I was driving home from Madison when I caught the end of President Obama's recent news conference. The final question was on his reaction to the spat between the African-American Harvard professor who locked himself out of his own house and the Cambridge cop who answered a call about an apparent "break in." After some reasonable remarks about his own experience with racial profiling and acknowledging that he didn't have all the facts, President Obama concluded that the Cambridge Police "acted stupidly."
Whoa! This, coming from the president who successfully avoided being a "Jesse Jackson look-alike." Was this just a slip from an exhausted president? Whether the Cambridge Police acted "stupidly" would depend on one's point of view. But as I passed along the corn and soybean fields on County Road PB, I had the sinking feeling that the president that I admire so much had set himself up.
And how! That remark made the front page of USA Today, and created controversy that superseded the health insurance brouhaha. Clearly, the President touched a nerve - a lot of nerves of a lot of people.
President Obama later admitted regretting his choice of words. My suggestion would have been to respond that there was some "unpropitious behavior." Yeah! Drive the press nuts - drive 'em to the dictionary. After the big time media hacks figure out the definition, let 'em debate what he meant and for whom. Let 'em babble endlessly over trivia - business as usual.
There are some lessons to be learned from this flap. Murphy's first law is that nature always sides with the hidden flaw. Farmers are especially attuned to that one. But it is Murphy's second law that applies here - if something can go wrong, it will. And we have all been in situations where everything goes wrong all at once. That's what happened here. A tired, cranky professor returning home, angry first at himself for having locked himself out of his house, a cop called on the scene to break up what appeared to be a "break-in," an angry reaction from the prof for being confronted in his own house, and the cop's reaction to the reaction by throwing the cuffs on the prof. All this, exacerbated by an unpropitious comment by the president. Were it not for the racial overtones, the whole affair would be grist for a comedy routine.
I like Colin Powell's comment that some "adult supervision" was needed in Cambridge that evening. Had the prof acknowledged that the cop was just doing his job, and/or had the cop stopped short of slapping the cuffs on the prof, well, you get the idea - everything that could have gone wrong did.
There is an interesting sociological reverse twist to this fiasco. This wasn't a middle class cop busting into a low class ghetto. Instead, the prof, the Cambridge mayor, and the Massachusetts Governor are African American. So when the African-American president who usually chooses his words so meticulously verbally slammed the middle-class cop, the words had more sting then it they had come from a ghetto resident. Everything that could have gone wrong did.
There is a broader lesson to be learned from this fiasco. When the rhetoric escalates, events spins out of control. Cool heads need to prevail. Closer to home, decisions made by school boards, village boards, town boards, city councils and county boards sometimes appear to be "stupid" or ill considered. But when examined more carefully, there usually is some reason and logic behind them. And with the same information, critics might have made the same decision. But when the rhetoric escalates and passions rule, positions harden.
Sure, the actions of public bodies need to be scrutinized by the press and by concerned citizens. But angry off-the-cuff reactions and name-calling serve only to escalate the rhetoric and does nothing to improve resolution of issues. Cool, studied and measured response should not be confused with lack of interest and passion. And it usually is more effective.
It is especially important for cool heads to prevail in foreign policy, where insults and hasty decisions can result in loss of life and limb. What may appear to some as "under reaction or inaction," may be the wiser and more productive response in the long run, especially when dealing with nations such as Iran and North Korea.
Back to the Cambridge fiasco, we need to cut everyone some slack. The prof was on edge, and I think we all would be a bit testy about having to prove we were in our own house. And cops have their own trials and tribulations and shouldn't be harangued when doing their job - even if it "goes with the territory." And let's cut the president some slack - he inherited two wars and the worst economy since the Great Depression, and is getting beat up because he hasn't reversed in six months the problems that have been thirty years in the making. We should allow him an occasional verbal slip-up. He doesn't make many. He has accepted responsibility for this one and has gone the extra mile to compensate for it.
The suds summit was a good idea. I don't know if he had any of Wisconsin's fine beers on tap, but he should have, especially since, when a senator, he was our next-door neighbor. In any case, being the peacemaker and inviting the cop and the prof to the White House for a beer was the right thing to do.
