When race becomes an executive issue

The Pike County Journal-Reporter

When race becomes an executive issue

Posted by

Andrew Odom

in Opinions

Thursday, July 23. 2009

Comments (16)

President Obama has publicly stated that police in Cambridge, Massachusetts, "acted stupidly" in arresting a prominent black Harvard professor last week after a confrontation at the man's home.

"I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played," Obama said Wednesday night while taking questions after a White House news conference.

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#1 sick of it on 07/23/09 at 10:08 AM

here we go again....race race race thats all we ever here. why didn't he just show the id and move on,then none of this would have happened,but it sounds like he has a chip on his shoulder so he made it a big ordeal.but on theother hand if his house had been robbed and no one got there fast enough and checked it out he would be have a fit over that.so i say the police are in a no win situation here.

#2 sick of it on 07/23/09 at 10:09 AM

Mr President...you are biased because he is a friend so you should have just said no comment.

#3 anonymous on 07/23/09 at 10:16 AM

Of Obama wasn't there, how does he know the police acted stupidly?
This reminds me of Shirley Franklin, Atlanta's mayor, saying she was living in fear for her safety and her family's safety after the angry police officer said he felt like beating her in the head with a baseball bat. The cop apologized, GET OVER IT! Surely this has happened before to both whites and blacks. I am tired of hearing skin color as the blame for someone's problems.

#4 SICK OF IT on 07/23/09 at 10:47 AM

Why did Mr Gates start the conversation with why because i am a black man in america anyway.he is the racist

#5 RTVOLS on 07/23/09 at 12:14 PM

Gates and Obama are the real RACIST here.
I wish these two fools had to go out and patrol the streets and protect the citizens.

#6 Confused on 07/23/09 at 05:28 PM

If you ask me the only people who acted stupidily are the ones that voted Mr. Obama into office. The ONLY reason I say this is because he not experienced enough to properly and efficiently run a country. Apparently he has an education but there is more to running a country than education alone. Mr. Obama does not have enough common sense or life experiences to make decisions. Again, the reason I say this is because of the judgement statement that he publicly made regarding a "friend". A person in power is supposed to make decisions that are bias free, and not make a judgement call on something that occured when he was not there. The right thing to do would have been to say "no comment", or something of that nature; not call our law enforcement agents stupid for making a decision that was based on proper procedure.

#7 Black Woman on 07/23/09 at 09:11 PM

Our president is an embarrassment to me. He should not have commented on this.

#7.1 Sheila Tolley on 07/27/09 at 02:40 PM

I agree.

#8 Dr. Coldcock on 07/23/09 at 09:35 PM

Officer Crowley should have Tazered him, coldcocked him against the head and tagged the small bag of crack found in his shoe as evidence. To Hell with Obama.

#9 anonymous on 07/24/09 at 06:12 AM

The news today is that he is planning to sue. All the man had to do was show his ID, but no, he has a chip on his shoulder. This is one of those Do You Know Who I Am? things a policeman faces.

#10 anonymous on 07/24/09 at 04:28 PM

Gates is a big crybaby. Now Obama has invited both Gates and the PoPo to the White House. I think Obama should not put that poor man on the spot. He is going to expect them to kiss and make up I guess. Obama should let this little drama drop instead of perpetuating it. I feel sorry for the police officer having to be put thru this mess further.

#11 GG on 07/27/09 at 05:41 PM

Just because he is a friend Obama and a black man, does not exempt him from the law. Since he is a "pro"fessor he should have acted as a "pro"fessional. Maybe his ID stands for IDIOT!!!!

#12 Alan Landers on 08/01/09 at 02:35 PM

Many of these comments are true.However we must ask ourselves why Obama made such a stupid comment. Who remembers anything he said during that news conference other than the "stupidly" comment? The subject was "government takeover" of healthcare. Obama had a dismal performance. In order to make sure his dismal performance was not the subject of the weeks news, Obama rolled a stun grenade in to the crowd and exploded it.Effectively keeping scrutiny away from first Obama and secondly the faltering healthcare issue.That is what community organizers do. The "comment" was merly a diversionary tactic.To these people the "race issue" is simply another issue to be used... exploited to reach whatever goal they are trying to acheive at the moment.

#13 Alan Lander on 08/01/09 at 05:55 PM

Most of the comments posted are right on target. But we must always remember with this president and this administration it's never as things appear. Think about it, other than the "stupidly" comment what do you remember about the News conference? That's right nothing. The fact of the matter is Obama was a huge flop.The news conference was about "government" takeover of Healthcare. And Obama was suppose to work his magic and blew it. And they knew he blew it.There have been reports that he was already aware of the Gates incident and knew it would be brought up. I am convinced his comment about the police acting "stupidly" was planned and intended to have the exact effect it produced, which was to divert attention away from Barack's miserable performance on the faltering Healthcare issue. So he lobbed a stun grenade into the conference room and exploded it, disorienting, confusing, and befuddling the observers. This is the way of the community organizer. The Obama way. Never forget that. Always watch the other hand. The race issue to these people is simply an issue to be exploited as needed.Strike a match, light a fire, toss a grenade whatever it takes to keep us from knowing what's really going on.

#14 Sheila Tolley on 08/03/09 at 07:49 AM

Well said.

#15 Sick and Tired of People Overlooking the Real Issues on 08/13/09 at 09:28 AM

The point is racism still exists! When it is on the opposite end, no one comments! Since it is supposedly turned around, everyone has something to say! What about all the DUMB remarks and things that BUSH said and did! Many of you hate the fact that Obama is an educated black man with some sense! The sad part about it is he is trying to help all races! What are you prejudiced pompous buttholes going to do when Jesus comes back and you see that his pigmentation is darker than usual? Are you going to go to hell instead?

Racism is more evident and prevalent in Pike County now as it was before. Some of you try to clean it up but you cannot!

What is stupid is hating people because of a skin color that we had no choice in deciding and in which I love very much!

The point: Life is too short to be worried about skin color! Get over your self-righteous selves and find something to do with your time like play golf or have a tea party!

Enjoy life! What's really going is you have a man in office trying to correct the mess of a dumb president that just left office!

Now deal with that!

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