Does admitting the mistake hurt Obama....

No...great leaders know when to say oops...if bush said that with Iraq we would have been out years ago and all those men and women...well you get my point.

What hurt Obama was blindly siding with a black person without the full knowledge of the case, AND similar to so many other black media commentators, to misreport on the facts of the case to cast Gates in a favorable and sympathetic public light.

He admitted to saying he wished he would have used different language, but he didn't apologize.

Agree with Julia about knowing when to cut losses. But very uncharacteristic of him. He usually has very good instincts. Bill Cosby commented on the the lack of savvy shown by Obama by commenting on something he didn't have the facts on.

Whoa . . . and I don't usually play in these discussions on a RE board - go back and listen to what Obama said - not what the press has said he said, and he was careful to say that he didn't know all the facts, but that if the police had acted in a certain way - that he described fully - then they had acted stupidly. And he went on to speak about the well documented different treatment of blacks and latinas by the police in our country.

His instincts were fine here - and he is also savy enough not to let the attempt by the media to cause a fuss and sell papers/ad time & the GOP who would like nothing better to derail the more important things he has on his mind. The reaction to what he said was - in my mind - little better than the treatment he received in the press for that non-starter story about him looking at an intern when he was in Europe. The lie that the taken out of context freeze frame photo told was shown by the video, and the story passed.

Go back & listen to what he said - he was fine when he spoke in unprepared remarks, and he ought not to apologize for the substance of what he said. Poor word choice in using "stupidly" seems to me like pretty thin skin on the police's part, but I think O is smart enough to give them what they want and move forward.

I am so sick to death of hearing about this story.

Even on streeteasy I can't escape it. WHO CARES?!

This whole thing makes me sick. The professor is one negative attention seeking douchebag that likes to label any non-black person as racist. This so called "black scholar" should study a fable called "The Boy Who Cried Wolf".

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-ap-us-harvard-scholar-arresting-officer,0,4731766.story

Yes. And given the current market trends, I predict he won't be able to re-sell the White House above $1000 per square foot.

(Seriously...is there anywhere this story isn't being hashed over?)

"And he went on to speak about the well documented different treatment of blacks and latinas by the police in our country."

Which is a huge part of the problem.

He didn't know if this was a case of "different" treatment.

Yes, I don't argue that there is absolute discrimination in a lot of things.

But Obama acted STUPIDLY by assuming this was the case. Nothing does more to hurt real causes then bs allegations waving the flag of that cause. Just like false rape allegations hurt the ability of real victims to be treated fairly, an idiot yelling "racism, racism" when there isn't just hurts the cause of actual racism.

Politics is all about popularit polls. Republicans will use this in the worst possible way.

My approval rating of Obama went from:

1. 100% - Election time.
2. 65% - AIG bailout time.
3. 25% - Race baiting/police officer bashing time.
4. ? - 2012 Election.

I think he made a big mistake, but this didn't affect my view of him that much.... I think he almost had to do it given pressure from some other folks. There are lots of idiots he still has to appease.

But, yeah, he could have handled this a little better. But I knew he was good at easy speeches, it wasn't like I expected him to be Solomon.

LOL, 65% to 25%? How could this story anger someone so much...I don't get it.

I didn't even vote for Obama and I don't understand the hoopla around this story. Please for the love of god, back to the economy before I throw my television out the window.

hey lisa, the bailout of AIG was under Bush and was the right move. Thanks for not paying attention.

maybe palin will run again in 2012 and you'll have a chance to rectify your vote.

Looks like all the obama/gates/black apologists are coming out of the woodworks.

*yawn*

AR...that was very funny!!

http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/famecrawler/2009/03/sarah-palin.jpg

sorry to go OT here, but i updated another thread and it didn't come up.

julia, take a look here.
http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/10889-julia-check-this-out-279k-studio-uws

and riversider, please, i just ate.

and riversider, please, i just ate.
you realize a lot of guys find her cute..

don't worry we know she's a dunce

I think this ends the story.....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/24/AR2009072400451.html?hpid=topnews

Obama Invites Gates, Arresting Officer to the White House

I think Obama gets credit here. It's very tough to do an about face like this.
Lesser men would not have....

"Does admitting the mistake hurt Obama.... "

"I think Obama gets credit here. It's very tough to do an about face like this.
Lesser men would not have...."

