Obama/Gates vs. Popo

I had intended to write about the state of the health care debate and Obama's lack of effectiveness at framing the issues for the citizenry. However this Gates thing has flared up and I think my opinions on Obama's self-injection into the matter encapsulates my broader thinking on his job performance in sum. To put it plainly: he don't know what he doin', man. Dude really doesn't fully understand the job of president yet, IMHO. Which is OK, it's a heck of a difficult job and each new president learns how to do the job as he goes along. I do hate to be continually derisive but I have the impression Obama's feelin' his way in the dark still. He's making a lot of unforced errors. Unforeseeable errors to be sure, and errors are not wholly unexpected, to be kind. I've said it before, in these first six months we are witnessing the downside of Obama's relative inexperience. Having said that, I continue to believe that he is on the road to becoming a great president; he's mostly got great instincts for the job and I have no doubts that his heart is in the right place. I hold him to a higher standard and he comes up short sometimes (OK often), as politicians often do. I'm frustrated that Obama hasn't been able to offer more passion and show more assertive leadership, I find him unnervingly passive. I get concerned that even as my perception is that he has shown himself strong and resolute in a crisis (after all the nation has been mired in an economic crisis his entire presidency), his passive, taciturn, reserved approach to communicating with the American people on nearly all matters will encourage his enemies at home and abroad to test him. It's fine to speak softly but every now and again in the current world we live in it's vital IMO that the American president flex "the big stick". This can be achieved rhetorically and Obama, particularly during the primary battle with Hillary, has proved he can be a master of the idiom. Where's the Obama who spoke with such passion and conviction after Iowa or at the Democratic convention (both in 2004 and 2008!)?? Got to at least flash some of that juice every now and again if only to keep the skills up, right??

The Gates flap is perhaps a perfect microcosm of the President's current shortcomings with regards to tone and effective messengering. It's inexplicable to me why a politician who generally has been so measured about racial matters would dive headlong into such a murky affair. To be crystal clear as to my position, a feeble 58 year old man of any race shouldn't be arrested in his own home for disorderly conduct. However as a purely political matter, at it's essence, the Gates affair is a 'he said/she said' event of individual perception and, indeed, individual bias. And as such there was almost no political upside for the POTUS sufficient to justify wading into it. Outside of being seen as sticking up for a friend, just about anything Obama would have said about the matter was sure to enflame or offend a great many people, with little to gain IMO.

Most American adults, of any race, who've ever had opportunity to watch the police work likely can shape an opinion of how the incident may have escalated out of control. If you're African-American, particularly if you're an African-American male, chances are you've actually experienced a similar situation and/or have someone close to you who has. If you're of another race, there's plenty of TV shows that illustrate policing techniques, from COPs to Americas Videos to fictional dramas. So there's no shortage of mental images we can muster to imagine what happened in the Gates home. But the essential point seems to me that none of us were there, the President wasn't there. Putting aside Obama's personal loyalty to his friend Prof. Gates and perhaps even his own personal bias as an African-American male, it simply wasn't Presidential IMHO to imply in any way that the police acted improperly. Even with - - especially with - - his disclaimers about not knowing all of the facts and his acknowledgement of personal bias, the President of the United States should have known to use more conciliatory language, if only as an act of political expedience. Coming at the end of a press conference ostensibly focused on health care, his self proclaimed top priority issue, this was a particularly egregious error of poor timing and unskilled diplomacy from someone who ought to know better.

If it sounds as though I'm agitated about the matter it's because I am. The bigger picture is that Obama, as 'the first black President', is no different than any other of the Black pioneers in medicine, sports, entertainment, politics. There's simply too much at stake given the fragile nature of race relations in this country for him to get 'caught out there' on such an easy trip wire. Everything any president says reverberates in the canyon of public thought and policy from the moment it leaves his or her lips for the rest of eternity. If Barack Obama and I are having a private conversation as private citizens and discussing the Gates issue and BO says that he thinks the police "acted stupidly" I say, "yeah man damn skippy, that s**ts ridiculous." Truthfully though, in most instances two black males conversing about such a matter would never even have to go so far as to venture an opinion; OF COURSE the police acted stupidly in arresting a 58 yr old man in his own home. Yes its possible that there wasn't a racial element to the incident but, so far as most american black folks are concerned, its far more likely that there was racial bias involved. Starting with the neighbor who called in to police to report, "two blacks breaking into the house." Be that as it may, the POTUS has a responsibility to stand up for both law enforcement and the citizen; he cannot be seen as taking sides. If all the facts of a case are known, that's a substantially different matter altogether; I'd say in that circumstance the POTUS is obliged to weigh in and utilize the bully pulpit to guide the nation in the direction he feels appropriate. I'll also admit that no matter how the President had handled the question he likely would have taken flak from an important element of his voting bloc. But his choice of words inflamed the situation in a way that showed a lack of forethought and self discipline IMO. At the moment I heard his comment I inwardly thought to myself, "I wish he hadn't said that but I'm glad he did." Followed immediately by a wincing, "man, I wish he hadn't said that...what the f**k was he thinking?" Followed by, "why couldn't he demonstrate the same passion for health care or energy policy?? Why doesn't he bash 'just say no' republican talking heads with the same pep and animus??!"