DISQUS

Constant Comment · 5 months ago

As part of the highs and lows of riding the Obamacoaster presidency, I personally think it is a "high" that we have a president who will listen to critics (if not all the time, then at least some of the time) and reconsider a position. Not only that, but bring people together to prevent a distraction from escalating and possibly create a "teaching moment," as they say (at least for those who don't happen to be hard-core racists). Obama may irritate and frustrate me a lot of the time, but this is the type of thing I really appreciate/admire about him.

laketahoeblue · 5 months ago

Going back to his community organizing days, Obama is the master conciliator, always wanting to find ways to resolve conflicts and find common ground between conflicting parties. The only difference in this case is that Obama himself has gotten enbroiled in the midst of the brouhaha. But the symbolism of getting together for a beer is a smart one. Getting together for a beer is a way guys bond with each other. It's a friendly thing to do. You don't get together for a beer with someone you are still at odds with. For these three men to get together for a beer symbolizes that they have buried the hatchet, that the conflict is now behind them. Probably a smart move for Obama, since that seems to be his goal.

1970cs · 5 months ago

The media see's ratings, the racists see this as the moment they have been waiting for, and everyone else would like to see healthcare passed.

vkobaya · 5 months ago

Obama just handed the keys to the White House to the racists. Damn him for a yellow bellied coward.

If Crowley had been Black and Gates a renowned white Cambridge professor, Crowley would now be doing rounds in Alaska, north of the Arctic circle, checking hunters for polar bear licenses and counting carabou. The claim that Crowley taught racial tolerance classes reminds me of how Bush went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan to promote peace, freedom and democracy in the world. Obama was revolting enough when he sold out gays, but then he sold us out to the Wall Street Bankers giving away even our grandchildren's inheritances, turned coward to the health insurance industries, gave the pharaceutical corporations huge bonuses in the healthcare bill, and is a coward that makes even George Bush look brave.

The stink-f***ing SOB even forced his "friend" Gates to come to the White House to govel a Crowley's feet in the Oval Office. Michelle Obama had better take Sasha and Malia to the Watergate Hotel to live because Obama will offer them to Crowley for his use.

vkobaya · 5 months ago

Love the message his craven cowardice sends to our real enemies like North Korea and China. Must make South Korea and Japan feel very secure ... NOT

vkobaya · 5 months ago

Goddamn cops pulled their guns on me three times. One time, it was the wrong address for a noisy party complaint and both damn cops had their guns drawn.

Another time, someone shot at my car and I had a bullet hole in the back of the car. I went to the police station and the damn cop said it was a rock, not a bullet hole. When i objected (mildly), he pulled his gun, aimed it at me and said that it was a bullet hole.

Third time, on a fishing boat, sat down at a table with two men with a cup of hot water. Pulled out a vial of instant decaff coffee and and a vial of saccharine tablets. Added them to the cup of hot water. Next thing I knew, I was on the floor with my arm hammerlocked behind my back, their guns at my head. They thought I was using drugs.

I was damn lucky I wasn't gunned down one of those three times. Cops are trigger happy, bloodthirsty, killer, street-thug gangsters whose job it is to be the occupying army protecting the goddamn rich, powerful, elite and corporations. Gates was goddamn lucky that the damn cop didn't simply blow him away for the heck of it.

Indigo · 5 months ago

A beer with the President! Wow! And to think people voted for Bush because they thought they'd like to have a beer with him. At least with Obama, it's a possiblity.

mikeyDe · 5 months ago

Obama the Enabler: apologies for insulting gays -- wine and cheese; apologies for insulting Irish-American police officers -- beer.

sonofloud · 5 months ago

LOL so true.....kidnapping/torture/imprisonment for the CIA, afghanistan and pakistan for the military, $780 billion for corrupt Wall Street corporations, increasing faith based initiative & 25 member religious panel for organized religion, FISA for the FBI, etc.

dula · 5 months ago

I thought the President had too much on his plate to deal with petty Civil Rights issues.

ezpz · 5 months ago

Eh, not crazy about it (except for the potential for good jokes).

We have some serious issues to deal with.

Is this something the president really needs to get involved in on a personal level?

