Has Obama put his foot in it by calling the cops who arrested the Harvard professor stupid on national TV? Stupid and racist. When the details of the arrest surfaced it didn't sound right to me the way the press was reporting it, as over aggressive cops harassing a black intellectual simply because he was black. Incident was in a good neighborhood, on Harvard property, cops must have noted immediately that the guy was well educated etc - you read the arrest report, written before it became a scandal, and nothing sounds untoward or obviously inappropriate - they respond to a call about a break in by a couple of black guys, they arrive at house and want to question a black guy discovered in the house, the man goes ballistic and starts screaming racism at which point cops probably say fuck this and arrest him. Unfortunate, sure - but racist inspired stupidity? Doesn't sound like it. Sure, the cops may have done or said something to set the guy off - but isn't it much more likely that this Harvard professor, whose whole life and career is about studying racism, overreacted and saw the devil he was already predisposed to see? What motivation would the cops have to abuse some old intellectual on Harvard property?
I'm guessing there's a whole lot of cops out there feeling none too happy about being characterized as stupid racists for doing their job.
update: and of course right on cue Obama 'clarifies' his comments today - 'I wasn't calling the officer stupid, I meant the situation was stupid' - although now it appears he thinks everyone is stupid who thinks he meant the officer was stupid. No word yet on whether or not he's sticking with the racism slander - will wait with great expectation for him to explain to us ignorant types just what he meant by that.
update: now some suggesting that the question was 'planted' - ie, Obama wanted to talk about this and chose a question at the end of the press conference from someone he knew was going to ask about it - if true that's priceless.
