BO's comment were inappropriate and racist. Political correctness run amok.

Hmm, political correctness run amok even though all our president was stating were facts. The truth is that individuals of color are and have been targeted by law enforcement officials at a much higher percentage than Caucasian individuals. I could go into the four times I have been stopped by police and when I asked why, I was simply informed that I "fit the description", even though there is no way that, in my car, anything could be "identified" other than my dark skin - but I will let facts speak to the inequalities of our legal and corrections systems instead of depending on my personal experiences or opinons. It is also a fact that until recently, there were immigration raid quotas in which immigrants, mostly of Latino origin, have been illegally targeted - even those with clear documentation, no known ties to a criminal element, and no criminal records. It would be great if individuals like 22259152 could put their obvious biases aside and allow evidence and common sense to guide their thinking and writing - it would make this a more hospitable and productive society.

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First, I voted for Obama, and will probably vote for him again in 2012, absent any disasterous missteps in the next 39 months. However, when 13% of the population is committing 50% of the homicides in the U.S., and is also disproportionately represented among other perps, you really have to wonder. You can't blame the cops for being careful; they want to get home safely at the end of their shift, too.

Although the president's statement regarding the differentiation in treatment of hispanics and blacks by law enforcement is factual (and unfortunate), his assumption that the officers "acted stupidly" in this incident is not. The only individuals who know exactly what happened were Gates and the officers present. In viewing the picture in USA Today, two of the officers were white and one was black. The only individual in the picture ranting and raving was Gates. My opinion is that this incident was not racially motivated, but was of ego and self-righteousness on Gate's part.

Positing that something sometimes happens down't prove it happened in a particular case. Read the police report and see what you think.

A President should not get involved in such local matters, especially when bereft of all of the facts. There is a good case to be made that Dr. Gates "acted stupidly" as well.

kdiddy said it best (above) Obama (who I voted for and will likely vote for again) asserts the officers should not have arrested Gates because it was established that he was in his own home. What he fails to recognize, is that a person can still legally be arrested in his or her own home for any number of violations (e.g. running a meth lab, abusing children, or in Gates' case, disorderly conduct).

Actually, you cannot be arrested for disorderly conduct in your own home baring breaking the law. Since Dr. Gates was not running a meth lab, abusing children, or beating his wife and produced valid identification, the officer asked him to step outside of the house. Once outside of his home, only then could he be arrested for disorderly conduct. It is clear, that many of the respondents to this article are using secondary data sources to form their opinions, rather than actually having read the report. As academics, we should be trained to collect the facts before responding and calling each other racists.

The word "prejudice" means, of course, to "pre-judge." Mr. Obama certainly has done that in this particular case. He knows little about what really happened, since he was not there, but he offered an opinion anyway, on national television. His response to the reporter's question should have been, "I can't really comment intelligently on that, since I was not there. The case has been dropped, however, so it seems to me that it is now moot and we should all move on." How nice it would have been to hear that, instead of the prejudicial comment that was offered. He blew it, and I think he knows it. I wouldn't be surprised if he comes out soon with an apology to the Cambridge policemen. He'd better be careful. My Democrat sister from Massachusetts called me last night, very upset about what the President said. He's about to lose support.

The neighbor who called the cops thinking she was protecting Professor Gates's home must be sick to her stomach that trying to do the right thing has turned into this nightmare. Also, police *used to be* trained to ignore and work through verbal abuse because it can often come from innocent as well as guilty people and speaking disrespectfully to an police officer is not in and of itself a crime (as opposed to in the military, where it is). Unless Prof. Gates initiated a violent action (and from the report he did not get "physical" until the cuffs appeared), there was no legal or Constitutional justification to arrest him after he had shown information confirming he was in his own house.

gatesr, you write "Obama is shooting off his mouth without having all the facts!" Essentially none of us has all of the facts, and since the accounts differ significantly and there is no audio or videotape record to turn to, none of us is ever going to have all of the facts. Do you believe that everyone who nonetheless chooses to comment on the issue -- you and me included -- is "shooting off his mouth"? I don't. I think we can try to listen to both sides, identify where there's agreement and where the accounts differ, and then be careful in making claims about facts that are in question. Some of what the police officer did, such as showing up to investigate a potential break-in, represented doing his job. Depending on what else the officer actually did, some of it may not have represented doing his job appropriately. For ex., if, as Gates claims, the officer refused to state his name and give his badge #, he wasn't doing his job. And your choice to engage in name-calling is regrettable. We have two rather different accounts of what happened, with some overlap; where there's overlap (e.g., the officer asked Gates for ID, and Gates provided at least his Harvard ID), we can assume that we know what happened, and where the accounts differ, we have beliefs and/or questions -- not knowledge. sirkent, I agree that "Positing that something sometimes happens down't prove it happened in a particular case." But instead of encouraging people just to read the police report, I'd encourage people to read both that and also Gates' account of what happened (for example, there's a brief audio clip of Gates' comments at http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/07/22/no_charge_but_gates_case_seethes/, and http://www.theroot.com/views/skip-gates-speaks has text from an interview). kdiddy, we do not know that "The only individual in the picture ranting and raving was Gates." What the photo shows is that Gates is the only person who had his mouth open at the moment the photo was taken. Was it open in shock, with no sound coming out? open in regular speech? open in ranting and raving? We don't know. And of course a photo at a single instant in time doesn't tell us what anyone was doing at other points in time. I encourage people to distinguish between things that we actually know and things that we believe but might be mistaken about. We know that the officer accepted that Gates was in his own home and nonetheless chose to arrest Gates (according to the officer, because Gates was "loud and tumultuous"; according to Gates, because the officer was annoyed at Gates' insistence that the officer provide his name and badge #). The officer could have -- and in my opinion, should have -- dropped it at this point, since Gates' act of forcing open the door w/ the help of his driver clearly was not an act of breaking and entering, and whatever Gates said in his own home was not illegal behavior. I have no problem with Obama's claim that the officer acted stupidly in choosing to arrest Gates.