Really? Lesser men would not have? Backpedaling is one of the 1st lessons you learn as a politician. I've seen sewer rats backpedal faster than that. Not that hard and not that noble. Nothing to admire here... move along... move along....

He made a mistake, and in the only way possible, he apologized for it. Let's move on, there are much more important things for everyone to worry about.

What I love about the story of the incident and all that followed is that I feel I can understand what each person involved is saying--that is, the perspective they are coming from, and I can respect why they made the choices they did and said the things they did. I also can see how each person could have done things a bit differently. If we can not yell at one another and have a discussion (I don't mean just us here, but us in the sense of America) about the issues raised, it can elevate us. It is always a good thing to understand things from different perspectives, and this is an opportunity to do just that. The amount of coverage and discussion the incident and aftermath is receiving is a very good thing IMO. Anything that gets us to discuss race relations in this country makes us a better nation. Often, I don't see race as just one of the issues--in so many instances and ways it is THE issue in America. It is so hard for us as a nation and individually to find ways to bring it up let alone to engage in dialogue about race. This president has made that a bit easier and allowed us to discuss race more often, and that is good. This incident, and even the President's involvement, furthers the dialogue. I love it. And I don't care that this has nothing to do with RE! :)

Black Mom & Black Dad: Son, if you ever get pulled over by a white cop for speeding, get caught shoplifting, get in a fight, be drunk and disorderly, lip-off and be belligerent to a cop - all you have to say is, "RACIST! RACIST! RACIST! Do you know who I am? I will ruin you! I know the President of the United States! RACIST!" and you will get off scot-free!

Real good lessons obama and gates are teaching!

Wow, way out of line ER - Gates wasn't breaking the law... he was in his own HOME!

He broke the law, duh! Disorderly conduct, look it up!

Douchebag screams bloody racist for asking for ID and screams at a cops face? This is Gates "Don't Tase me dude" moment.

What I'm sick of are all the supposed intelligent people with blinders on when a black man is obviously a hateful person. Whatever, I don't want this site to become like HuffPost and start deleting all comments and banning people for not siding with Obama and the professor.

HuffPost has jumped the shark, I hate to see streeteasy do the same.

It is difficult - not impossible - but difficult to be guilty of disorderly conduct inside one's own home. That is in my opinion, from what I have read, why the arrest took place on the porch. All the police had to do when gates had shown ID was leave. Was he belligerent? Probably. But he was in his own home - he was within his domain, and this has a special place in the law. All they had to do was leave.

He said one wrong word, "stupidly", and people get their underwear in a bunch. I'm glad he said it, although I am surprised he was so blunt. If he had brushed off the question, his base, the media and the Black community would have slammed him for not addressing race relations in this country. This event was truly a teachable moment, but unfortunately it went over the heads of the media and apparently some people on this board.

What Should Have Been Talked About:

1. The strained relationship between White cops and Black men is REAL. What happened to Dr. Gates was cake compared to what happens every day in this country. These lesser known incidents lead to wrongful arrests, beatings and sometimes death.

2. America is not ready to talk honestly about race. Obama spoke honestly and bluntly,exactly the way a discussion on race should be. You cannot be politically correct and have an honest discussion about race. It's impossible. Someone will get offended.

3. Too many White folks are still in denial about racism. Hey, I'm being honest and if that sentence offended you then it applies to you. Yes, we have a Black president. A Black president who is being accused of not being born in this country, constantly being called un-American, the subject of racist e-mails involving watermelons-comparisons to Hitler- and an African witch doctor. Don't dismiss anyone who claims they have been discriminated against. Just like some of you claim that Obama should know all the facts, YOU should also know all the facts. But you won't because there was no video tape, only written accounts from the parties involved.

4. Obama, Crowley have talked, had a laugh and there was even a suggestion that all three get together for beer. Wow! The level of maturity oozing from these guys. I just wish it would rub off on the media and people like EastRiver.

5. People are not ready for honesty from a politician. Asking a politician to be honest is like a woman asking her man if he thinks she's fat. "He shouldn't have used that word", "he shouldn't have said anything". He was blasted for his "cling to guns and religion" comment, but truer words have never been spoken. John McCain told Detroit that the jobs weren't coming back and he lost the state in the primary to Mittens. Honesty is not rewarded in this country.

This won't hurt him. Obama is a master at turning his mistakes into a plus for him.

