Obama regrets 'stupid' comments

What is stupid to me is that people still don't understand the historical significance of the relationship between the police or in earlier days the overseer, and African Americans. In the black community the police represent repression, violence, hate and intimidation. They can search You, without just cause shoot you and say oops and keep it moving. If any white man can say, he and at least 3 of his male family members or friends have been stopped by the police and detained for no apparent reason or legitimate reason in the past 3 years, fine if not then racial profiling is real.

Amazed that the media would choose to focus so much attention on the language used. Stupidly is not the worst word I have heard. Yes there is a tendency to arrest a black, or another ethnicity before a white person is arrested. Racism is real and should be addressed. The media attacked the president for having feelings on this issue, instead of talking about the insurance companies making record profits, and not insuring people with pre-exisiting conditions like menopause. I admire the president for speaking his truth. Much better than running a country in secret behind closed doors.

if i was the cop i wouldnt sit down and drink a beer with those two racist

at least he didnt call him retarted

Wouldn't it clear things up if there was a recording of the whole thing? Guess we'll never really know.
I'm sure we'll hear about this story again.
It was nice debating the issue.

Whoa!
I knew this story would stir up trouble, but not near this much.

Anyway, thanks for the lively debate.

He took a limo home from the airport, the limo driver was the other man trying to force the door open.

Has anyone said how the professor got home? Was his car in the drive? Did he arrive in a cab? I think his mode of arrival would have been a sign to the neighbor, it was him. Just asking, cause I'm curious? How did he pull up to his home and the neighbor not see him arrive? Did he get there though the back way, climbing over fences, so no one would see him come home?

It really doesn't matter. Once he was shown to be at home, the officer should have excused him and apologized for the intrusion. I'm sure an apology for the mistaken identity would have calmed Mr. Gates attitude. It was obviously a case of mistaken identity.

Kinda reminds me of this:

http://current.com/items/90489773_oklahoma-paramedic-sues-trooper-over-scuffle-c...

Let's be honest. Whether or not you think this was profiling or not, black vs. white or whatever, there is a disturbing trend in this particular post of people not giving any credence at all to Dr. Gates side of the story. Besides the obvious implication of bias this view point reveals, I find it particularly disturbing that some are so willing are to strip this man, this American citizen of his basic right of innocent until proven guilty. Being a clear minded and free thinking individual it is not difficult for to consider both sides of the coin. Being an American in a free thinking society, I extend that privilege to all those who are tax paying contributing members of our society. I would say that if you cannot do the same for your fellow citizens, not only do you have a fundamental bias against those involved (which is called bigotry, by the way) but also with a free and equal society, where ALL citizens are treated with respect and dignity until they are PROVEN not to be worth of that privilege. I would question your belief in the very virtues that our country was founded on. That you know, the Constitution guarantees. I thought we were at least past this. It seems, quite a few still seem to be stuck in the past. For those that are, your opinions have no place in an equal, free thinking society and are the very reason we have such difficult progressing as a nation.

Maybe Obama just doesn't really know what to say to such an insignificant case, I mean there's so many more important things our President should be paying attention to. Perhaps he never gave much thought to this case but had to give us, the public, some kind of statement about it.

Obama, a black president of the united states that was voted in by the amercican public, is suggesting that the white man is still after him????????!!!

Where is that TelePrompTer guy, he is so fired!

Gates house was broken into before this incident. Next time maybe the police should say sorry we don't go to that house anymore. Call the state police.

Yo Pres. you don't need to apologize, you were right. I'm not sayin that Prof. Gates was right, but our law enforcement need to evaluate situations before acting. If that was me, I would have been pissed off too. No body likes to be confronted with the law ... I know they were doing their job, but he was an older man with a cane. The only reason the Crowley arrested him was cause it hurt his Pride ...

You have a tenured Harvard prof., in his own home, who is not used to taking lip,....in his world, he is used to being respected, and "on top". Cops are like captains of the ship; they are always "on top" on the beat, its a NECESSARY functional illusion. Cops also take a lot of grief, from "criminals" and folks on the scene, all the time. But they don't like it, (and sometimes someone ends up face down on a sidewalk in cuffs).

What you have here is two monkeys being "on top" at the same time. -It was "stupid" because in the long run, the cop must have known he wasn't going to "WIN" that one, just sucked it up, and left. At best, the community would have ended up paying legal fees. SO,....STUPID, would be a reasonable assessment.

Does any one ever look at the original facts? The police responde to a call that two black men were attempting toforce entry into the resident. Gates was away on vacation.
The police went to the home, Gates WOULD NOT SHOW THEM ANY ID. Gates began screaming at them about being a black man in America and then began yelling obsenities at the police using MF this and MF that....
The police had to go outside to talk on their walkie- talkies to the station because he was so loud they couldn't hear. When he finally did show ID it was his Harvard card. Which didn't tell them anything!
Except maybe that he's a snob.
By that time Gates was so beligerently out of control they took him in.
Gates arrogent behavior only increases the chasm between the races.
The black police chief and black Mayor and all the whole department have come in on responding officer
side.
And BTW the responding officer was appointed by the black police chief to teach sensitiveity courses to rookies!
Next time find out the facts.
What a crock of sh*t this whole thing stirred up.

