communicated to minorities that their concerns are understood and represented than to spare the feelings of the policeman who's record speaks for itself anyway.
Regardless which version of events you choose, it's still hard to know why Gates was arrested after he had been identified. It's not illegal to be angry at a cop.
"...Regardless which version of events you choose, it's still hard to know why Gates was arrested after he had been identified. It's not illegal to be angry at a cop..."
It might not be illegal to be angry at a cop, but it is the Police officer's responsibility to make a subjective analysis of the incident, and if he deems necessary, make an arrest for disorderly conduct if the subject continues to be belligerent.
We select individuals to be Police officers based on their maturity and ability to make good decisions under difficult circumstances, but to question their judgment in situations like this truly undermines their authority. The officer did not pass judgment on Gates; he merely arrested him (stopping his negative behavior) and removed the source of of the heat by transporting him to jail. Charges were eventually dropped and Gates returned to his home unharmed but perhaps a little less cantankerous. The point to remember is the same result would have occurred if Gates were White, Asian or Hispanic.
Here's a cool You-tube video that provides a reasonable explination.
It's a "teachable moment" all right... but I don't think Obama "learned his lesson".
Best regards...
"OK, you keep pulling that "Obama's a racist" statement out, but what are you basing this on?..."
Oh, I don't know. Maybe because:
1. He responded to a local issue without knowing all the facts,
2. He did it in front of an international audience, embarrassing himself and every law abiding American Citizen, and
3. He clearly sided with his 'Racist' friend regarding allogations of racism by impuning local law enforcement...
Not to worry though. Hopefully, Gates is a good bus mechanic because Obama's gonna throw him under it with Jeremiah Wright and his grandma here shortly.
OK, you keep pulling that "Obama's a racist" statement out, but what are you basing this on? Do you just make this up as you go along? Last I looked his closest advisers were mostly white with a Jew as his chief of staff.
Amy:
I think the other possibility to that, is the man has a hard time admitting when he's wrong and just flatout apologize.jez:
I disagree. The teachable moment is this: Those carrying racial chips on their shoulders will knee-jerk responses prematurely and see racism where it's not present. The consequence of that is, it inflames others and promotes racial tension and disharmony. Gates and Obama both occupy positions of leadership and clout. When they cry "racism", they have sycophant followers and those who are reverse racists who will only be inflamed into perpetuating the "cycle of racism".
Louis Farrakhan and Al Sharpton have weighed in on this, "stupidly", btw.
Obama's statement may have been premature, but at least minorities in America know that their point of view is officially represented. Their reaction to this news is of course anger and fear. Minorities really do get stopped more frequently, and are more likely to be arrested and that's a bigger deal than a policeman feeling insulted.
jez
Let me say as a duly designated minority of California and the US government, that as a FORMER GANG member, the Messi-uh's statement was STUPID and IGNORANT, just as your posted comment is. But don't worry I'm not calling you STUPID... LOL!
All joking aside, the President has made it more harder and dangerous for policemen all around the country. He has justified a FUTURE COP KILLER'S action. "Well, if the President thinks we can't trust the cops, might as well..."
jez, I suggest the next time you need a cop, you might call Prof Gates, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton or Rev Wright, I'm sure they'll protect you...
Jez, minorities in America have more than a fair shake in having their views represented. This incident profoundly dramatizes the way past history with zero present incidence is enough to get the race hustlers in a tiff - and sadly, some people actually take Gates' scurrilous charge seriously.
Race profiling is a bit overplayed; the demographics of crimes committed by minorities is roughly commensurate with the number of suspects being accosted or questioned. What you won't hear Gates tell you is that the majority of crimes committed by black people are comitted against black people.
Great comment, Hawkeye! Agree 100%.
Jez, if there were differing accounts of what happened, why did Obama go on to call the police stupid and defend his friend? The only stupid ones here are Gates and Obama.
Adam, I am basing my assertion that Obama is a racist on a multitude of facts that have unfolded throughout the years, most significantly his writings and his associations with other racists.
When Obama was in Ghana a week and 1/2 ago, he said he told his daughters that slavery in Ghana is a lesson that people discriminated against other people who "looked differently." Essentially, that white people traded in slavery because blacks had a different skin color. He failed to mention that it was OTHER BLACKS who captured and sold their own people into slavery to evil whitey. That is an important part of the history but like with the Henry Louis Gates saga, the only part that matters is that white people are racists, even if they aren't.
This is an enduring theme with Obama.
Johnny makes a very good point about black on black crime as well.
Let me ask you this: do you consider Black Liberation Theology to be a racist "theology"?
Look, I feel underqualified to respond to all this because racial discrimination in America is very different from how it is in England. But if comedians like Dave Chappelle are to be taken seriously (I think he should be, truth is hard currency in comedy), black people in America simply don't feel like they have access to the police in the same way that whites do: the best that they hope from policing is to be left alone. So maybe PeteDawg's glib suggestion that I call Jesse Jackson et al. next time I need a cop is closer to the black point of view than he thought.
I think I can see a charitable explanation for why Obama wanted to weigh in, just to indicate that the police should be accessible to everyone. Maybe when black people grow comfortable with calling the police, black-on-black crime will fall.
By the way, did anyone else notice how Obama is trying to use his charm to avoid apologizing? At least he's not lying. But inviting everyone to the White House for a beer without an apology... in fact, he's taking credit for bringing this to the forefront when he caused all this ruckus bringing into the national spotlight.
I wonder if this is how he teaches his daughters to apologize.
Malia: "Mom, Dad, I should have recalibrated my words when I called you both f***** a*******. How about you come to my room and let me fix you some hot chocolate?"
Jez, I can confirm your views to a point. But Black Liberation Theology has created a culture of victimology that is not helpful to black Americans.
http://www.acton.org/commentary/443_marxist_roots_of_black_liberation_theology.php
Obama is an adherent of Black Liberation theology and as such can never move race relations forward.
"But Black Liberation Theology has created a culture of victimology that is not helpful to black Americans."
I think I agree, but I'm not very informed. As a matter of taste I don't like to hear so much complaint about (perceived) racism, but I think that's just because I happened to be lucky and avoided most of it. My whole attitude to my country and criminality etc. would be different if I felt like the police had it in for me... it just seems so important to improve trust towards cops among minorities, and I can sympathise with Obama for jumping a little over-excitedly at this opportunity, and to apologise would spoil it.
I think having them all over to the white house for a beer could be quite symbolically important.
I hate to say it, Jez, but I think minority males commit a disproportionate amount of crimes, which is why they are stopped more often.
That doesn't mean there isn't a bias as a result of that or that all police officers are stellar people. A profession doesn't make one a good person. But THIS police officer was stellar. This professor wasn't.
The police tried to walk away but Gates continued to be disorderly. They had every right to arrest him. And I think yelling at a copy, depending on what you say, can be an arrestable offense.