It doesn't get much better than this.
We have a President -- who appears on national television to rephrase a controversial comment and reframe an unexpected explosion of national attention sparked by the recent Professor Henry Louis Gates versus Cambridge police incident.
Instead of fanning the flames of still nascent racism buried deep in the American psyche, or defending his words, he raised the debate to a level of moving forward from a contentious moment to a teachable moment...and live television remains the most potent pulpit.
Definition: teach•a•ble mo•ment: noun.
Moment of educational opportunity: a time at which a person, especially a child, is likely to be particularly disposed to learn something or particularly responsive to being taught or made aware of something. (MSN Encarta)
Although television was discovered in 1927, it took until the 1950's for it to become a mass medium. Now we are approaching the midpoint of transition to what has been referred to as...The Relationship Age. Once again, television is poised as the fulcrum in an axial moment of convergence and transformation.
"The sweet spot for the transition from the Industrial Age to the Digital and Relationship Age will be about a thirty year period that began in about 1990 and we are half way through right now. Looking ahead to 2010, 2015 and 2020, the path into The Relationship Age is clear and exciting." (Jack Myers)
Politics and television are strange and irresistible bedfellows -- more often than not exciting the basest sensibilities and exposing the most heinous corruption. But occasionally -- as just happened with President Obama, Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates and Sgt. James Crowley -- television offers a rare and powerful glimpse into the true potential of a mass medium.
"It isn't always possible to create teachable moments; they may arise in very mundane situations, or in circumstances that are unusual and unlikely to occur again." (wisegeek.com)
Obama had the character to seize the moment, put aside his laser focus on nationalizing health care, and get involved -- as our nation's leader -- in a situation that had seized the collective attention.
As he reflected on his initial comment, saying the police 'acted stupidly,' he had a realization of a better way to 'calibrate' his vocabulary, step up and create a teachable moment of mass media proportion...Live, on television.
We saw Obama change his position and choose a better and fairer point of view -- one that will lead to a beer at the White House with the magic three involved gathered together in the name of peace.
"Many spiritually advanced people I know (not coweringly religious, mind you, but deeply spiritual) identify Obama as a Lightworker, that rare kind of attuned being who has the ability to lead us not merely to new foreign policies or health care plans or whatnot, but who can actually help usher in a new way of being on the planet, of relating and connecting and engaging with this bizarre earthly experiment. These kinds of people actually help us evolve. They are philosophers and peacemakers of a very high order, and they speak not just to reason or emotion, but to the soul."
(Mark Morford)
Already detractors -- even fellow bloggers on this site -- are suggesting Obama 'wimped out,'.
Without incidents like this one, there is no opportunity to model what evolution looks like. Without human beings like Obama, there are no edgewalkers to take the chance. "Leadership must be established from the top down." (Sam Rayburn)
Politics aside, to have a president who can teach, is a rare commodity in this country. "The unusual thing is, true Lightworkers almost never appear on such a brutal, spiritually demeaning stage as national politics. This is why Obama is so rare." (Morford)
If the Relationship Age, coupled with the power of the media, is seized by leaders with intent to transform, teachable moments will become an ongoing part of our national curriculum.
H. Smith
The president of the United States made a straight forward common sense comment about the Gates’ arrest at a national press conference. I’m sure he assumed that there would be universal common sense understanding throughout the media and our society about the injustice of arresting a middle-aged man within his own home for being rude to a police officer. Sadly the media, law enforcement, political institutions and race baiting public in this society allowed this common sense evaluation to spiral out of control. The minority population in this country has always and will always need a coalition of proactive citizens with a similar sense of values in this society so injustices can be expressed without chaos, political unrest or violence. That has been the basis of every minority civil rights movement of our country. The president acknowledged an obvious injustice at a national press conference and expected common sense police officers, nurses , doctors , teachers, the media, politicians and everyday citizens to understand and support his outrage at the injustice and humiliation Professor Gates endured in his own home.