Really? One wrong word "stupidly"? Selective memory problems? Huh? You can't recall? Attempting a conversation and discussion with you would be like discussing an argument with a religious person - your beliefs and thoughts are "faith" based and no amount of reason and logic and thoughtfulness will persuade you otherwise from what you believe in. Me, I'm "fact" based and a strong argument can convince me of the error of my ways and I am not omniscient, and will admit when I'm wrong and have been wrong many times, but this you have not done. You have only made yourself to be a sympathizer of hateful people and only hateful black people.

One way to "prove" this scenario is like proving a math problem (i.e. 5x3=15 and 15/3=5) If you can substitute an old white professor in for the old black professor and the white cop for a black cop and let the events play out and the scenario comes out the same and makes sense, then yes, the original argument would be true. But, it doesn't play out like that. The real racist here is Professor Gates. allonfla, who are you trying to fool? Yourself? Majority of Americans aren't either and that is a contributing reason as to why most Americans think Gates and Obama were race baiting and race fanning the situation.

1,2,3,4,5 (What a laugh!)

Gates is acting with maturity?!? Yeah right! Is this before or after he calls a police officer a racist for asking him for ID because he received a call about a possible break-in? Yelling and screaming at a cop just doing his job and treating him with respect but not getting any in return. Being a media whore and lying about the account of what happened and threatening the police officer not to mess with him because he doesn't know who he is. Demanding the cop beg... beg for his forgiveness for arresting him with disorderly conduct and turning a regular arrest into a National circus frenzy with made accusations towards an honest cop. You, allonfla, need some perspective and stop and think for yourself and look at this and all similar situations with logic and level headiness. Perhaps, you should act less like Gates and more like the cop. You obviously have issues, someone hurt your feelings in the past? Get over it. Everyone has had their feelings hurt before.

Turing comp off now, you're not worth the rest of my night off.

" Majority of Americans aren't either and that is a contributing reason as to why most Americans think Gates and Obama were race baiting and race fanning the situation."

Where did you get that information?

Oh, and you're an idiot EeastRiver.

who's "EeastRiver?

lol, watch out ER, the ignoramus morons will call you an idiot while misspelling your name!!!

FWIW, you're 100% on target!!!!!

Ok. Maybe we can't stop yelling at each other long enough to actually talk about this.

But I'll try once more. I can step back enough to say I understand why the Professor did and said what he did. He could have behaved differently and we wouldn't be discussing this, granted. But he acted from frustration, anger, perhaps pent up rage at a 1000 indignities and wrongs suffered and seen and heard over a lifetime.

And true, too, that the officer had the discretion not to make an arrest but chose to do otherwise--an error of judgment the police tacitly made when dismissing the charges hours later. But perhaps, too, it seemed at the time, with his lawful authority to investigate a possible ongoing crime challenged that an arrest was somehow necessary.

The President weighed in, regretted his word choice, and took steps to promptly admit it directly to the people whom he felt his error had hurt most directly. Maybe getting all the facts is better before taking sides and maybe it is never a good thing to call people stupid. The people who most need to hear what is being said usually stop listening once they are called stupid and we end up talking only to ourselves and the choir.

And maybe in all of this is a lesson. We ought to keep our mouths shut and our hands at our sides for a moment before we react and THINK. If we all just think a bit more and try to see things from another's view point, maybe a lot of mess can be avoided and in its place something better might arise than what would have had we not paused.

Everyone in this situation could have benefitted from just reflected for a moment on their own, and others' points of view.

But that lesson just seems missed based on what I'm reading here. Everyone is venting, but not in a way that gets anyone else on here to think. It's all hot rhetoric. Think for a moment: what can I write, and what tone can I write it in, that may create thoughtful reflection and not a bunch of angry typing in response. Or just keep screaming through your keyboards. It is free and your time. Its up to you.

I thought this was a "free" country with a Constitution that protects free speech. Gates may have been rude to the cop but that's not a crime. Only in fascist police states is it a crime to talk back to the authorities. The cop should be fired. And he should be glad Gates didn't follow Gordon Liddy's advice:

On August 26, 1994, Liddy told his radio listeners: "Now if the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms comes to disarm you and they are bearing arms, resist them with arms. Go for a head shot; they're going to be wearing bulletproof vests." Liddy's advice that day was explicit: "They've got a big target on there, ATF. Don't shoot at that, because they've got a vest on underneath that. Head shots, head shots.... Kill the sons of bitches."

properservice, who gives a rat's ass if he's hateful. that's hardly illegal. let's go round up all the hateful people, regardless of skin tone. sorry kylewest if that doesn't meet your analytical standards, but really.

