A word from someone who probably won’t be having a beer with Bambi any time soon
More’s the pity as Barry could do a lot worse than sit down with the renowned Thomas Sowell from whom he could learn a lot. In my own clumsy way, I have been all over the “racist” arrest of one Henry Louis Gates, a noted career race-baiter, and the kerfuffle that ensued. You can read my efforts here, here, here, here, here and here.  Mr Sowell was much more succinct as he usually is, as this excerpt from JWR reveals,
Those who were shocked at President Obama’s cheap shot at the Cambridge police for being “stupid” in arresting Henry Louis Gates must have been among those who let their wishes prevail over the obvious implications of Obama’s 20 years of association with the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Anyone who can believe that Obama did not understand what the racist rants of Jeremiah Wright meant can believe anything.
Therein lies the problem. Because of his style of campaigning, long on style but short on substance, Barry allowed himself to be a screen onto which some voters were able to project their hopes and dreams. We are now paying the price for their misguided trust. Back to the piece,
President Obama’s background as a community organizer has received far too little attention, though it should have been a high-alert warning that this was no post-racial figure.  What does a community organizer do? What he does not do is organize a community. What he organizes are the resentments and paranoia within a community, directing those feelings against other communities…
Sadly, little attention was paid to any aspect of Obama’s history, let alone his community organizing skills, or the lack of any tangible results therefrom. What little he did learn he is now bringing to DC to further his agenda with old style Chicago politics,albeit with a modicum of success although I believe the bloom is off the rose, so those days will be coming to an end soon. His knee jerk reaction in casting the police in this case as acting “stupidly” is very revealing and should serve as a lesson to all. He is not post-racial. He is no different that Al Charlatan or Je$$e Jackson, except he had better handlers and was able to capitalize on white guilt more effectively than they ever did. Maybe they paved the way? Please read the whole article here, and I will leave him the last word,
An 18th century philosopher said, “When I speak I put on a mask. When I act I am forced to take it off.” Barack Obama’s mask slipped for a moment last week but he quickly recovered, with the help of the media. But we should never forget what we saw.
Doug Powers over at Michelle Malkin wonders if a newly announced financial boost for police nationwide is an attempt to repair the damage caused by Obama’s remarks. I doubt the gubmint can react that quickly, but, hmmm…
DRJ over at Patterico’s says the beer fest is a go. I can’t wait for the post event spin.
July 28, 2009
Tags: Henry Gates, Sergeant Jim Crowley, Thomas Sowell Posted in: Politics
3 Responses
Beer Won’t Solve It: Obama’s Lack of Leadership & Mistakes in Not Apologizing for His Controversial Gates Comments (video) « Frugal Café Blog Zone - July 29, 2009
[...] The Barton Bulletin: Henry Louis Gates 1996 Rant Against Whitey (video) Gazzer’s Gabfest: A word from someone who probably won’t be having a beer with Bambi any time soon and Perhaps OJ could teach a class on self-defense… Steven Crowder, Big Hollywood: Lonewolf [...]
Gazzer’s Gabfest » He warnt as uppity as I thought… - July 30, 2009
[...] As of this writing both Obama and gates have issued statements that are largely content neutral and designed to smooth over the incident, as you would expect from a Law Enforcement professional, and as we would have liked to have seen in the first place from our President. Gates has, so far, said nothing. It won’t be long though. he can’t help himself. In case you’ve been living under a rock here is the back story. [...]
I’ve been a cop for 33 years and I wish to offer a perspective that might be different from most. Race relations within the law enforcement community is a lot better than anywhere else. We rely on each other to survive. We respect each other and feel each other’s frustrations and share each other’s problems as it relates to doing our duties. We have already gone through the growing pains of changing demographics as it relates to personnel and have moved well beyond that. Most won’t admit it because to do so might expose “feelings”. I don’t care because I’ve been around so long it doesn’t matter. White cops feel the frustrations of the black, asian, or hispanic cops, white male cops feel the frustrations of the female cops whatever their gender. As a white cop I’m fully aware of the historical and expected minority interactions with police but it doesn’t matter until the situation is safe for everyone. Most people don’t have a clue of what is going on in the officer’s head during these calls. We’re trying to stay alive and protect the other officers responding while trying to make sure there’s no one bleeding to death around the corner out of our view. We could care less about the race or age of the person in front of us until we determine the situation is safe. There were a lot of frustration police officers after President Obama made his comments because of the shear ignorance or our situation and what we deal with on a daily basis. Most black police officers are embarassed when the “race card” is used when it is unwarranted because it demeans them and what they have to overcome on a daily basis. White officers are fully aware of the “albatross” around black and other minority officer’s necks because if they make a mistake (like we all do)it is chalked up to “affirmative action.” In law enforcement, for the most part, we have moved well beyond all the racial problems and deal with each other with respect and comraderie. We do so because we were forced to face the reality of our situation, not because we’re any better than anyone else. We have learned to understand each other better, respect each other’s experiences, and we would die for each other if necessary. I wish someone in power could see or at least give us credit for this. I don’t know what else to say other than I would willingly put my life on the line for another human being who is a police officer and it has nothing to do with their race, ethnicity, or sexual preference and we’re all pretty much on the same page. I wish those in power would look to the law enforcement community to see how we have overcome these problems. We watch out for each other, each other’s children, we respect each other, we fight like brothers and sisters and sometimes like husbands and wives. We worry about each other and feel each other’s pain and share each other’s problems. If you belittle any officer you belittle all of us. Maybe the rest of the country could take a lesson.
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