One of the primary foundations for a leader who is vastly different racially, sexually, religiously or in any other major fashion is to appear impartial with respect to that difference. Whether it is a manager or a President no one wants to work for or follow someone who may be inherently biased towards them. With his ill considered response to a what may be a opportunistic set up of a decorated police officer who was selected for the force because of his anti-racial views and who lectures on avoiding racism, Obama may now himself be branded a racist and for good reason.

The Set Up

We all want to protect our friends and the scenario that the President was presented with was stereotypical. In fact, on paper it couldn’t be more perfect if you wanted to make an example of raciest behavior; you had a recognized Black Harvard Professor being attacked in his own home by a large white officer with short hair who looks like a stereotypical racist (big, white, short hair). But racism works both ways, just as a white racist might assume a black man was a criminal so a black racist might assume a white police office was behaving excessively and it is that perfection that should always be questioned on either side because it leads to bad decisions. Any racial assumptions, in today’s world, are deadly to people in power and the people they have power over.

The Facts

Police officers have a very difficult job and it isn’t unusual for one to misact, however the working assumption is that the vast majority act appropriately otherwise the entire concept of a police force would not survive. Because of the nature of their job, and by way of disclosure I was a Deputy Sheriff at one time, they are typically afforded and require a high minimum of respect.

Based on interviews http://cbs5.com of the officer and upon reading the partially corroborated police report http://www.thesmokinggun.com it would seem that the claim of racist behavior isn’t supported by the facts on record.

Had I behaved as Mr. Gates did, and I’m older than he is and white, I too would have likely been arrested and I wouldn’t have demanded the special treatment that he apparently did by his own http://www.theroot.com admission. He seems to come off as an elitist in his own interview. He wasn’t being treated poorly; he was demanding special treatment because of who he was. You often see this from celebrities regardless of ethnic background.

In fact, given the film he was returning from and his talk of a PBS special on the subject this all starts to smell more and more like a publicity stunt. This, for the President, would be deadly.

Impact

Regardless of the facts the President clearly took a position before he knew them. He was likely just defending a friend but given that friend is black he creates the impression of favoritism towards a protected group of which he is a member and that is a smoking gun for his opponents. He can now be legitimately branded a racist and, I expect, white supporters who weren’t concerned may increasingly be so and those that already were will use this as evidence they were right. This may also put the Sotomayor comments into a more unfavorable light and may even damage the effort to get her confirmed.

With approval ratings falling and seemingly trying to accomplish more in the first year of his Presidency than any President in history he already has an impressive number of enemies and giving them ammunition was very foolish. The Republicans can use this to significantly tarnish him and law enforcement’s support will be diminished which is problematic given he is the chief law enforcement officer for the state.

Wrapping Up:

In what looks to me to be an opportunistic attempt by Gates to grab the national spotlight and get a PBS special the US Presidency may have been badly tarnished. This may showcase Obama’s Achilles’ Heel, who he chooses as friends. It wasn’t long ago, another friend, his pastor, almost sunk his chances for election. This friend may have damages Obama’s effectiveness and put a nail into his reelection chances and given what Gates supposedly http://aaas.fas.harvard.edu stands for, this may be the ultimate, and most unfortunate, Irony.

I believe the President is actually trying to make major changes we all need. Between his party and his friends I’m beginning to think his enemies are redundant.