Obama's Gates Trainwreck

The stock basketball one liner came to mind when I heard President Obama utter his now infamous "acting stupid" line referring to the cuffing of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates. The star player takes a wild shot and the livid coach screams "No, no, no!" and then, when the improbable happens and the ball swishes through the net, the coach's livid "No, no, no!" instantly becomes a fist in the air shaking "Yes, yes, yes!"

My response was the same only in reverse. I said an instant and visceral fist shaking "Yes, yes, yes" to Obama's Gates quip. After all, the president spoke boldly and unhesitatingly on the always contentious, divisive and painful issue of racial profiling. But then just as quickly I said "no, no, no." No, not because I didn't think it was the right thing to do, and not because I think he didn't have the right to give an opinion just because it was an opinion on a touchy issue.

All presidents weigh in with their personal views, opinions, and thoughts, no matter how ill informed, at unscripted White House press conferences and in countless network TV interviews on every subject under the sun. And certainly I didn't say no because Obama shouldn't toss racial matters and racial profiling out on the nation's table. No apology necessary for that. The no was because I knew that Obama would take a monster hit for piping up on a racial case that's a ticking time bomb that could explode in his face.

President's can and do recover from ill-chosen words on emotion charged issues. In this case, though, his words came at the worst possible time; a time when the president needs to squeeze and squeeze hard every ounce of the considerable personal and political capital that he's painstakingly built up over the past few months to get an ever growing number of push back Democrats, dogged obstructionist Republicans, and the recalcitrant powerhouse trio of insurers, medical professionals, and pharmaceuticals who flatly oppose or are waffling on Obama's public option component of health care reform. This is the centerpiece of the reform package, without it reform is a meaningless exercise in political gamesmanship.

Two new presidential approval polls from Rasmussen and Zogby confirmed my "no, no, no" shout. The Rasmussen is an absolute numbers nightmare for Obama. His disapproval rating has soared to nearly 40 percent among voters. Those that strongly approve of his performance sunk to 29 percent. That wasn't the worst of the bad news. A bare 25 percent of voters thought his answer was good. More than 60 sixty percent thought it was fair or lousy. Even more ominous was the voter breakdown. The crack in Obama's hitherto impregnable black vote support was glaring. Nearly 30 percent of black voters broke ranks with Obama on his Gates' answer.

Among Obama's two other huge breakthrough groups, independents and young voters, the blowback was even more disastrous. Nearly 70 percent of independents and nearly 50 percent of young persons rated his answer "fair" or "poor."

This is just the opening that the usual suspect Obama foes need to pound the president, and by extension his policies on health care, the stimulus, on foreign policy overtures. All are suddenly back in play and in question as set hit pieces for the Obama mashers, but especially health care reform. The issue is no longer the standard knock that it is too costly and a gross case of too much government interference in health care. Obama is now anti-police and an out of the closet race inflamer whose judgment can't and shouldn't be trusted on the crucial issue of health care reform.

The more charitable don't go that far, but instead firmly declare that the presidential honeymoon is officially over. The only good news is that Obama's popularity outside the U.S. is still off the charts. But foreigners can't vote for or elect the congresspersons and senators who make and decide major policy decisions, health care reform being front and center the most pressing.

Even Obama's still high personal popularity ratings don't mean much. Popular ratings are just that, over-hyped numbers that measure a president's likeability, not his leadership effectiveness.

The true test for a president and how the public rates him is the quality of his leadership. A foreign crisis, a souring economy, out of control partisan battles with Congress, fights with major labor and industry groups, and prolonged military adventures are the things that inflict mortal wounds on presidents. The same is true for real or perceived gaffes, slips, and shoot from the lip comments.

President Obama spoke from the heart and said what needed to be said about the thorny issue of racial profiling. Again, no apology needed for that. He just said it in the wrong case and at the wrong time. Gates was the trainwreck waiting to happen, in other words, "no, no, no."