The amazing thing about this whole situation was it had absolutely nothing to do with race on the cops part. But, because Gates just throws the word "racist" and improperly accuses the cop of being a racist, all of a sudden this is a "race" issue? It's quite obvious Gates is the one with a BIG chip on his shoulder. Doesn't he know being uncooperative, rude, talking back, yelling and screaming, threatening him, lying with wild accusations at a cop is not too bright an idea and if you do that, you probably WILL get arrested for disorderly conduct. Which btw, is one of the catch all - wide net arrests that a cop can use to their discretion. I mean come on!? He and his friends, his colleagues, and black people in general don't know this!?! If this guy was white of whites and acted like that he would have been arrested with disorderly conduct too. Oh wait - white people who acted like this to cops have been arrested before.

This Gates character should be fired from his job for lying, for being the racist, and lose his university housing.

Harvard should fire Gates. That a$$tard is a scholar? What an ignorant blowhard.

i have to disagree with Kylewest on this one..the police didn't dismiss the charges..the mayor did and i'm sure she did so because the professor is politically connected...would the president or the mayor side so quickly if the man arrested was a black man living in a poor neighborhood...This is about class, not race!!

Gates is an asshole and deserved to be arrested for disorderly conduct. The black mayor should not have interfered and dropped the charges against Gates. Gates is an adult and needs to take responsibility for his actions and getting a free ride like this is a shame. Because he was black, he had an arrest dropped. This guy is supposedly a scholar but not very bright and a racist to boot. I can see it now, perhaps in a week, a month, a year, his name will be in the national spotlight again because a white cop had the audacity to pull him over for speeding! Doesn't the cop know who he is? Who his friends are? He will cry "racist, racist" in order to get out of a ticket.

lisa_asil had it right - Gates is the modern day example of "THE BOY WHO CRIED WOLF."

I can see it now, a white student, an Asian student, an Indian student, or whatever approaches him and asks him a question and he'll start screaming and accusing them of being racists! How can anybody ever believe his claims in the future?

would agree that he appears to be an arrogant asshole but that is not (thank goodness) against the law and not worthy of the time invested to arrest, etc. lucky for many of us posting here because if being an arrogant asshole was an arrestable offense, i think it would be the end of the majority of these threads.

Julia, a mayor cannot drop charges once filed. Only the DA can do that or move for a court to do that. Here, upon request of the police the Middlesex County DA dismissed the charges. None of which is surprising. It would have been impossible to sustain the charges. Disorderly Conduct, or 'discon' as it is commonly called in the world of criminal justice, is all but impossible to sustain in most situations and virtually no one so charged is ever convicted. It is largely a charge used as a tool in plea negotiations that defendants are permitted to plea down to in satisfaction of higher charges. It is a sort of legal fiction in most jurisdictions.

Regardless, it was (based on what I've read so far) apparently an unfounded arrested made without probable cause. The arrest never should have been made. Simply walking away wouldn't have caused any problems for the public if the cop had elected to just move on. But Gates also didn't have to step outside of his house or engage the police in any discussion at all once he stated he was the homeowner and pretty clearly wasn't burglarizing the place. His choice to continue engaging the police in the manner he did was over the top. If he had a problem, the patrol cop wasn't the one to take it up with--it was his superiors or even higher-ups. Screaming and shouting is no way to handle a situation. Especially with cops. Unless you want to precipitate a larger incident somehow.

No one in this is going to get a good conduct award. But for a situation where there is enough poor decision making all around for the participants, I don't think anyone should be losing their livelihood over this. It has given us some things to think about if we choose to. But the strident tone struck here is precisely the type of thing that got the cop and the professor into this to start with.

ProperService: Gates "deserved to be arrested...." In America, people don't get arrested because they "deserve" it. Arrests are based on probable cause that a crime has been committed and that the person to be arrested is the one who committed the crime. Here, regardless of whether you disapprove of the Professor's behavior, there is no evidence he committed a crime that I've read. The Mass. statute on discon doesn't seem to cover shouting and carrying on while on one's porch.

It is against the law for disorderly conduct. The cop didn't arrest Gates "IN" his home, Gates was arrested "OUTSIDE" his home. The cop was able to get Gates outside and then made the arrest.