What's next?
Marriage counseling?

Not very presidential, imo.

ezpz · 5 months ago

Edit - I think the president did the right thing by addressing it and acknowledging that his word choice could have been better, and yet he didn't apologize, for which I was glad.

I do think he went too far when he said that the professor overreacted. He should have just left it with his clarification that he didn't mean to malign the officer or sergeant or whatever. He didn't need to level the playing field because there's no moral equivalency betweem Gates's reaction to Crowley's action. Gates had every right to be angry, and expressing that anger with words is not against the law, let alone grounds for arrest.

The president should have left it at that and gone back to 'health insurance reform'. (His choice of these words reveals that the his first priority is the insurance companies, not the people.)

My seven 'sense'.

John · 5 months ago

Gates was returning home from an exhausting trip to China. He was working on a documentary there. And given the massive bureaucratic hassles involved with getting permission to do any filming in the PRC, I'm sure he wasn't in the best of moods. Add to that a 21 hour flight - 14 hours from Shanghai to San Francisco plus another 6 hours for the East Coast - and the humiliation of being locked out of his own house, and I imagine he was mighty cranky already.

And then to have some white man rudely knock on the door, invite himself in, and proceed to accuse Gates of being a burgler? That was probably the last straw.

The professor didn't overreact. He was simply tired and indignant at this unwelcomed intrusion. And he's absolutely right. Barging into the man's house and accusing him of stealing is not kosher. Even before he produced his ID (which he did do BTW), it should've been obvious to the cop that he owns the place. What thief bothers to leave his family pictures on the wall? This isn't Hercule Poirot or Sherlock Holmes detective work here. It is just common sense. And arresting him for "disorderly conduct" because he said some mean things? That's just plain ridiculous.

ezpz · 5 months ago

I agree with you completely.
Hope you didn't misread my comment.

I don't think Professor Gates overreacted either - au contraire - and I didn't like it when President Obama said that Gates DID overreact. That was the point I was making - simply that Pres. O did the right thing by clarifying his poor choice of words, BUT - he could have - SHOULD have left out the part about Gates overreacting. It made O look like he was trying too hard to 'prove' to the P. D. that he wasn't taking sides.

NealB · 5 months ago

Do you suppose there's any chance Barry will ask Sgt. Crowley if he bashes gays, too? I'm a guessin' here that all three of 'em 'll have a good laugh over a fag joke or two, just for fun. Crowley will admit to and apologize for being stupid. Barry will laugh and nod and tell some story about old folks in Illinois. Gates will keep his temper.

God bless us, each and every one.,

DKF · 5 months ago

Is this supposed to be a coherent comment? I have no idea what you're tying to say here. Can anyone decode this for me?

Skepticat · 5 months ago

This entire dust-up has been a mess, and I don't think any of us really knows what happened. However, since then the president, the police officer, and the professor all have handled themselves generally with civility and prudence rather than getting more tangled in a testosterone/ego-fueled mess. I commend all of them, and we ought to emulate the sensible, conciliatory parts of their behavior.

mirth · 5 months ago

I think it's a fine idea. Progressive, even. Likely it would cause cooling rather than fanning of flames.

As far as we know, Crowley has yet to accept. Considering that a lot of the public see, rightly, cops as thugs, his joining in this "teaching opportunity" would be a smart move.

badgervan · 5 months ago

I beg you at Americablog to refuse the ads which force your loyal readers to gaze upon the vile mug of mann coulter, at the end of just about every post these days. Along with the odd Scientologist ads all over the place lately, ... just what is going on?