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His weekly radio show, "The Hutchinson Report" can be heard on weekly in Los Angeles at 9:30 AM Fridays on KTYM Radio 1460 AM and live streamed nationally on ktym.com

Comments

[bamabelle]

This isn't a train wreck. This is all about Gates wanting his 15 minutes of fame. He’s another just like Al Sharpton & Jessie Jackson who have spent decades fomenting hatred toward whites within black communities. They’ll do anything to get their mugs on camera. And this is just another example of that, nothing more. Gates has been described as smart. However, if he were smart, he wouldn’t resort to such tactics as this to get attention. In addition, he wouldn’t be “teaching” “black studies.” He’d be teaching a legitimate subject. Geez! What a joke this is.

[ohboynotagain]

You know something? Obama is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. This is truly a unique Presidency not only because he is scrutinized for every action but for every word. The fact of the matter is while some will argue that he didn't need to speak about it, his unique experience from a moral standpoint dictated that he should because if something greater can come from it besides all the Polls about who approve and disapprove then my answere is WHATEVER, speak up Mr. President.

The more important thing about all this as Lawrence O'Donnell, others and various articles read, there was NO CRIME COMMITTED by professor Gates so guess what? President Obama didn't need to speak out but everyone need not forget he called it right. That was a Stupid, Dumb arrest and only happened because the officer could.

Now the Police union President wants Obama to apologize to all officers, well after those 4 officers from Texas were suspended for sending racially insensitive emails about President Obama, did that Cambridge Police Union President offer to apologize to our President on behalf of all decent police officers? I don't hear anything about that

[AnnfromCA]

I agree. It has hurt him a great deal, but what really hurt him was that he jumped to conclusions. That's not smart, so this goes further than race. It calls into question his judgment.

[Apov]

President Obama chose to offer his opinion, much like you are offering your opinion.

This is my opinion.

Truth is truth even if you don't like it.

The policeman was not smart and acted unwisely or STUPIDLY!

Proof - the charges were dropped.

What about your judgment?

Have you ever thought that we might be in the current situation because of bad judgment?

Perhaps your judgment kept W and the Party of No in office for eight years bringing us two wars, tax breaks for the rich and an economic meltdown.

Just saying.

[AguynamedWayne]

Obama doesn't agree with you. He thinks Crowley is a "good man"

Just saying.

[Twentylaws]

It's never a wrong case or wrong time to address the relationship between the public and the police!

[S1m0n]

Considering that the arrest was for the imaginary crime of violating an imaginary law (thou shalt not diss a cop to his face), the alternative to 'stupid' is 'corrupt'.

[JimR]

Gates is solely responsible for the escalation of this incident by being uncooperative, combative and abusive. His behavior was obnoxious and disgusting.

[dsws]

It takes two to tangle. Each is responsible for his own role in escalating the interaction.

[Twentylaws]

...and you would know because you had a ring side seat!

[cobobs]

President is a masterful politician. It would have looked extremely bad for him to back away from an apparent racial profiling issue, especially given the fact that he is developing a reputation for prescribing tough love to black folks. You would have written a different column yourself. He entered and then backed out partially, as if to say, this injustice is indisputable fact, but we are going to talk about it calmly. It also took away oxygen from the health care debate, in which he was enduring serious push back from the forces of exclusion. By the time health care comes back, he would have figured out how to once more seize the initiative. Do you really think that he did not expect someone to bring up the Gates arrest?

[Apov]

President Obama spoke the truth, like it or not.

The police officer acted unwisely (stupidly)

The proof is that the charges were dropped.

The professor did nothing illegal.
The professor chose to exercise his free speech rights.

End of story.

All the rest is about feelings.

Get over it!

[JimR]

Gates refused to cooperate in a police investigation. His obnoxious and disgusting behavior is solely responsible for the escalation of this incident. End of story. Period.

[dsws]

"End of story. Period."? But you keep posting about it. You are solely responsible for your role in making the story not be ended yet.

[JoyceBains]

Only 30%? I guess the rest are desperately hanging on with BOTH hands.

[barackobama4prez]

Yep! Barack Obama learned the hardest lesson to date: Don't forget you are STILL, and will forever be, a Black man to them. They will turn on you if you attack one of their own.

[jsgaetano]

The stupid thing about Obama's comment was he had just gotten through giving a press conference on health care... then he goes off-topic and makes a controversial statement.

