"When you are the president of the United States, you don't start a sentence with, 'I don't have all of the facts' and end it with, 'but the Cambridge police acted stupidly.'"---unknown (because I didn't catch the name of the person who said this)

So, has our president now learned that he cannot stand up and just say anything have it go unnoticed? To clearly state that you do not have all the facts, yet the Cambridge police acted 'stupidly' does not bode very well for him.

And then there was the bit about how he was "speaking from where he came from" (growing up as a black man, I'm assuming is what was meant). Seriously? Um, he is the president of the United States! He is supposed to be able to *rise above that*. I will not deny that racism still exists (and is PATHETIC, unBiblical, and just completely wrong on so many levels). But really--he is our president. If he cannot rise above this (after all, I assumed that was part of what he wanted to change in this country--with a black man as president?), then ........all I can do is shake my head.

Of course, in his defense, it must be reiterated that the bit about how he was 'speaking from where he came from' did not come from HIS mouth. It came from someone else, speculating.

Now here is where I get to give my opinion on all of this: BOTH parties acted poorly. Both Crowley and Gates could have done better. I understand where both were coming from, but both made choices--in the moment--that, well, could have been different. If someone shows you their ID and proves that they are the owner of the home, then clearly they have a right to be there. On the other hand, it would help to cooperate with police, which would have made this yet another night in Cambridge, and not national news. Suppose there *were* two men breaking and entering his home and Gates was unaware of this, and Crowley simply said, "OK, thank you sir, have a good night," and after Crowley had left, Gates was mugged and harmed. THEN what would the out cry have been????

And to clarify- I am not "anti-Obama." As I say myself, "He won. Get over it."  However, I don't agree with a lot of what he is trying to push. I teach our children that we are to respect our president *because* he is the president, though we may not agree with him. We do not turn the tv off every time the president comes on to speak. Quite the contrary, we listen to what he has to say as often as we can. And then, if we do not like what he has to say, we fight--we write letters to our members of Congress, we make phone calls, we make sure that everyone we know is made aware of the facts surrounding his agenda (and not just the half-truths he often states--that is, when you can even get him to answer the question).

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