Obama shoots from the hip -- stupidly

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Lynn Sweet used the president's press conference on national health insurance to delve into the deep waters of race in 21st Century America by asking the president his take on the arrest of his friend, Harvard Professor Henry Gates, Jr., on charges of disorderly conduct following a stop at the professor's home

By way of background, Gates' neighbor called the police about a potential burglary when she spotted two black men with backpacks breaking down the front door of the Gates home. Apparently, Gates had lost his car keys following a out of town trip and he, along with his driver, broke down the door to gain entry.

Police responded and, upon seeing Gates and asking to speak to him, were allegedly confronted by an angry Gates who refused to talk instead reportedly shouting, "This is what happens to black men in America." Rather than talking to the police and confirming that he was the home's owner, he accused the police of being racist. He was arrested then later released for failing to cooperate with authorities.

The journalist asked the president for his take on the incident. Instead of doing what any other person who had graduated from law school would do -- decline to comment on the specifics of the case if he does not have all the relevant information -- the president decided instead to unilaterally and without substantiation attack the police of Cambridge, Mass and assert that they "acted stupidly" in arresting Gates at his home.

Interesting how "prejudice" has as its component parts "pre" and "judge." And that is precisely what Obama did in taking sides in this case -- he immediately prejudged the policy actions as "stupid" without for a moment considering his friend's complicity in the fracas. Admitting "he might be a little biased here," he nevertheless went forward to castigate the arresting officers and raising the broader history of the police disproportionately arresting minorities.

But then, the journalist's question basically begged him to go down that road. "What does that incident say to you? And what does it say about race relations in America," she asked the president. Given an opportunity to weigh in on such a large question, while in the process avert attention away from his failed health care policies, the president jumped at it.

He didn't need the facts, he didn't need the circumstances beyond police versus black professor. The police must be the stupid ones. Not the professor who immediately -- and since his whole professional life has been about race issues, how could he not -- made this a racist issue. They were there because he was black, not because he had broken down the front door. He refused to answer their questions because they had no right to question him. He was being treated unfairly because of his race.

It is a racist self-fulfilling prophecy. Act as if you can't trust the police, as if they're suspicious of you, as if they won't give you a fair deal, and voila you have an incident like this one. How would you have handled the police coming to your home on a burglary call after you broke in yourself? Probably not as Professor Gates. He has possibly let his life's work take over his life view and sees everything through the prism of race.

But what is the president's excuse for taking sides in a potentially explosive situation without the facts? What was benefited by his glib comment of stupidity? He is as much the president of those officers, who risk their lives every day on the job defending all of Cambridge, Mass., as he is the president of his friend, Prof. Gates. They all deserved his impartiality and neutrality until the facts were known, and then a sober and reasonable assessment of the facts of the situation. He owes those policemen an apology.

Let Michael Vick Play

For his role in an interstate dog fighting ring, Former Atlanta Falcon quarterback Michael Vick was ordered to pay approximately $1 million for the care and rehabilitation of some of the involved dogs and sentenced to serve a 23 month federal prison term. He also was sentenced in a separate Virginia state court action to an additional 3 years in prison, a sentence which is suspended on the condition of good behavior.

Immediately after Vick's guilty plea to the federal court action, the NFL suspended him without pay for conduct that was "not only illegal, but also cruel and reprehensible." That may be what they said, but with the number of other NFL players involved in DUI manslaughter, attempted murders and assaults, without facing an indefinite suspension by the league, it is apparent that there was more here that tweaked the NFL.

In fact, the real reason Vick was treated so harshly by the NFL was not because he was involved in the mistreatment of animals, but because he violated their "no gambling" policy by providing money to the gambling side of the dog fighting organization. You can hurt and kill humans and get back in the game, but gamble -- now you're talking about a crime the NFL cares quite a bit about.

For Vick's crimes he has lost endorsement deals worth millions, been released by his team, was ordered to repay the nearly $20 million signing bonus the Falcons had given him back in 2004, and is being treated like a pariah. Now he is awaiting word on whether he will be allowed to play in the NFL again.

Enough is enough. Yes, dog fighting is bad and we should punish people involved in the mistreatment of animals. But this has been done. Vick has gone through the court process, been sentenced, and served his time. Continuing to punish him beyond the scope of the law is, if you pardon the expression, beating a dead horse.

