I'm With Stupid. Gimme A Beer.

The incident at the home of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and the President’s series of responses have been designated as Obama’s first “racial crisis”, as the proof that this Administration has not quite reached the level of “post-racial”.

While that might be somewhat of an exaggeration, the theories regarding the incident as a symptom of Obama’s messianic dirigible having sprung more than a few leaks, as evidenced by his poll numbers’ entering their post-steroid era.

The sad thing is, in this case, he may actually have been right. The officer was certainly within his bounds to answer the break-in call and question Prof. Gates, but once it had been established that the residence was, in fact, Prof. Gates’, the matter should have been left at that, irrespective of what ever tirade Prof. Gates may or may not have launched, short of an outright assault. Additionally, one would think that it would behoove police departments to actually know who the more prominent citizens in their neighborhoods are, particularly if they are prominent and connected ethnic minorities…and the police are on said person’s property WITH said individual in question present. [Did ANYONE learn ANYTHING from the OJ case?]

Of course, its no accident the loudest protests nationwide have come from police departments and their conservative leaning law-and-order allies, complaining of a possible “slippery-slope”: is our black President going to find all arrests of blacks “stupid”, ipso facto? Especially when the arresting officer was white? While that may not have been as explicitly stated as Obama’s “stupid” comment, the implication was pretty clear.

A perusal of a number of high-profile cases should indicate that we are far from that, particularly cases where an offending party AND officers on the case were both minorities and the complaints of a “racist” police action were just as shrill [most specifically, the incidents involving Patrick Dorismond and Sean Bell]. And, when Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney punched a [white] Capitol police officer in 2006 after he stopped her for not carrying the requisite ID, it was McKinney who was forced to apologize.

Of course, Obama wasn’t in office yet. And, as far as we know, McKinney isn’t the friend [or fundraiser…or Vineyard neighbor…] that Gates is. And that’s the point. An Obama frustrated by the fact that all his “Yes We Can”’s are eliciting equal and opposite “No You Don’ts”’s [especially from within his own party] reacted on a personal level to a question where the answer, if not the descriptive term used, was going to be a foregone conclusion, as were the partisan reactions to whatever comment he was going to make.

Ironically, it seems that, having been invited to beer with the President, Prof. Gates and Officer Crowley may become drinking buddies [bloggers’ “evidence” that the two may be distant cousins notwithstanding] after all this.

[Officer, this beer is courtesy of that gentlemen over there surrounded by heavily armed well dressed men with earpieces and sunglasses….]