None of this would have occurred if it went like this, like normal, rational people:

1. Gates sees a cop in his home. Asks the cop why he's in his home.
2. Cop tells Gates a 911 call was placed about a possible break-in. Could Gates provide an ID.
3. Gates provides an ID.
4. Cops looks at ID and verifies with one other source (or whatever the SOP for this is)
5. Misunderstanding resolved. Cop leaves, Gates left alone.

But, Nooooooooooooo, Gates wants it this way:

1. Gates sees a cop in his home. Screams who the f*(k he is and why the f*&k he's in his home.
2. The cop tries to explain the situation.
3. Gates cuts him off and yells at the cop he is a racist. Goes on a long diatribe and self victimization about black people and black murder rates in America. Screams at the cop he is a racist.
4. Threatens the cop that he doesn't know who he's dealing with. You don't want to mess with him. He has powerful friends.
5. Says I'm not going to give you an ID, it's my house, get out you racist, racist.
6. Cop tells him to calm down, to provide an ID.
7. Eventually, Gates provides an ID and Harvard school ID.
8. Gates continues to yell and call the cop a racist.
9. The cop tells Gates he can't hear him in the kitchen, it's too loud and to go outside do discuss.
10. Gates follows and continues to yell and scream at cop and accuses the cop of being a racist.
11. The cop is fed up and arrest Gates OUTSIDE his home for disorderly conduct.
12. And as somebody else has said, it's Gate's: DON'T ARREST ME, DUDE! moment!! classic photo, classic self-entitled douchebag.

you're correct except for #11. the cop was fed up but being fed up is not grounds for arrest. gates acted badly, very badly. took advantage of his position and connections. still no grounds for arrest.

That is exactly what disorderly conduct can be used for. Cops have the DISCRETION to enforce the laws as they see fit. This is law 101, criminal justice 101, security guard 101, mall cop 101. Gates would have his day in court to fight the charges if he thought it was wrong. cc, you're wrong.

"In United States criminal law, probable cause refers to the standard by which a police officer has the right to make an arrest, conduct a personal or property search, or to obtain a warrant for arrest."

as kw has pointed out above...what evidence has been presented to achieve this standard? the cop being pissed off does not meet this standard.

cc - we will never know now will we? The court system was the venue to address if the cop was right or if Gates was right. But, the cop did the right thing. Arrests like these are made every day, every minute, every second in this country. Some hold up in the court of law and some don't but the cop can arrest Gates for disorderly conduct again when Gates acts that way again.

arrests like these? in people's homes or on their porch not involving domestic violence? i think (and I admit upfront that this is merely conjecture on my part) that these circumstances are quite unusual.

i agree with you that gates acted very, very badly but i still cannot see how this arrest served the community in any way. who would have been harmed if the cop(s) had climbed into their cars and left?

ProperService, I suspect you intent to vent,and not be taken as stating an actual legal principle in your last post. But in case I read it wrong:

Discon is not exactly for a fed up cop to arrest anyone they want. In fact, speech oriented provisions of Massachusetts' statute have actually been held unconstitutional by the commonwealth's courts. Discon is most legitimately applied to people blocking public spaces and obstructing traffic and people. For example, a man gets into an argument with a subway token clerk. He is shouting and demanding something. A line builds behind him. Cops arrive and ask him to step aside to discuss whatever is upsetting him. He refuses and keeps shouting. At that point, with the line growing, crowds now having to walk around the line, and things becoming gummed up, a discon arrest might be made. It really isn't for someone yelling in their own house (you by definition can't be disorderly in your own home) or on their own porch if no one is complaining other than the officer.

As stated before, the Judicial Branch i.e the courts would have addressed this. This is a classic civics course lesson. Judaical Branch (court system), Executive Branch (mayor, police) Your arguments sound like a what a defense lawyer would bring up and sound reasonable in the court room. If you want to test your argument in the real world and repeat what Gates said to a cop, be my guest. You can argue about the legality of the arrest afterwords with the cops and your lawyer - unless you have socially and politically connected friends that can escalate this mild case into the national spotlight and get you off of the charges for free.

