O My ! There Goes The Police Union Vote, Hey Barack?

MarineReconDad — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 00:12:20 GMT

Many police officers across the country have a message for President Barack Obama Get all the facts before criticizing one of our own. Obama's public criticism that Cambridge officers "acted stupidly" when they arrested black Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. could make it harder for police to work with people of color, some officers said Thursday.

It could even set back the progress in race relations that helped Obama become the nation's first African-American president, they said.

"What we don't need is public safety officials across the country second-guessing themselves," said David Holway, president of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, which represents 15,000 public safety officials around the country. "The president's alienated public safety officers across the country with his comments."

The Cambridge Police Patrol Officer's Association president also strongly criticized the president's remarks in an interview with The Huffington Post.

"That was totally inappropriate. I am disgraced that he is our commander-in-chief," Stephen Killion said. "He smeared the good reputation of the hard-working men and women of the Cambridge Police Department. It was wrong to do. It was disgraceful," the web site quoted him as saying.

Gates was arrested July 16 by Sgt. James Crowley, who was first to respond to the home the renowned black scholar rents from Harvard, after a woman reported seeing two black men trying to force open the front door. Gates said he had to shove the door open because it was jammed.

He was charged with disorderly conduct after police said he yelled at the white officer, accused him of racial bias and refused to calm down after Crowley demanded Gates show him identification to prove he lived in the home. The charge was dropped Tuesday, but Gates has demanded an apology, calling his arrest a case of racial profiling.

Obama was asked about Gates' arrest at the end of a nationally televised news conference on health care Wednesday night and began his response by saying Gates was a friend and he didn't have all the facts.

RE: O My ! There Goes The Police Union Vote, Hey Barack?

A Brown — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 10:29:56 GMT

Will he never learn that his mouth should stay closed three fourths of his waking hours? He just thinks he is intitled to put his two cents in whether he knows the true facts or not. He has done a bad disservice by putting the police down period. He couldn't wait to get on the air and tell everyone how stupid the police were in arresting Gates. If Mr. Gates had not been a friend and black, we would never have heard of this incident.I think he should carry his teleprompter around all the time to insure that he gets things right before he opens his stupid mouth.

He looks like a racist now, as a lot of people had thought from the beginning, but now he just let the truth be known. The card he just played will set race relations back fifty years or more. If anyone ever showed prejudice Obama just has. Will people never wake up and see what he really stands for? I'm not sure this wasn't a set up scene to give Gates publicity and Obama thought this would help his standing with the Hispanic and Black communities. Gates should never be allowed to receive one penny from this incident.I truely think this was for publicity and for ratings, and it only made both Gates and Obama look like jack asses.My opinion only and I will say it now because that right may be taken away tomorrow. And deport the illegals too. Is he not showing prejudice there too?

RE: O My ! There Goes The Police Union Vote, Hey Barack?

NowWhatRLG11 — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:11:50 GMT

Obama's racism is going to crumble this already ailing country. He makes me sick. That teacher seen an opportunity for his five minutes of fame. Im sure if it was a black officer who apprehended him it would have been a different story. Black is definitely the new white.