RainbowPhoenix · 5 months ago

Look at it this way, she's wasting money trying to sell herself to people who despise her.

badgervan · 5 months ago

I can put up with a lot, but being forced to gaze upon coultergiest is too
much.... and it ain't her money. I think the rethugs are doing this all over
the demnet to piss us off; sort of a stick in the eye. At least paint a
little Hitler mustache on her or something... gary van ess

RainbowPhoenix · 5 months ago

It's wasting somebody's money, and the fact that they're only harming themselves makes the adds funny.

sonofloud · 5 months ago

Americablog needs to put its money where its mouth is.....it is not harmful only to themselves because it lets Coulter claim she isn't just far right, even liberal sites like Americablog support her by letting her advertise there.
It's called not being a hypocrite.

popebuck1 · 5 months ago

I think Obama is being infuriatingly cool and reasonable over this whole thing. The Republicans are gonna be furious that he isn't blowing his top, getting defensive, and thus perpetuating the "angry black militant" label they're trying to stick him with. How dare he DEFUSE the national outrage?!

burro · 5 months ago

He might as well. He knew before the "d" in stupid was out of his mouth that he'd screwed up. POTUS doesn't call American cops stupid. There's no upside. It's a stupid thing to do. He sided with his buddy but it was a lose/lose proposition whichever way he went.

It's a teachable moment for some but it's a learnable moment for the three main players in this scenario and the sooner they all share their peace beer and get back to more pressing matters the better.

And as unpoetaloco observes, it's handy to have a prez for whom this sort of thing is an option.

trinu · 5 months ago

This is just another example of the conservative side of political correctness. Obama did not call cops in general stupid. He was referring to ONE cop. Even then he only criticized the ACTIONS not the individual.

burro · 5 months ago

I don't think you can really disassociate an accusation of stupidity from the people/person connected with the actions deemed stupid.

A car that rolls downhill and hits whatever isn't stupid. But the person who forgot to set the parking brake might be careless to some but pretty stupid to the person who's car got smashed.

I think Obama said that the actions by whoever was involved in arresting and taking Gates in were stupid. The arrest wasn't made by mindless robots. They are people and the actions deemed "stupid" were theirs. Whether he was referring to one cop or more, "stupid" wasn't a separate player acting independently of the cops.

Stupid was what he said their "actions" were and he realized quickly that he had screwed up and walked it back to saying that everyone "overreacted". Actions don't action all by themselves.

I think it's time for a beer!

Bostonian_Queer_in_Dallas · 5 months ago

As the Witch in Sondheim's show "Into the Woods" says, near the end of Act II, when there is chaos and disaster and the characters are in total turmoil with one another...

"You're not good, you're not bad, you're just... nice."

The Irish Mick Boston cops are some of the most racist in the world. I don't like the smell of any of this.

mf_roe · 5 months ago

Police forces around the nation are evolving into gestapo units complete with surveillance resources courtesy of Patriot Act rights revocation. Yeah nothing to this, have a fuggin beer and shut up, OsameO is on the job.

bob_h · 5 months ago

I would have preferred that he remained peeved and unapologetic about this, and not gotten rolled by the Irish Micks, but this is not a bad outcome. It probably will be rather nice.

Moncusa · 5 months ago

Really...dude. Again we see how gay anti-Irish fervor is still considered hip.

Brad · 5 months ago

That sounds more like a job for the first lady, our national Hostess, but whatever.

ezpz · 5 months ago

Agree

RainbowPhoenix · 5 months ago

It could work, although the president having a beer with someone is an uncomfortable reminder of one of the factors that gave us Bush.

serns · 5 months ago

I think it's OK.

Moncusa · 5 months ago

It's fine.

DennisDugan · 5 months ago

Completely off the topic but John, how's your bout with the eye problem?

Given these wonderful photos always posted, I wish for more from your camera eye.

DennisDugan · 5 months ago

Re: topic- PBO is fast (& hard) learning how to play his agenda into some top o' the hour coverage by the idiot US main stream media.

RoseTattoo · 5 months ago

Why not? Like Obama, I don't see the big deal about what he said. He didn't call the cops stupid. He said they acted stupidly. There is a huge difference. People make mistakes. Let's move on. The real bad guys here are the media who whipped nothing into something. Healthcare people! Focus!

RitornaVincitor · 5 months ago

Don't agree. Obama came down on the side of the professor and said the police were acting stupidly. He later had to reverse himself. For Obama to take sides was a big mistake. For him to do so without first knowing all the facts was also a big mistake.

RoseTattoo · 5 months ago

You have a point. There's 100 different ways he could have answered that would have been better than the answer he gave. He wouldn't be human if he didn't have an opinion about such things and his honesty sometimes seems inappropriate given his position. He'll learn. Does it warrant wall-to-wall coverage and discussion into infinity and beyond? Hell no!

