Tim's post about Obama's response to Gatesgate (that turn of phrase is all my own work :)) was very much in accord with my take, but the row rumbles on so here's a link to an excellent article from over at the American Spectator. I think it shows quite how wrong the President was to wade into the issue the way he did:
Gates and his cab driver were putting their shoulders against his front door on a Thursday afternoon in a residential neighborhood after finding it damaged in -- wouldn't you know it -- a previous burglary. A woman in the street saw them and called the police. An officer responded almost immediately. Is there anything unusual about this? Would we want the police or the woman to act in any other way? If nothing else, Gates should feel fortunate that he lives in a neighborhood where people look after such things. In many another urban neighborhood, somebody could be prying a door open in mid-afternoon and no one would pay the slightest attention. Even if they did, the police might take half an hour to arrive.
Gates could have perceived the whole thing for what it was -- an obvious misunderstanding. He could have produced his identification, proved to the officer that he lived in the house and explained his unusual behavior, perhaps showing a little deference to the law in the process. Instead, he decided to treat the whole things as an intolerable insult, refusing to step outside and insinuating that the police were only at his door "Because I'm a black man in America." His rant attracted such a crowd that the officer was finally forced to put him in handcuffs for disorderly conduct. This is what police officers must do. They cannot simply walk away from a disruptive situation. Their business is to maintain public order. That the charges were later dropped only proves the point. An arrest in this circumstance is only meant to pacify the situation, not inflict some kind of permanent punishment.
When a situation can properly and honestly be described in those terms, the Commander in Chief has been very ill advised when he launches an attack on those entrusted with the tough task of law enforcement the way he did.
