Posted by
Bob Siegel on Saturday, July 25, 2009 2:55:55 PM
During last week's press conference, President Obama was asked how he felt about the case of mistaken identity when police almost arrested Harvard professor, Henry Luis Gates for breaking into his own home after being accidentally locked out. Gates was already inside the house when police arrived. He showed his driver's license but was still booked for exhibiting what the police called "loud and tumultuous behavior."
Professor Gates claimed it was a case of racial profiling and I doubt that Obama would have even been asked about this incident if he were not an African-American president. Was this a racial profiling question? Hmm...In any event, Obama started off by saying that he did not know the details of the story. That wasn't a bad way to begin and it may have been the first time President Obama has spoken the truth. So why didn't he quit while he was ahead and end the discussion right there? If he doesn't know the details, why continue talking? Oh well, as you know by now, he did continue. He went on to say that in general, racial profiling is a serious problem in our country. Now, who could listen to a statement like that and conclude anything other than an implication of the policemen's guilt. Obama also said the police had behaved stupidly for arresting Gates even though they insisted the man's behavior left much to be desired.
Since then, President Obama has come under a great deal of criticism. For this reason, he contacted Officer Crowley ( the police sergeant in question) and expressed regret that he had not chosen his words more carefully, along with assurances that he had no intention to malign Crowley's character. Why oh why would we have thought that, Obama? And then, history repeated itself. Once again Obama could have left well enough alone but he went on to say more. This time, he pointed out that the very fact racial profiling was even thought of, shows us how it continues to be a problem in our country.
Don't you just love these political apologies: "I'm kind of, sort of, sorry, but not altogether wrong because race is still a serious issue in our country even if race was not an issue this particular time."
When Obama ran for president, he became known as the man who would put race behind us. He has done no such thing. Even while running, he accused the McCain campaign of racism throughout the election but then after winning, he congratulated McCain for running a "clean campaign."
After November, we were told that this gesture of electing an African-American president would heal our nation's monumental racial divide and eliminate racism once and for all.
Nothing even close to that has happened. Before the dust settled, Obama appointed Eric Holder as Attorney General. Holder started in immediately by calling us a nation of cowards because we'd never had a "serious discussion about race."
Is President Obama cementing in a divisive crack or driving a train through it? None of this should surprise us. After all, the very fact that we were sternly warned to either vote for a black man or be labeled a racist showed what a backward country we truly are. Ironically, there had once been a great deal of progress. Much of Martin Luther King's dream of a colorless society started to happen in the late sixties and seventies. I believe King would be turning in his grave to see our country overlook a man whose past was laced with racist and terrorist associates, only to make this same man our president simply because he is black. Why is that not viewed as racism? I believe it would have been by King. I also believe that if a man like King had become our president, racial problems may have truly waned.
In the next election, Obama may be voted out of office for his socialist policies and unwillingness to confront dictators, terrorists and thugs. But that will not be be the way the liberal press spins it. Instead, the headline will read the next morning: "America Votes First Black President Out Of Office."
In the meantime, he is still in office and if you think that's a symbol of racial healing, then you must be the kind of person who believes a head ache cures a stomach ache.
Also by Bob Siegel:
Obama
Put Race Behind Us?