Still No Apology, Obama Offers a Beer

Posted By Bobby Eberle On July 27, 2009 at 7:06 am

Barack Obama may have tried to divert attention from his falling popularity or his troubled health care bill by commenting on the arrest of his friend Henry Louis Gates, but I don't think this is the attention he had in mind. By saying the police acted "stupidly," without even knowing the facts in the case, Obama showed that he is never too shy to get involved in questions of race, especially if it allows him to rant about how bad some people in this country still have it.

Except for groups such as the Congressional Black Caucus, Obama's comments have been soundly criticized. Yet, he has still not apologized publicly to Police Sgt. James Crowley, who, by all accounts, acted professionally and "by the book" in responding to a call by a neighbor regarding a possible break-in at Gates' home. Instead, Obama has invited Gates and Crowley to share a beer with him at the White House. How lovely... Throw out a comment about how racist America still is and then make light about it by inviting folks over for a beer.

For a review of the incident involving Gates and Crowley, please see my previous posting in The Loft.

As FOXNews.com reports, "President Obama's highly anticipated sit-down with Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. over some brews is expected to take place early this week, administration officials said Sunday."

The blowup has dominated national attention just as Obama tries to marshal public pressure to get Congress to push through health care overhaul legislation ... and as polls show growing doubts about his performance.

Obama walked back his comments Friday at a surprise appearance at a White House daily briefing and announced he had spoken with Crowley on the phone and invited him to the White House for a beer with Gates. Gates accepted the invitation later that day.

"This has been ratcheting up, and I obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up," Obama said of the racial controversy on Friday. "I want to make clear that in my choice of words, I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department and Sgt. Crowley specifically. And I could've calibrated those words differently."

Calibrated those words differently??? How about using the bully pulpit to apologize to Sgt. Crowley for your ridiculous comments? Obama's statement at last Wednesday's press conference was so far off base, it really makes you wonder what's going on. The Crowley-Gates incident had nothing to do with the police using racial profiling. In this case, the officer was responding to a call by a neighbor. However, in his comments, Obama brought up how Blacks and Hispanics have traditionally been profiled. This has nothing to do with the case!

As CNSNews.com reports, members of the Congressional Black Caucus have stepped in and are saying that "the recent arrest of a black professor for disorderly conduct was a case of 'racial profiling' and that President Barack Obama's remarks at his Wednesday night press conference saying the police had acted 'stupidly' was an apt description."

Give me a break! These are the types of comments, both by Obama and the caucus that do more to hurt race relations than ANYTHING Sgt. Crowley did.

And just who is Professor Henry Louis Gates? Here's an example of what he had to say back in 1996 regarding "white, racist institutions." Note his comments about then Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

If a police officer is investigating a call about a possible break-in, then how about letting the police officer do his job rather than calling him a racist. Are the police only allowed to arrest white people?

What is so frustrating is that Obama was said by the media to be the first "post racial" president. Yet, he does more to divide America based on race than any I've witnessed. His comments keep us looking backward rather than to a better future. And now he wants folks over for a beer? What happens when he makes his next stupid comment or blasts another person for doing his or her job? Have a pizza party?