ProperService, I actually come from things from a prosecutorial perspective and more experience in this area than anyone else on here is likely to have. I'm talking about very real world facts. Discon arrests rarely make it past a DA's Intake Unit because they tend on their face to fail to state a prima facie case. Here, nothing I read suggests the arrest was based on probable cause under the Mass. statute. Have you read the statute? Actually, parts of it as published have been struck out by the courts--the parts about people speaking, actually.

When asked my advice for how to deal with cops, I always explain you are unlikely to win any 'fight' with a cop so don't try. Be polite and get the encounter over with. Do not 'take them on.' But that is different than processing an arrest. A wrongful arrest exposes the police and city to lawsuits and the cop to disciplinary action. Most often the DA immediately spots a bogus arrest and it doesn't even get to court. Nothing shouts DISMISS ME like a discon arrest in a DAs office because they rarely even meet the minimal statutory elements. This arrest, in the Gates case, as I understand it seems to fail to make out the elements of the Mass. statute. That is why it was dismissed as much as anything. It isn't as if they had a solid case but the man's influence got the charges dropped. These charges could not have even been arraigned from what I read because no crime is made out.

A point I meant to include above is that the vast majority of officers do not want to expose themselves to the risks of a bad arrest--let alone for b.s. like a discon collar, nor do they want to do hours of paperwork for an arrest based on nothing more than discon. Plus, most Middlesex County officers are not so bored they have nothing to do but collar homeowners shouting. This officer's judgment was most definitely off here. He acted as few officers I have ever dealt with would have (and I've met hundreds if not thousands of officers and detectives). Was it so outrageous he should lose his job in light of an otherwise apparently good record of service for many years? Of course not. As I said before, there is enough bad behavior all around on this one for everyone to stop pointing fingers and screaming and use it as a learning opportunity.

Disorderly conduct is much more effectively used than you're suggesting. Plenty of people had that charged against them throughout their teen years, college years, military years, parties, festivals, any celebrations hosted by cities to include 4th of July, New Years Eve, Spring Break, etc, etc. and they spent a pretty penny hiring a lawyer and fighting it in court. I'm sure there is a cheap, and effective way of getting these charges dismissed and it might even vary state to state but it is not as simple as that most of the time and for most that don't have a lot of money to spend of defense.

Possible outcomes:
- 1st time offense, charges dropped, record wiped.
- Prior offenses, charges dropped, but get arrested again and the book gets slammed on you.
- and many more varieties and ways to skin this.

Gates was rightfully arrested and he should have fought it by hiring a lawyer with his own money and having his lawyer represent him to sort this out. The important thing would have been the next time Gates mouths off at a cop for doing his/her lawful investigation and getting arrested for disorderly conduct, there would be a paper trail and Gates can be dealt in accordance with the law. Maybe, he'll get lucky and weasel his way out of it but maybe not.

you never responded to my earlier questions:

"arrests like these? in people's homes or on their porch not involving domestic violence? i think (and I admit upfront that this is merely conjecture on my part) that these circumstances are quite unusual.

i agree with you that gates acted very, very badly but i still cannot see how this arrest served the community in any way. who would have been harmed if the cop(s) had climbed into their cars and left?"

and now you've created a whole set of facts from thin air that assumes that gates will do this again?

"Arrests like these" - yes, disorderly conduct arrests, not this situation where a black Harvard professor goes mental on a white cop investing a 911 robbery complaint.

"burglary complaint"

Disorderly Conduct is not a crime, but a violation.

Therefore police don't need to have probably cause of a crime to make an arrest.

Once the police saw that the occupant was the lawful resident of his home, there was no longer a criminal matter here. So to the issue of disorderly conduct, the only way for disorderly conduct to occur were there to be some hostilities (again, not criminal) between the lawful occupant and the policeman. However, once the policeman were to leave, there couldn't be hostilities or a situation of disorderly conduct. So the policeman remaining was an incitement to disorderly conduct, therefore no valid arrest.

But to Gates, I guess if I were a respectable African American man who has become more and more marginalized over time in my original purpose, especially now with an African American holding the highest position in the land, I might create a controversy to become more relevant.

So the policeman remaining was an incitement to disorderly conduct, therefore no valid arrest.

i.e. once there was no longer a criminal matter, the police didn't have reason to remain.

And if by removing himself from the situation, there would have been no disorderly conduct, because this was a private home where the police no longer had a reason to stay.