I find it ironic that our leftist friends allege narrow-mindedness and accuse educated people of a very uneducated position -- racism. When, in fact, their testimonials of voting again for their fledging president -- once community organizer --is puzzling. If you don't agree, all you need to do is review the ramblings of Mr. Obama on a health care plan that seems rooted in the premise that preventative care for all will be more cost effective than the present system. Yet no numbers, just some cherry picked stories of unfortunate folks that a skilled Chicago politician, like himself, would exploit. All of this to show Americans, a term he didn't even MENTION last evening, that he's the crusader fighting for us. That was a waste of our time as Americans for him to take one hour to start his reelection bid. Then Ms. Sweet just ends the evening in the same rambling way it began, with a question about racial profiling. How is this even relevant to the health care debate?! In order to understand her rationale, all one needs to do is review Ms. Sweet's work with the Chicago Sun-Times, Obama lovefest. I guess she thought the president needed an easy question to answer. Although I didn't attend Harvard, it seemed the majority of questions last evening were hardly difficult. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm, the candidate of change, hey???

The president should not be involved in this incident. It is not a federal matter. There are too many real problems to have to deal with this nonsense. I'm having vote regret.

Since many of you stated we do not have all the facts, this would suggest our President wait until all the facts are clearly investigated before he comment on his "friend's" alleged racially motivated arrest. Please stay focused on the economy and health care, Mr. President. I am a professor and need a job, not President Obama's personal opinion on this matter.

Ok here are some issues I have: 1. Why does the media ask the President's views on everything from Dairy Queen's selection of Blizzards to local police matters and affairs? Why does this matter? It seems that the nation is being force-fed the illusion that we as Americans need to have the government in our daily business! 2. Did anyone else see that a black policeman was also involved on this call? Why is this not being acknowleged? Is the black cop also racist? 3. What would have happened if it were all black cops that responded to the call, would Gates have produced ID when first asked and acted professionally to them? I think so, but that is my opinion. I imagine myself in the same situation, and I would not find it racial or insulting in any way if police showed up asking who I was and why I was breaking down my door. I would thank them for responding so quickly and produce my ID, which would show I am who I say I am and show that this was my address. I certainly wouldn't begin a verbal assault and racial tirade against the officers (let's just say that black officers respond to my theoretical situation). That never crosses my mind (Well, I was pulled over by an angry black female cop once for turning a little too fast and my tire squealed a little. I think she was just an a-hole for ticketing me). 4. I had hoped that if anything good could come from Obama becoming President would be that blacks had proof that if they work hard and help themselves that they can do whatever they want, but unfortunately the old rule of blaming everyone but themselves seems to be business as usual. I am white, and personally I don't give a crap about race. I see people as individuals, but I also see people as the "Masses", and we all know the "Masses" are ignorant fools that need to follow someone else because they cannot think for themselves. If you are one of those people, try this experiment: Approach someone of a different race and....here's the hard part.....try to start a conversation with them! Astonishing results may follow that will shake your entire belief system. You may actually find, if you're black, that not all white people want to make a slave out of you or hold you back in life! And to the white experimenter out there, you may see that not all blacks conform to what the media dictates in that they are not all anti-white racists who are lazy and blame whitey for their lack of success! Try it out, it's fun!

I've seen a lot of white people curse at police officers and say nasty things to them, but not get arrested for it. It sounds like Gates Jr. was arrested because the police officer didn't like what he said, and that's just plain wrong. If he didn't strike the officer and had proof that he was on the porch of his own home, there was no need for the arrest.

Give me a break. I suspect a police officer in Cambridge, Massachusetts has received more "sensitivity training" than the rest of us put together. I think the Harvard professor wanted special treatment. Did the professor think of thanking the police for keeping an eye on his house? Police have procedures for their own safety and the safety of others. Maybe he wanted him to step out so he could see if he had a gun. About a block from mmy campus, a mild mannered professor and pillar of the community shot and killed his wife. Police never know what they are walking into.

Maybe the president acted stupidly by injecting his opinions into a situation where he, nor anyone else in the public, actually know what the facts were.

Once they release the dispatch tapes we will all hear for ourselves what a blowhard Gates is. Meanwhile check out the t-shirt: http://www.zazzle.com/ill_speak_with_your_mama_outside_tshirt-235090175211093481

rightwingprofessor: if the Police Dept. has a dispatch tape, why haven't they released it already, especially if it backs up Officer Crowley's account? And none of us knows know what we would hear; you'd do well to refrain from presenting your beliefs as if they were knowledge. 11319762: Obama generally refrained from commenting about aspects of this case where none of us knows the facts (in particular, the question of what role race may have played in this particular arrest); he commented on facts that are not in question in this particular case (that the officer showed up to investigate a report of possible breaking and entering, confirmed that Gates was the actual resident of the home, but then arrested Gates for disorderly conduct), and he commented about racial profiling in general. Now, this may not have been wise of him politically, but that's because of people's beliefs about politics, policing, race, etc., not because he was speaking about things where he didn't have a sufficient knowledge of the facts.