Meaning, the enemies of health care won that news cycle.

[MorpheusXNYC]

He "goes off topic"?!

Are you aware that he was in a press conference? You know, those interrogatory exchanges where reporters get to ask questions about any topic they want and the President responds to them?

Choosing not to answer a question is really not an option and he cant choose which questions he wants them to ask, either.

I love the way you make it sound as if he was giving a stump speech about healthcare, and then all of a sudden, out of the blue he launches into an Op Ed piece about the Gates arrest.

[JimR]

It was the president that chose to "calibrate" his words the way he did. He could have given a very general reply. "I don't know all of the facts" would have been a good place to end his answer.

[jsgaetano]

You have no brain, it has been confirmed.

He should have just given a bland answer, instead of a controversial statement. As I said, he went off topic: he was there to talk about health care (you know, that big speech he gave right before it?).

[cobobs]

The answer he gave and the back tracking a few hours later was the best way to handle this. I think it was perfect.

[JustGinger]

I agree. It was perfect.
It opened many eyes to his true feelings.

[ntmessage]

Many people who have had an encounter with police have also endured dehumanizing rebuffs and challenges arising from the daily stress likely related to their job at best and profiling at worst. Ask a question? Make a statement? It is at your own risk. Responses are as unpredictable as the real criminals that police deal with every day.

These familiar circumstances intersected with one of the most preeminent black scholars on the planet, intimately aware of egregious conscious and unconscious inequalities both today and historically. A situation ripe for misunderstanding.

Perfect! The exact story the media wanted to (and in some cases did) report. Unfortunately, perfectly juxtaposed by quite similar archetypes were at play instead, both representing to similar themes of high honor and respect at best but also susceptible to overbearing egos and arrogance at worst. Police Officers and College Professors.

The teaching moment was evident in the former, but ego showed up in the later rife with overbearing arrogant behavior.

All said, perceived aggressiveness or intelligence for that matter is not well tolerated by some on the force or by some teachers. Whether this particular situation was about ego or race, who can really say. Ever challenge a hotel clerk for a better room by saying, “Do you know who you are dealing with?”. It probably did not go well.

Under stress, many say and do things they are not proud of because, we are all human. Even before, we become Police Officers or College Professors.

[jhamm1]

Beautiful.

[JimR]

Professor Gates will speak with your momma outside.

[ThePeacemakers]

The 30% black folks breaking rank?

That was the "let's have a beer" comment.

Also, to many others, sorry to say....it was WEAK ....

[beyondthepale9779]

This is the first article I have seen that mentions that poll. It couldn't be because the media is still in the tank for our Dear Leader Obama, could it?

[1murillo]

Hutchinson should calm down. Obama was correct when he said the Cambridge police acted stupidly; and he was correct when he moderated his words and invited both immediate parties to the WH.
We are so used to having blathering men as president that anything else is considered a 'failure.' Especially by people like Hutchinson, who try to score points in every instance.
Hutchinson's, "No apology needed....He just said it in the wrong case and at the wrong time" is the worst argument of any offered.
In short, Hutchinson kind of agrees with what Obama said, sort of.

[JimR]

Obama made an inflammatory comment about a racially charged situation after admitting he did not know all the facts. It was a very irresponsible comment to make. I expect better from him.

[Flavor]

Let me say this, and then flavor is done with this subject, coming from a family of police officers, I clearly respect them they are needed, they come up against a lot of mess and there are some excellent police that go beyond the call of duty and they should be honored and awarded for that, but the fact remains, that there are problems with cops and people of color you can't get around it and if (we) are honest it would be said, we all come from different backgrounds, different ways we were brought up, different ways we think on a matter ect...... the one thing that I hate to hear is we should honor police even if they are crooked or wrong, I don't think so if you want respect carry yourself that way and respect will follow you, because of their position (some) have taken advantage of that badge and carried out injustice on citizens, right here about 9 years ago an officer was let go because he had sex with a prostitute and then would not pay her she went to the authorities and this case was picked up and proven, he was let go and never to be in law enforcement again, now the people have seen a lot and so there is (no) trust for some officers and this is a problem and until this is addressed by all people this behavior will continue.