We Need a Leader to Unite Us, Not Divide

We have come to a terrible impasse in our country. Some would say it's been simmering for 150 years and some might look at all this as a new evolution of the protests and violence of the 1960s which has just now reached a new boiling point.  I don't know about that.  I'm neither a sociologist nor an historian, but it's clear even to me that tensions in this country have reached a new level of ugly since 2008.

If you go back to 2009 when Barack Obama called out law enforcement in Cambridge, Massachusetts who "acted stupidly," he said, in arresting Henry Gates for disorderly conduct, you can find the beginning of the current President of the United States involving himself in state matters and commenting on issues about which he should have just been quiet.  That was a local matter and he had no cause to comment on it.  The charges against Gates were dropped and the whole thing would have sorted out without Obama's injection of race into the conversation. But he commented, thus lighting the fuse of racial tension.

Then we get  to Trayvon Martin in 2012 where Obama famously said "You know, if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon."  That created controversy that went on for weeks.

In 2014, on the death of Michael Brown, who you may recall robbed a store, accosted the clerk, and tried to take a police officer's gun while leaning into his patrol car, Obama said, "Too many young men of color feel targeted by law enforcement -- guilty of walking while black or driving while black, judged by stereotypes that fuel fear and resentment and hopelessness." Nothing about the fact that Brown robbed a business and then hit a police officer who was trying to question him.

And then we have the Eric Garner case, where Obama again weighs in and says the mistrust between law enforcement and the black community "is an issue that we've been dealing with for too long and it's time for us to make more progress than we've made. And I'm not interested in talk; I'm interested in action."  What kind of action?  Obama said he wanted more "accountability" between communities and law enforcement because he's seen too many people that don't believe they are being treated fairly.

By now, you see, we are so accustomed to the president weighing in on local law enforcement issues that we almost expect it.  People are clamoring for him to comment on the rash of law enforcement murders that have erupted in recent weeks.  Here in Louisiana we have lost three law enforcement officers in as many weeks. Next door, in Texas, we lost one this weekend.  What does Obama have to say about all of this action?

Why hasn't he said anything to tamper down the #blacklivesmatter group who has called for the killing of white people and police officers?  Why is this not hate speech?

Some would say that the national rhetoric has contributed to the impetus of all this lawlessness.

It's true that if we can't blame the gun for killing someone but instead must blame the crazy person pulling the trigger, we also can't blame Obama for the epidemic of dead police officers. We can't blame Obama for the murder of two white reporters by a hate-filled black man who wanted  a race war. He didn't pull the trigger.

But did he light the fuse?

What we have unfolding in our country right now is terrifying. What we need is a sober, God-fearing, honest leader to come forward, instill calm, and call for an end to the hate speech -- to bring us together rather than to divide.  We need a leader who would suggest that we work together to solve our problems rather than point out perceived injustice.  We need someone who places value on human life.  All life.  White life, black life, unborn life, life regardless of your occupation, race, or income.  It all matters.

Obama had no business wading into the Gates controversy in 2009, but he did.  And now that he's all in, up to his neck, he needs to put the fires out. If we have to wait for a more competent leader to do it in 2016, how many more lives will be lost?

They Packed the Cajundome

The Cajundome was packed yesterday for a rally against the moratorium.  The Advertiser estimates 11,000 people were there.

WWLTV reports:

Thousands stood in silence as the names of the victims of the Deepwater Horizon explosion appeared on the stadium's big screens. But they were rarely silent after that -- cheering every statement against the moratorium. 

Sometimes it seems we forget that eleven people lost their lives when this all started.

The Advertiser reports:

"This moratorium will turn Louisiana into a state of bankrupt businesses," Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said."It will cripple the economy of a state that has come back after Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike. And we can't afford to be crippled again."

There were workers of all kinds and all walks of life there to protest the loss of their way of life.   Plate technicians, oil rig workers, lawn service guys, McDonald's workers, helicopter operators, insurance agents, you name it.  Every single soul in Louisiana is detrimentally affected by this ban on drilling.

And via Hot Air, here's Bobby Jindal:




I'll say it for the thousandth time:  the moratorium makes no sense.  When an accident occurs in any other industry you haven't seen Washington rush in and shut them down.  Bride of Rove has a post on Obama's "trigger finger" and rush to judgment.  The same scenario applies here.  He didn't think this through before he imposed it....or maybe he did.  Which makes his destruction of the State of Louisiana intentional.

Maybe Jindal's right.  Maybe it IS a war.

Beer Diplomacy

You've got to know that this blog will weigh in on the beer diplomacy which is scheduled to occur this evening at the White House. Politico has a report on the beer companies attempting to wrangle their beers into the summit and onto the table, and it seems all the beer world is awaiting with sudsy breath which beer will be the beer of choice tonight.

I doubt it will be Budweiser because lord knows Cindy McCain has enough houses and we don't want to support that. And besides, Anheuser-Busch isn't American owned anymore. Miller Beer is actually owned by South African Breweries, so it's not really American either.

Maybe it will be an import. Think global. I do love my German beers.

I'll put my personal pick out there - I think they should pick a Sam Adams beer. Appropriate, no? It's American made, invokes the name of a true American patriot, and is darn good beer.