I'm amazed at the vitriol and racism evidenced by so many people regarding this story. President Obama didn't defend the 'black' man in this instance. He defended a distinguished scholar (and those of you who doubt that Gates is a distinguished scholar are dead wrong: I took a class with him at Harvard and have read several of his books and he is the real thing) who is also his friend, and who was arrested in a completely unwarranted and outrageous manner. The officer is probably not a bad guy, but he made a huge error. Once he realized that the 911 call was in error and that he was dealing with the rightful owner of the home it was time for him to apologize for bothering the professor and get back in his car. Quite frankly, I am entitled to enter my own home any way I want. If I want to break down my own door or throw bricks through my own window that is my prerogative. And if I yell at a police officer for wrongly questioning me IN MY OWN HOME it is absurd to think I should be taken to jail.

The Cambridge Police Department and Middlesex County DIstrict Attorney have acknowledged as much by dropping charges and apologizing for the arrest. It was a bad arrest. Whether or not Professor Gates was polite to the police officer is irrelevant. And those of you who just assume that the President weighed in on this because of his race should question why you look at everything through that prism. This is a simple case of overzealous policing.

i was with you until your last sentence.

There is nothing simple about this situation.

I'm glad to see this discussion because this one really makes my heart hurt, to see the stark racial divide like after the OJ Simpson case oh so many years ago. I was originally prepared to see this as a bad white cop but, more & more, Professor Gates looks like the problem here. The policeman says that he was concerned that possibly both he & Gates were in a house with bad guys & both were in peril; Gates apparently opened the conversation by accusing the cop of being a racist, not a way to win friends & (positively) influence people. I'm white & I know that giving lip to a cop is not the way to go. I'm sure I've seen on 'Cops' where the policemen put someone in handcuffs, "You're not under arrest", until they were able to figure the situation out & then sent them on their way. That would have probably been the way to go here because it was apparently nobody's finest moment but, to me, Gates looks by far the worst in this aftermath. It will be interesting to see how this plays out & KW is right, it should be a learning experience for all of us.

proper service,

disorderly conduct is not meant as a club the police can wield against anyone who doesn't act exactly as they would like. This is why cops are often disciplined for repeatedly making bad Docon arrests. The idea that Professor Gates is some kind of rabble-rousing troublemaker is just absurd. You obviously know nothing about him or his distinguished career. He graduated summa cum laude from Yale in history (must be a real moron), he got a PhD from Cambridge in English a Mellon fellow, has received a MacArthur genius grant, and has served on the faculties of Yale, Cornell, Duke, and Harvard. He is currently a University Professor at Harvard, the highest academic position at the University. There are some folks who see a successful--in this case brilliant and famous as well--black man and assume he must be some sort of phony. That's just not the case at all.

drdrd,

you think they should have put Professor Gates in handcuffs in his own home when he committed no crime? how can you say 'he is the problem'? no one can explain to me what the man did wrong. he yelled at a cop for questioning his right to be in his own home. for that he should be arrested?

as for the racial divide, it is depressing indeed. i am white, and let me ask you this: when was the last time a well-dressed, 5'7, sixty year old white college professor was treated like this? it would never happen.

Gates was probably ticked off about Harvard's losses in the derivative market courtesy of Larry Summers.

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/07/24/larry-summerss-billion-dollar-harvard-gamble/

Happy, you certainly know more about Gates than I do but one can have all of those degrees & accolades & still have a hot temper or a blind spot. If Gates was not working with the cops to sort out the situation, that can be hindering a policeman in his duties; at that point the policeman did not even know who was in that house & had there not been an attempted break-in at that address while Gates was on his trip to China? I think so. So instead of trying to work with the authorities, Gates starts his tirade about race, race, race when this apparently was merely a law enforcement situation. I can remember in certain situations that I've had to remind myself that I know I'm telling the truth but the other person does not. THAT is what Gates failed to remember. Yes, it's his house, but he needed to prove it to the police & then he needed to allow the police to satisfy themselves that this 911 call had been fully & properly dealt with.