Moncusa · 5 months ago

Obama had to answer rather quickly. Let's give him a break on this. It seemed like a dumb question for that reporter to ask, anyway, with everything else going on.

RitornaVincitor · 5 months ago

I can understand why it was a major news item, considering who Obama is and what his election represented. And you're right about him being human. But the rest of his news conference was brilliant. I'm ready to move on as Moncusa suggests, and looking forward to making some progress on health care.

lilliannerose · 5 months ago

It was the old tempest in a teapot to begin with, however, overall I think it's a good gesture. Maybe some of Obama's thinking is that it keeps the "bubble" at bay to reach out into the lives of everyday people and mix it up a bit!

fraught · 5 months ago

Bigot alert: As long as Crowley's wife comes along to make sure this Irish cop doesn't get plastered on the free beer.

OOPS!

paulo · 5 months ago

One photo op goes al long way.

RitornaVincitor · 5 months ago

I see it as damage control. A lot will depend on how it goes. Hope Obama has learned not to jump into highly charged situations and fan the coals without first knowing all the facts. In the end, however, I think Obama has damaged his image as a racial uniter by jumping to side with the professor and saying the police acted stupidly, only to have to reverse himself after checking the facts. And he's given his judgment in general a black eye in that any President should know better than to take either side in such a situation.

Dateline_Molly · 5 months ago

Takes the focus off the crony capitalist backroom dealings Obama's been involved with on health care reform (sorry - INSURANCE reform) and the economy.

Plus his popularity is in freefall and this is a way to garner some ratings.

Indigo · 5 months ago

I like your logo.

unpoetaloco · 5 months ago

I think beer here is a metaphor, but if they happen to have a beer while having meaningful dialogue, I'm not opposed. Either that or Obama is trying to prove his average Joe bona fides. Personally, I think it's good to have a president in the White House again that can handle his booze.

ShirleyGoodnessanMercy · 5 months ago

A beer with the cop is wonderful. He can show he supports cops and show how overblown this whole thing was.

It WAS stupid to arrest Skip Gates. Why on earth would any man ever be arrested in his own home for doing nothing wrong? It WAS stupid. Even if Gates was calling the cop's mom a slimey ho, he should not have arrested him. The moment he knew Gates was in his own home, that cop should have been apologizing. Period.

Chris From Maine · 5 months ago

The two biggest issues that were talked about in the "liberal" media in the past two weeks :

Obama is an illegal alien.

Obama hates white cops.

America.. still racist after all these years.

astroflex · 5 months ago

Ship on his shoulder. Let's flip, the scene; blacks are now gays and and gays are black? How would MLK feel when Obama told us to to wait for our rights?

John · 5 months ago

The lone dissenter in the Prop. 8 case, Justice Carlos Moreno, said something along the lines of "this will be our Plessy v. Ferguson." I don't know if the Ted Olson and David Boies lawsuit will go anywhere. But in the long run, I have a feeling Moreno's curse on the California legal system will be prophetic.

balisue · 5 months ago

Both Gates and the cop were acting from EGO, and --- that never works. Obama is wise to offer to bring them together. I'm sure both Gates and the cop regret their knee jerk behavior, and it's good to see all 3 of them cooling down and being adults and yes, making it a teaching moment. We have so much to learn.

Harry_R_Sohl · 5 months ago

Beer with the President of the USA?

I hear the slightest, faintest echo of "you don't know who you're dealing with...bitch!"

Moncusa · 5 months ago

The real jerk in all this was that reporter asking Obama to comment on such an inane topic. What is she, some college sociology major?

ezpz · 5 months ago

So a president, a professor, and a police officer walk into a bar.....

All the makings of some good jokes, alliteration and all.

Anyone?

sonofloud · 5 months ago

It's pure Obama......a great sound bite but completely ineffectual.

stldem · 5 months ago

Why in the world would Obama want to have the cop that racially profiled his friend Gates over to the White House? Cop doesn't deserve to meet President. Paul Krugman just said on "This Week" that Gates was arrested illegaly. So glad somebody is telling the truth on this issue!