Of course, there will be protesters out in force tonight. Politco reports that '"Citizens Against the Beer Summit at White House', a makeshift gathering spearheaded by Baltimore pastor Dr. Emmett Burns, will picket the White House today between 12 and 3 p.m. 'The president's actions are sending the wrong message to our nation's youth who are becoming alcoholics at young ages,' reads an announcement for the protest. 'This pernicious habit is also the reason for the large number of teen motor vehicle accidents throughout the country.'"

There's always a protest. I understand Dr. Burns message about alcoholism but I think he's missing the point here.

Is it a sign that not only Obama needs a vacation, but we all do, that we are so focused on beer diplomacy? Too many weighty issues on our minds lately? Who knows. All I know is that I'll be glad for Gates-Gate to end and I will personally lift a beer myself tonight to celebrate the end of it.

Update: Bloomberg has their choices.

Is Sgt. Crowley Married?!

If you Google Sgt. James Crowley's marital status, you get about 7,000,000 responses. Actually, most are just about Gates-Gate, but there is a curiosity about whether or not the good policeman is married.

Why did I Google that? Because a friend told me she had a hit about it on her sitemeter. I'm testing a Google-bomb. Hey, my stats are low today.

Sorry kids, yes he is. And with three kids. He spends his off-time coaching his kids' sports teams.

What is it about men in uniform? Or out of, for that matter?

How Not to Get Arrested

The Corner has this from an LA PD officer. He's spot on.

"So, since the president is keen on offering instruction, here is what I would advise he teach his Ivy League pals, and anyone else who may find himself unexpectedly confronted by a police officer: You may be as pure as the driven snow itself, but you have no idea what horrible crime that police officer might suspect you of committing.

You may be tooling along on a Sunday drive in your 1932 Hupmobile when, quite unknown to you, someone else in a 1932 Hupmobile knocks off the nearby Piggly Wiggly. A passing police officer sees you and, asking himself how many 1932 Hupmobiles can there be around here, pulls you over. At that moment I can assure you the officer is not all that concerned with trying not to offend you. He is instead concerned with protecting his mortal hide from having holes placed in it where God did not intend.

And you, if in asserting your constitutional right to be free from unlawful search and seizure fail to do as the officer asks, run the risk of having such holes placed in your own. When the officer has satisfied himself that it was not you and your Hupmobile that were involved in the Piggly Wiggly heist, he owes you an explanation for the stop and an apology for the inconvenience, but if you’re running your mouth about your rights and your history of oppression and what have you, you’re likely to get neither."

There's more here.

I think it's really time to move on from this one, but I've got to say that what I heard Obama say on Friday at the press briefing did not sound like an apology to the police officers of America that he offended by accusing them racial profiling. I don't know what he said to Crowley in their phone conversation, but if Crowley accepts it as an apology, then that's good enough for me.

As for Gates, he's a blowhard idgit. Clueless.

Has Obama apologized to the doctors yet that he insulted in that same speech? If he has, I've missed it.

Obama's Race Kerfuffle

Anything that Obama said about health care last night, which as it turns out, wasn't anything new, has quickly been lost in the kerfuffle over his remarks on the Gates arrest. The entries on Memeorandum regarding Obama's entry into the race debate widely outnumber the posts on the rest of his speech.

This is what Obama said that has raised the controversy:

“Now, I don’t know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that, but I think it’s fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home; and, number three, what I think we know, separate and apart from this incident, is that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. And that’s just a fact.” He added later that the incident was “a sign of how race remains a factor in this society.”

There are some points I agree with in the commentary that has followed.

First is the opinion of Ed Morrissey when he says that "any statement from a politician about an incident under dispute that begins, ' I don’t know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts,' should end with, 'I have nothing to say until all the facts are known.'" Yet, having said he didn't have all the facts, Obama proceeded to say that the Cambridge police "acted stupidly."

That's simply an irresponsible thing to say.

Rich Lowry adds this: "In this famous snapshot of the arrest, there's a black cop prominently in the foreground. Doesn't that vitiate somewhat the idea that this was a flatly racist arrest?"

On the other hand, Jim Geraghty wonders this: "I am not so certain that yelling at cops is ipso facto a crime. With the charges dropped, we have to wonder just how disorderly his conduct was..."

The charges on the police report were "disorderly conduct," which seem to be supported by witness statements. (The more detailed report is here, in which he reports Gates as saying "I'll speak to your mama outside!")

The police officers responded to a possible burglary call. Mr. Gates was certainly obnoxious, but is it a crime?

My two cents on police officers: they put their lives on the line for the general public every single day. In many cases, not all, but often, they are met with verbal abuse, derision, and disrespect. They have to endure things that most of us wouldn't tolerate for five seconds. Their job is incredibly stressful, dangerous, under appreciated and under paid. Are there some bad cops? Of course. Should some have chosen a different profession? Sure. You get that in any occupation.

But for the President of the United States to weigh in on national television about a local arrest is simply incredible. Even more so once he says he doesn't have all the facts and that the man arrested is a friend of his.

Now this case will be tried in the media. Never mind that the charges have been dropped. The character of the officers will be dissected. The officer in question will have this shadowing his career forever, as if he is somehow guilty of something regardless of the outcome. Would Mr. Gates file a civil suit on the police department?

The White House is now backing off the statment, with Robert Gibbs saying "that Obama did not regret the remark, but wanted to clarify that he was not calling the arresting officer stupid."

Not much difference, Mr. President. Not much.