I am white as well but if I start mouthing off to a cop, I could create a pretty ugly situation. Cops are generally male, hopped up on adrenaline, with a badge & a gun & a stick; you want to make it ugly, go ahead, but who is going to win? Did you see the policeman's very calm interview where he said that he didn't know what he was walking into (domestic situations are potentially very dangerous) & instead of Gates cooperating, he starts his racist rant while the cop doesn't even know if burglars are in the house. I had policemen on my doorstep about 10 PM one evening recently, they were looking for a previous occupant of the building, & yes I probably could have gotten arrested if I started acting the fool.

did the police greet you by asking you to present your id? or did they start by explaining what they were doing there? this was no win situation all around. I can understand how a cop who was initially suspicious of who gates might be couldn't start by telling him there had been a reported break-in in case gates was in fact illegally present.

but once he established that gates was in fact the legal resident, it was time for him to understand that being challenged in your own home is a provocation that is totally different from disorderly actions in a public place.

no one is addressing whether the President or the Mayor would have spoken out if Professor Gates was a poor black man and the same thing happened....i strongly believe this is a class issue and not race.

I can understand Obama and Gates reaction. Like it or not, folks, if your skin is black or brown, the cops are on edge, sometimes even if they are black or brown cops. Obama was just expressing a general frustration with the history of brown people in America. And he knows Gates, he trusted his judgement. What surprising is that Obama actually showed his emotion here, he is usually so measured, I liked seeing him get worked up.
Now, the specifics in this situation may not have fit the "racial profiling" standard. Whether this cop was thinking what the average white cop thinks - especially in Boston - that's another story.

Like it or not, folks, if your skin is black or brown, the cops are on edge, sometimes even if they are black or brown cops.

really? Cops are on edge when they meet a 58 year old black man? When they meet a guy who needs a cane to walk because of a injury from when he was a teenager?

This fear of blacks is a myth. Cops would be on edge for any tough looking guy 15-35 (or so) years old, white, Latin, black, Asian, whatever. For people a few years into AARP eligibility, mmm, not so much.

I don't mind Obama feeling this way about the incident, however.

Although, I'm not sure why Obama needed to comment on a local police matter.

i'm with b21 above...obama showing emotion is a good thing as far as I'm concerned. This guy is his friend...this guy is a friend of the frigging president of the united states---arguably the most powerful guy in the world. enough of the measured careful pc responses---someone maligned his buddy so he takes his friend's side.

and which of us (if we were so lucky as to be friends with the president) might not be tempted to throw it into an arrogant cop's face?

come on, everyone involved here is actually human.

wallyoil
Let me clarify what I said. When I said 'Now, the specifics in this situation may not have fit the "racial profiling" standard' I was refering to the fact that Gates is 58, uses a cane, and the cop taught classes on racial sensitivity.
But Obama and Gates reaction had more to do with the history and reality of black/brown interaction with the police. I agree with the cops being concerned with "tough looking" people, but the problem is "tough looking" means a black or hispanic who doesn't dress like a white guy or is not hanging out with white guys.

but the problem is "tough looking" means a black or hispanic who doesn't dress like a white guy or is not hanging out with white guys.

NO, that is not the problem. First of all, dressed like a white guy - you're kidding, right?
Second, if the 58 year old black man with a cane was dressed like an aging Mr. T, seriously, that's threatening? Third, if the 25 year old white guy who is hostile, jacked up and sweating, that's not threatening because the guy is white?

The problem is not with the legitimately tough guys, it's with the people who are not. You are correct, Gates should not be threatening, so Obama came to a quick conclusion that it had to do with Gates being black

i wasn't there but....gates wasn't threatening....he was loud, obnoxious, arrogant and pushy. none of which are grounds for arrest.

he was loud, obnoxious, arrogant and pushy. none of which are grounds for arrest.

true, but perhaps grounds for public scorn

why the President felt a need to be involved, even if innocent, for a guy who was loud, obnoxious, arrogant and pushy, who knows? The President our nation's Commander in Chief. He should be more thoughtful about all the troops instead.

ok wiseguy....but he got arrested. you seem to agree that he shouldn't have.

do you have any friends? would you stand up for them?

I had a incident with on Thursday night because of a mistake between the airline and officials. Obama should be out there for me too since it was even a bigger issue than a local issue. Everyone in the United States is Obama's friend if he is President of the United States.

Total abuse of power on the part of Obama.

Obama should not be standing up for his friends. He's now an institution and he needs to remember he's in a different position now than before. When he speaks he speaks with the weight of the President of the United States. That weight should apply to national situations, not petty fights or personal favors.

There'll all having a beer together!

sounds professional.....

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2009/07/27/911_tape_reveals_caller_did_not_bring_up_race_of_gates.html
http://www.breitbart.tv/cambridge-officerdispatch-audio-he-is-not-cooperative/