Am I the only one who think's it sounds like Gates was probably in the wrong on this one? I mean sure, the police policies aren't good when dealing when angry people, but it's easy to see what happened. Gates is just back from a long trip, he's frustrated and locked out of his own house, he's already having to break in and probably replace a window or something, then the police show up and accuse him of breaking and entering. That'd be enough for anybody, but he especially will be looking out for racism. His mind is of course gonna immediately go there, so he starts yelling and being uncooperative. The police then follow procedure and arrest him. THe procedure is problematic, but his behavior I think is obviously the reason it was sparked.

We just want to see racism. We create it when it's not always there.

I wonder if Obama would have called the police officers stupid if they were black.

What a mess. I wouldn't have commented on it. I would have just left it alone--at least until I read the police reports and got all the facts. I'm not mad at him or anything, I just think he kinda stepped in it.

Barack, you should regret absolutely nothing. This WAS a stupid situation, and the arresting officer needs to go through a couple of classes, because he's a complete idiot. IT WAS HIS HOUSE why should a man be arrested for trying to get into his own place that he probably pays through the nose for? This is wrong on so many levels; to think this is where we are at after fifty years of civil rights issues. Damn it America, grow up already.

The police responded to a call of a possible break in. They did not just decide to pick on a black guy trying to get into his house.
The reaction of both Gates and the President prove racism is alive and living within their hearts.
It's people that feel this way that keep it alive.

Heh. John, you and your fellow conservatives on this site crack me up. "Obama's finally showing his true colors" -- that is about the 10th time you have said essentially the same thing, and th 100th time I have seen one of your club saying so.

Neither Obama nor any of his supporters has ever stated or even implied that he is perfect or incapable of error. As you know perfectly well, this whole "Obama as the Messiah" ploy is a construct of right wing Republicans who are bitter about how excited Obama's supporters were at the prospect of having a President who could and did read actual books and coud not only speak English but do so in complete sentences.

My perspective on this matter is that Obama has made a couple of mistakes. The most recent is reversing himself too powerfully in his criticism of the police officer. Until the officer had good reason to believe he was dealing with someone attempting (or completing) a crime, his demeanor should have been pleasant and helpful. Remember, in our system of justice, the officer is to PRESUME innocence until guilt is proven. He is only to arrest upon a finding of Probable Cause.

Gates was being hypersensitive, the cop was being unnecessarily short and brusque and the President was involving himself unwisely in a local matter of limited import. And while I know that alcohol has always caused far more problems than it has ever solved, I am pleased that they are all getting togther for a beer.

@JohnA

Really bro, come ON. You are taking what amounts to a passing faux pas and turning it into some kind of revelation for yourself? The only people that would think this implies he is "A true disciple of Rev. Wright" are people that ALREADY think that.

At this point I think everyone has "acted stupidly"- the Professor could have been more respectful, the police could have used better judgment, the President could have found a more appropriate word and the media can stop BEATING THIS INTO THE GROUND any day now...

Yep, you really stepped in it now Barack. A true disciple of Rev. Wright, but no one would believe it. I guess they believe it now, don't they.

Being angry at an officer isn't a crime. Gates deserved respect. I'd be angry to if just entering my home from the back door got me a police visit. He's a Harvard professor. You don't start the conversation with "step out of the house." for many black people that was simply an invitation to an arest based on the color of his skin which matched an inacurate description made by a xenophobic white lady in an afluent community with little or no experience with anyone other than rich white people who in my expereicne are the most vile people on the Earth and include folks you realy ought to worry about like Allen Stanford and Bernie Madeoff.

Gates as a leading history professional knew that better than most. Fuck Crowley for thinking that disrespecting him is a crime and getting his back up over the arrest. Crowley did act stupidly and after knowing who Gates was and that he was in his own home in arresting him. Knowing the message that would send. Gates is in addition to being a respected historian is very nonthreatening physically and suffers from a physical disability and requires the use of a cane to walk. Cuffing a man with a cane and dragging him out of his house for loud behaviour? Again Fuck that smug bastard Crowly.

Barack finally shows his true colors, and now he has to pay the piper. Not much of an apology for calling the police force stupid since he is sworn to uphold the law himself. Everyone knows what you are now Barack, no more play acting Mr. Centrist anymore. You don't care about anyone but your own, and now you slipped up and showed the world just that. So much for the post-racial President, ha!

First thing to remember is, who really controls mainstream media. The same ones who helped George W. launch a war of choice on a country, which had not killed one American and was not openly threatening us.

They didn't change. They are out to slant public opinion. They do not want people to support President Obama. They want to use divisive tactics to cast a bad light on the President.

They hung on the 'stupid' comment, to embarrass the President. They are out to shame the President at every opportunity. I don't think they will be able to use sex against him, so they are working at every opportunity to find things, which will make him say 'uncle' and retract his comments. Apparently it's working. They made him uncomfortable enough to regret his 'honest' comment. The cops acted 'stupidly' when they arrested the professor in his own home.

