President Obama's Wednesday night criticism of Cambridge, Mass., police has drawn a rebuke from the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP).BS, Mr. Gibbs. Of course he was calling him stupid, and now the F.O.P. and others are calling Obama stupid.
The criticism comes after Obama said Cambridge police officers acted "stupidly" when they arrested Henry Louis Gates, a friend of the president's, after he broke into his own home. Gates was arrested on disorderly conduct charges, which were then dropped. The president said it highlights ongoing problems with race relations in the U.S.
Jim Pasco, executive director of the FOP's legislative office, noted that before Obama made the remarks, the president acknowledged that he was only vaguely familiar with what happened.
"That being the case, it's unfortunate that he chose to say anything," Pasco said. "He wasn't there, and he doesn't know what happened."
Pasco said it appears that Gates was the "provocateur" because he called Officer James Crowley a racist instead of producing identification as requested.
On Thursday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs sought to walk back the president's comments.
"Let me be clear. He was not calling the officer stupid, OK?" Gibbs told reporters on Air Force One. "He was denoting that ... at a certain point the situation got far out of hand, and I think all sides understand that."
And they mean it too.
One good thing about all this - it completely knocked health care off the radar after the president's presser. Nobody remembers anything he said about it.
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4 comments:
One thing in life, you can never bring back words after they have left your tongue. I think Obama must now realize that what he thought was a golden tongue is now only the tongue of a common mortal.
He has driven a huge wedge between himself and Law Enforcement in general. He has already shown his backside to the military and I doubt they have to high of a regard for him either
In my opinion, Gates AND Obama are the ones that are racist and stupid. How is it considered racial profiling???????????? The officer was sent to the residence because someone was possibly breaking into the residence. Mr Gates and President Obama, considering the residence has been broken into before, did you ever consider the fact that the officer was "DOING HIS JOB." Mr Gates, your lucky you were not shot. We just recently had a deputy get killed responding to a burglary call. The subjects purposely set off the alarm and waited for the deputy to respond and killed him as their gang initiation. Instead of showing his "backside", and making it into a racial issue, (LIKE EVERYTHING SEEMS TO BE MADE INTO ANYMORE) seems like he would have appreciated the officer asking him for identification and verifying that he lived there. Being in law enforcement for 15 years, regardless of what color he was, I sure as hell would have asked for identification, and, depending on how bad he showed his "backside" outside, I probably would have arrested him too. AGAIN......... MR GATES, AND PRESIDENT OBAMA, SEEMS LIKE IT WOULD BE APPRECIATED THAT SINCE THE OFFICER DIDN'T KNOW MR GATES FROM WHOEVER, AND THE HOUSE HAD BEEN BROKEN INTO BEFORE, THE OFFICER WOULD ASK MR GATES FOR IDENTIFICATION!!!!!!!!! LEAVE RACISM OUT OF IT, NOT ALL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS ARE RACIST
As has been said before, the blacks are the only ones who cry, "Racism". Of course, Jackson and Sharpton will soon be involved too!
They are all in the same pool.
Right on, Rick. (Recall that "right on" is an old sixties saying so I'm indulging in some retro hipness here -- so apropos in regards to our "young" new president.)
But I digress.
Yes, not smart of Obama to change the subject from the topic he wanted to lobby.
Would not smart be equivalent of acting "stupidly"? It just might.
Oh, the president's remarks were SO memorable! It's just that we're not remembering what he wanted us to remember!
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