President Obama and Sergeant Crowley

 

July 26, 2009

 

It’s worth noticing that our president chose initially to assert that only Sergeant Crowley acted stupidly. The president chose not to say anything about the behaviour of Henry Louis Gates, the Harvard professor whom Crowley arrested. Admittedly, it could be debated whether Crowley needed to put the cuffs on Gates, and whether it was necessary to actually arrest him. But the president, significantly, didn’t say anything critical of Gates at all, even though Gates had said, absurdly, that he was getting attention from the cops only because he was a black man in America.

 

That statement from Gates was actually the most inappropriate action in the whole sorry mess. I can well understand Gates’ anger at the false accusation, but Crowley didn’t arrest Gates because Gates is black, but because Gates was being unruly. Black leaders too often make their living convincing blacks of the alleged continued existence of widespread and virulent white racism, even though most whites are very obsequious towards blacks. Gates seems to be one of these leaders. But these black leaders do their faithful a great disservice, in that they indirectly encourage them to wait for some ultimate tribunal that will make it all right. Better to get started on one’s own efforts to make a life of one’s own, before old age takes away the possibility. 

 

Obama didn’t object to Gates’ ridiculous statement of racial persecution, but he should have. That would truly have been the real change that Obama prides himself on and talks about so often. But Obama is not a leader, he’s a follower. He incessantly disses previous administrations, and pledges to change things, but when he gets an opportunity, he fails to do anything other than reinforce the status quo. Obama could have taken Gates to task for the over-the-top rhetoric, and exhorted Gates to admit that unpleasant things happen to everyone, not just blacks, but he characteristically failed to do so. Obama could have encouraged Gates to get out of denial, but our new president could only have done so by getting out of denial himself, and that is something he doesn’t seem capable of doing. So Obama is not something new under the sun, despite his pretensions, but he is indeed the same-old, same-old.