Wow, what a back slider. He meant exactly what he said the first time and he was RIGHT. The cop is an IDIOT and should be dealt with accordingly!

RT
http://www.online-privacy.tk

Gates is a reminder that in America..black people should not be disturbed.

so if you see someone breaking in your house..don't bother to call the cops..its just home Harvard professor or some noble prize winner..

At least he admitted it, I don't think it was a very big deal but he should of just avoided answering the question. Southcoast, if Obama is the village idiot of a village in Kenya, then we need to incorporate Kenya's education system into ours.

I don't get how him giving an answer to an unexpected question at the end of a press conference about healthcare is "wading In".
And he was right anyway, the police officer acted stupidly. Hopefully the fellow will lean from his dumb mistake.

So amusing. Listening to Gates and 0bama opine on racism is like listening to an arsonist opining on out of control fires. What is truly sad though is that people are surprised seeing now the type of person 0bama is when this is exactly the person who campaigned starting in 2006. I have no doubt the smarmy race purveyor Gates will get money from the taxpayers to make a "documentary" which would appear only on PBS.

A better question is how many people regret voting for 0?

Somewhere Dan Quayle is smiling and in Kenya a village is missing its idiot.

If we say cops are human, after all - then we have to say, they can't be right 100% of the time.

And that's what they have always taken. They're right, you're wrong.
Plus we need strong, bully-like cops to take care of the bad guys - yes. But then we got bully-types taking care of everybody. And what they say goes.

It's like having the school-yard bully take over policing for the school - only the principle ALWAYS backs the bully.

It wasn't a race thing, but it sure as hell was stupid.

this would have been a non-issue if Obama used the word "irrationally" or "illogically" instead of "stupidly."

in any case, the intent is there: to say that arresting a man for breaking and entering after he's proven it's his own home is not very smart.

Honestly i think all three of them acted "stupidly" The president shouldn't have spoken out on something he didn't know all the details. The proffesor shouldn't have freaked out on the cop. The cop shouldn't have got pissed off at the proffesor yelling at him. This isn't a race issue it's an anger issue. Though it's understandable why it went down. I would be pissed too if my friend got arrested by police and some press lady brought it up during a press conference about health care. For the proffesor, i would be pissed to accidently lock myself out of my own home only to have a dumb ass neighbor call the cops on me, then to have a cop show up and ask me what i'm doing and to identify myself. That would probably put me over the edge. Finally for the cop, i would be pissed if i was just doing my job answering a 911 call to be chewed out by a very frustrated college proffesor probably thinking he was called on for being black and trying to calm him down and getting nowhere. That would piss me off. But, what really pisses me off is the news media blowing this out of preportion and making this such a huge story and reporting on it for almost two days straight. That is what pisses me off. I hope they do all get together and have a beer and talk about how annoying the god damn media is.

What the cops did was stupid and another sign of cos gone wild and abusing thier power. Cops have got to be reigned in they are comletly out of hand.

It’s nice to hear the president, at the very least, retract his previous statement. Accepted public opinion is a nasty beast and it wasn’t that long ago when blatant racism and sexism were openly accepted. So in light of history I don’t see the justification for simply framing the actions of the police officer as the latest in a long string of racial inequity perpetrated by law enforcement. The specifics of this incident do not confirm the assessment by the president anymore than the specifics surrounding crime in the black community confirm the many generalizations thrown at the feet of African-Americans.
As Americans were taught to regard individual rights and the concept of innocent until proven guilty as right so we really don’t need a president crapping all over those ideals just because it’s socially acceptable nowadays to call police officers stupid racists.

Bush never regretted any of the many stupid things he said!
presidential power i suppose.....

Obama got it right the first time. The professor shouldn't have been arrested, and the police handled the situation in a unprofessional manner..The entire Justice System in this country,should be restructured because of it's biases toward minorities.........Blacks are taxpayers, therefore they have a right to complain when they are mistreated by the police....If the professor committed a crime, why was the charges dropped against him?......Whites are in denial about the abundance of racism in this country.....Obama is a class act, and I feel as if he did the right thing by clarifying his prior statement.

The only actual regret is people are TOO stupid to get it. Pres. Obama was correct in his assessment the arresting officer clearly acted stupidly and the President was absolutely right to point it out. It's been so long since people actually heard truth from power they don't recognize it and can't readily accept it.

Obama was simply telling the truth. It has taken a long time for someone with his kind of power to do it. I agree that he had STUPID timing (made his view known during a health care press conference) but I'm still glad that it was said. I do understand that he had to "retract" his statement. He wouldn't want to lose his job after only 7 months

But it was stupid...

*feigns moral outrage*

[/doesn't really care]

I'm so tired of hearing about racial tensions between blacks and whites. Blacks and whites each make up only about 15% of the world population.

The only people who have higher per-capita ethnic drama are the Jews. -_-

Is he calling 'his' comment stupid or is he saying that fact that he said 'stupidly'??? hahaha

I'm glad he did, that was STUPID of him to do.