Vick is a football player by profession. He has already missed two years of what, putting aside Brett Favre, is not a lifelong profession but one limited to just a few years. There is a reason football players, and especially talented quarterbacks, make so much money -- there are very few of them and they work for a very limited time. At 29, Vick only has a few more years where he can work in his chosen profession and denying him that after he has already paid his debt to society is wrong.

Commission Roger Goodell is not the morality police. He certainly has allowed worse offenders than Vick to play in the NFL and should stop the grandstanding right now. Both the federal and state government has dealt appropriately with Vick, it's time to let him get back to work.

Familiarity Breeds Lower Poll Numbers

Six months into the Obama administration and the mass hypnosis that hit most Americans is beginning to wear off. They are waking up as if from a collective coma to see that what they believed -- or, more pointedly, hoped for -- was not to be. Obama, who ran on a vague promise of hope and change, has lived up to at least half that mantra. He has changed the United States, but not for the better.

He has taken the country on a radical shift away from its roots. We are tacking to the left increasing government spending to a previously unseen extent and putting the burden squarely on the backs of a few. He has revved up the language of class warfare and pitted Americans against each other. The "wealthy" are the new enemy and the government the only true salvation.

He has turned our foreign policy on its head, embracing our enemies while distancing us from our allies. America hasn't looked so weak internationally since Jimmy Carter. He has sided with Hugo Chavez and Daniel Ortega in the Honduran conflict despite the fact that the military was well within its constitutional rights to remove the President at the request of their Supreme Court. Yet in Iran, he stayed out of the conflict over the disputed election for a number of days lest he seem to be opposing the incumbent Ahmadinejad (and supporting free elections and democracy).

He and the Democrats in Congress are pushing for the U.S. to agree to cap and trade despite the fact that: other industrializing countries will not be bound, it will severely damage U.S. businesses, and dramatically increase energy costs to the average American.

Recent polling has shown that, now that we have seen the initial results of an Obama administration, reality has not matched expectations. Obama's approval rating has fallen from an astronomical 76% back in February to 61% late last month, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey. That is about where George Bush's approval rating was six months into his first term.

The poll also showed a ten percentage point drop in those who say Obama "a strong and decisive leader," a nine point drop in those who see Obama as tough enough to handle a crisis, a seven point drop in those who think Obama generally agrees with them on issues they care about, and an eleven point drop in those who say he has a "clear plan" for solving the nation's problems.

CNN Polling Director Keating Holland evaluates the results thusly: "Obama's stand on the issues and his plans for the future appear to be his biggest weakness." In other words, Obama is still widely popular personally, but popularity for his positions and strategies is plummeting.

But this cannot be all that surprising. Obama's entire campaign was based on the cult of personality, and was never about moving the country away from its core values. We are basically a moderate, even slightly right-leaning, country. We will not in the long run support a president who wants to move us to the left and Americans may be on their way towards full recovery from the celebrity hysteria that allowed us to choose an untested, inexperienced but highly telegenic personality as the leader of the free world.

More thoughts on Iran

Has anyone else noticed the missed opportunity following the disputed Iranian election for President?

We could have taken a more direct approach to the questionable Iran election outcome by reminding the Iranians, and the rest of the world, that we here in the United States know a thing or two about election controversies.

We could have reached out to Iran as experts in post-disputed election etiquette. George Bush could have spoken on how to mount a non-violent campaign to challenge the results. Al Gore could have spoken as a member of the party in power on how not to abuse that power in an effort to manipulate the outcome. We could have offered to send the team that scoured the Florida ballots to Iran if it needed help in the proper counting of ballots.

Norm Coleman and Al Franken could have flown to Iran to show the appropriate way to handle election controversies -- by each announcing themselves the winner, then hiring teams of lawyers, embroiling the courts in conflicting legal arguments, and keeping the voting public unsure about the results for months.

But all that done without a drop of blood being shed.

We could have used our own recent history that is full of claims of voting irregularities and suspect results, but fundamentally void of violence and terror.

It is a clear line of demarcation between our country and theirs. We may make light of our propensity to litigate every dispute, but when you see protesters being shot in the streets, it makes you thankful you live in a country where we litigate instead of conflagrate.