Obama’s Beer Summit a Farce

The woman who called the police when she witnessed Harvard scholar Henry Gates and his cab driver breaking into Gates’ own home did not mention their being black in the 9-1-1 call. The police officer who arrived at the scene did not go in thinking, Okay, I’m looking for two black suspects, and here’s a black guy inside the house, he must be one of the guys. Rather, it was Gates himself who introduced racism into the incident by accusing the officer of being racist for simply doing his job, and even rudely brought the officer’s mother into the discussion. He could have ended the situation simply by producing his driver’s license, and saying, Officer, this is who I am, I live here, I got locked out and had to break in. Maybe if the officer arrested Gates after he had done that, and maybe if Gates had not been so rude and confrontational, would I then be alarmed by his arrest. But no; Gates, although he broke no laws, was the one who acted stupidly, to use the word our president used to describe the police department’s actions.

I am not overlooking the facts that discrimination continues to occur in this nation, or that blacks and Hispanics are often unfairly targeted by law enforcement for no other reason than the color of their skin. Unlike the rest of the media, however, I will also acknowledge that racism is not a one-way street. Gates himself seems to have a fairly large chip on his shoulder. In his application to Yale he wrote, with a notable tone of resentment, As always, whitey now sits in judgment of me, preparing to cast my fate. Now, I could easily have said the same for most of my life. I’ve had people outside my race, my religion, and of the opposite sex, deciding my fate for a long time, be they teachers, administrators, law enforcement, government, or my parents (such is the life of a racial mutt). That is life in a diverse nation, and if you’re a minority, then it will usually be the case in one’s life.

Gates seems unable to move beyond past injustices, and, despite some egalitarian ideas on his part—that non-African and non–African Americans could and should study African and African American history and culture, just as blacks can study European and American culture, which really isn’t all that radical of an idea—Gates seems trapped by the same racialist thinking that ensnares Obama, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, and Sonia Sotomayor. This is troubling, as the discussion of race in American usually focuses on the wrongs done by the WASP male against everyone else and the supposed prejudices still harbored in the hearts of whites, especially white, Christian, conservative males. Political correctness forbids us from mentioning the fact that one need not be white, male, or Christian to be racist or sexist. There are women who have a deep-seated, venomous, and irrational hatred of all men, seeing them all as a threat to all women. There are blacks men and women who dislike Asian Americans, Latinos, Jews and Middle Easterners; Mexican Americans who fear and distrust African Americans; and so on. Simply looking at the person’s race or gender and concluding that they are racist or sexist because they’re a white male is just as racist as looking at a person and concluding that they’re poor, uneducated, unintelligent, lazy or criminal because they’re black or Hispanic, or that they must be smart and good at math or know martial arts because they’re Asian.

Now, I know that the men and women of law enforcement aren’t that popular among college students in general, and UCSB students in particular. No one likes the tattle-tale, or the parent or teacher who punishes you, even you know you’re guilty. I personally dislike it when the police arrest harmless recreational drug users, as I consider the War on Drugs a massive waste of resources. But the cop who busts you for speeding, a DUI, or for possession of a controlled substance is merely doing his job. And, for all the times you’re annoyed, enraged, or terrified by the sudden presence of the boys (and gals) in blue, you can’t tell me that we’d be better without them. When the alarm goes off at your home or business, when a family member is missing, or when you wake up in the middle of the night and hear someone rummaging around downstairs, you want the cops to be there, with their cars and guns and sirens and badges.

For the police officer is not merely the hall monitor of the real world, the tattle-tale who rats you out to Big Brother, the Man whose job it is to keep you down, but they are soldiers. Their war is one of the few Wars on ___ that I approve of: the war on crime. It is a war that all civil societies must constantly wage, one that they can never win, but one that they certainly can lose. Mexico has been losing the war in their country for decades, and it shows. Society must constantly and aggressively enforce the rule of law or chaos will prevail. It is unfortunate, but as long as destructive impulses are yielded to by irresponsible individuals, there will be a need for the law-abiding to defend themselves and their property.

As for the issue of race in this, again, while I do not deny that cops have frequently and unfairly targeted minorities, not all cops are racist, and the officer in the Gates case is certainly not a racist. Now, were I in his shoes I’d not have arrested him—I’d have probably just told Mr. Gates to shut his yap and left—but Gates was released, he wasn’t charged with anything, and, again, if he’d have simply shown his driver’s license and not launched into a tirade about how Sergeant Crowley was a racist, none of this would have happened.

But the biggest component of this whole debacle has been the president’s involvement. His decision to comment on the issue was unwise to begin with, and, if anything, he should have said that, as a personal friend of Gates, and as someone without all the facts, that he had decided not to comment. But not only did he comment, but he insulted the Cambridge police for doing their job. This was a small faux pas on his part when compared to, say, his trillion dollar stimulus plan that has done jack-diddley for our economy save for raising our deficit and inflation (and lining the pockets of crooks with pork), or his attempt to kill me and my family by destroying the health care system we need to keep ourselves alive, or trying to drive my father to an early grave by taking even more of the money he earns by the sweat of his brow from him to waste on ineffective pet projects and damaging social experiments. But it reveals, once again, the president’s inexperience and poor judgment.

Even more aggravating is the president’s arrogance in, rather than ignoring this issue and refusing to comment upon it, drawing out this issue and trying to turn it into a teachable moment. First of all, as the President of the United States, he should not have commented on the issue. It was a local issue, racial prejudice had nothing to do with it (at least on the side of the police), and on top of all that, he had a conflict of interest as a personal friend of Professor Gates’. When asked that pre-screened question at that now-infamous news conference, he should have gone with what he first said, I don’t have all the facts, and refused to comment further. But instead he behaved, shall we say, stupidly and said what he did. He then “apologized” (meaning held a press conference, criticized those who criticized him, and never actually apologized), and then deemed it appropriate to try to teach us about race. What do I, or anyone else, need to learn? And who is Obama to teach the nation about race? Is is because he’s a person of color? Again, arrogance, and the assumption that it’s just the white people who need to learn a lesson.

The icing on the cake has been the hilarious Beer Summit, which, while (un)fortunately not ending in a drunken scuffle and shouted racial slurs, has distracted the media from the countless things going wrong under Obama’s watch. This is the kind of story you’d cover as a fluff piece at the end of the evening news during a week with nothing else going on. It’s all just further proving that mainstream media is officially dead.

2 Responses to “Obama’s Beer Summit a Farce”

1. Audrey says:

   July 31, 2009 at 5:09 pm

   Thank you, Blaise, for bringing up so many points that desperately need to be talked about!
2. Stephen says:

   August 1, 2009 at 7:18 am

   I came across your article while surfing for data for a client. I am so glad to see that people are starting to see and realize that our historical president is not doing his job, that he was elected to do. He is still campaigning and throwing up smoke screens of how ill-equipped he is to handle the serious problems for our country. I have relatives who got sucked into his charm during his campaign, who still won’t admit that he is just show boater who has no clue on how to run and fix anything, including our country.

   My relatives were so worried about the Bush administration be able to do what they want and control our lives. One day they will wake up and see that Obama is just steps away from not only telling us what and how we are to live, but controlling everything in our lives, because he thinks he knows better than we do.

   His actions and comments in this Gates case, is just another taste of how he will try to control our decisions and pass judgement on how he sees fit.

   I still don’t know how he qualifies to make any decisions as before being elected as presidents he did jack-diddley!

   WAKE UP! People, before its to late!!