And, I might add, very propitious.
- Monroe resident John Waelti is a native of Monroe Township. He can be reached at jjwaelti@charter.net.
Whoa! This, coming from the president who successfully avoided being a "Jesse Jackson look-alike." Was this just a slip from an exhausted president? Whether the Cambridge Police acted "stupidly" would depend on one's point of view. But as I passed along the corn and soybean fields on County Road PB, I had the sinking feeling that the president that I admire so much had set himself up.
And how! That remark made the front page of USA Today, and created controversy that superseded the health insurance brouhaha. Clearly, the President touched a nerve - a lot of nerves of a lot of people.
President Obama later admitted regretting his choice of words. My suggestion would have been to respond that there was some "unpropitious behavior." Yeah! Drive the press nuts - drive 'em to the dictionary. After the big time media hacks figure out the definition, let 'em debate what he meant and for whom. Let 'em babble endlessly over trivia - business as usual.
There are some lessons to be learned from this flap. Murphy's first law is that nature always sides with the hidden flaw. Farmers are especially attuned to that one. But it is Murphy's second law that applies here - if something can go wrong, it will. And we have all been in situations where everything goes wrong all at once. That's what happened here. A tired, cranky professor returning home, angry first at himself for having locked himself out of his house, a cop called on the scene to break up what appeared to be a "break-in," an angry reaction from the prof for being confronted in his own house, and the cop's reaction to the reaction by throwing the cuffs on the prof. All this, exacerbated by an unpropitious comment by the president. Were it not for the racial overtones, the whole affair would be grist for a comedy routine.
I like Colin Powell's comment that some "adult supervision" was needed in Cambridge that evening. Had the prof acknowledged that the cop was just doing his job, and/or had the cop stopped short of slapping the cuffs on the prof, well, you get the idea - everything that could have gone wrong did.
There is an interesting sociological reverse twist to this fiasco. This wasn't a middle class cop busting into a low class ghetto. Instead, the prof, the Cambridge mayor, and the Massachusetts Governor are African American. So when the African-American president who usually chooses his words so meticulously verbally slammed the middle-class cop, the words had more sting then it they had come from a ghetto resident. Everything that could have gone wrong did.
There is a broader lesson to be learned from this fiasco. When the rhetoric escalates, events spins out of control. Cool heads need to prevail. Closer to home, decisions made by school boards, village boards, town boards, city councils and county boards sometimes appear to be "stupid" or ill considered. But when examined more carefully, there usually is some reason and logic behind them. And with the same information, critics might have made the same decision. But when the rhetoric escalates and passions rule, positions harden.
Sure, the actions of public bodies need to be scrutinized by the press and by concerned citizens. But angry off-the-cuff reactions and name-calling serve only to escalate the rhetoric and does nothing to improve resolution of issues. Cool, studied and measured response should not be confused with lack of interest and passion. And it usually is more effective.
It is especially important for cool heads to prevail in foreign policy, where insults and hasty decisions can result in loss of life and limb. What may appear to some as "under reaction or inaction," may be the wiser and more productive response in the long run, especially when dealing with nations such as Iran and North Korea.
Back to the Cambridge fiasco, we need to cut everyone some slack. The prof was on edge, and I think we all would be a bit testy about having to prove we were in our own house. And cops have their own trials and tribulations and shouldn't be harangued when doing their job - even if it "goes with the territory." And let's cut the president some slack - he inherited two wars and the worst economy since the Great Depression, and is getting beat up because he hasn't reversed in six months the problems that have been thirty years in the making. We should allow him an occasional verbal slip-up. He doesn't make many. He has accepted responsibility for this one and has gone the extra mile to compensate for it.
The suds summit was a good idea. I don't know if he had any of Wisconsin's fine beers on tap, but he should have, especially since, when a senator, he was our next-door neighbor. In any case, being the peacemaker and inviting the cop and the prof to the White House for a beer was the right thing to do.
And, I might add, very propitious.
- Monroe resident John Waelti is a native of Monroe Township. He can be reached at jjwaelti@charter.net.
