Krauthammer's Take [NRO Staff]
From Friday's "All-Stars."
On Obama’s attempt to defuse the Gates controversy:
I think it was important, because the Democrats have suffered for almost a half a century of a reputation of being soft on crime. The flip side of that is tough on cops, or insensitive to the duties and the sacrifices of law enforcement.
...When the Cambridge police came out—a multi-racial police force came out—and spoke unanimously about how this was wrong, this was not about race, and the president really ought to apologize, they [the White House] understood it was a serious political issue.
It seems that a lot of the Obama presidency is a contest between his intelligence and his arrogance. And I think he thought when he was asked that question [the Gates arrest] Wednesday night that he can say anything on race and is so smart that he will be untouchable.
And one reason is that he gave the famous speech in Philadelphia, the race speech, during the campaign in which, in fact, he did not renounce Jeremiah Wright. He blamed everybody for racism—black, white and grandmother—except for himself, and was hailed by a supine press as the second coming of Lincoln at Cooper Union.
So after that, you think you can say anything on race and be hailed as a genius.
Well, he now understands that you can't get away with that forever, and he got really caught on this one. |
