president barack obama
Obama says he regrets word choice about professor's arrest
Washington, DC -
President Barack Obama's statement in the arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr., a prominent scholar of African American studies at Harvard University, has overshadowed coverage of his health care reform proposals. The comment made during Wednesday prime time press conference has started a firestorm of controversy and debate.
In an attempt to diffuse the controversy and refocus on health care, the Obama made a surprise appearance at the Friday afternoon White House briefing. The President said he had just spoken with Sergeant Jim Crowley about the situation, and although did not specifically say that he apologized, he offered the following:
"Because this has been ratcheting up and I obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up, I want to make clear that in my choice of words I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sergeant Crowley specifically and I could have calibrated those words differently and I told this to Sergeant Crowley. I continue to believe, based on what I have heard, that there was an over reaction in pulling professor Gates out of his home and to the station. I also continue to believe, based on what I've heard, that Professor Gates probably overreacted as well. My sense is that you've got two good people in a circumstance in which neither of them were able to resolve the incident in a way that it should have been resolved the way they would have liked it to be resolved. The fact that it has garnered so much attention I think is a testimony to the fact that these are issues that are still very sensitive here in America…to the extent that my choice of words didn't illuminate,, but rather contributed to more media frenzy I think that was unfortunate."
"Be mindful of the fact that because of our history, because of the difficulties of the past, African Americans are sensitive to these issues."
"My hope is that as a consequence of this event this ends up being what's called a ‘teachable moment' where all of us instead of pumping up the volume spend a little more time listening to each other and try to focus on how we can generally improve relations between police officers and minority communities and that instead of flinging accusations we can all be a little more reflective in terms of what we can do in to contribute to more unity. Lord knows we need it right now because over the last two days as we've discussed this issue, I don't know if you've noticed but nobody's been paying much attention to health care."
Concluding, Obama said "There are some who say that as President I shouldn't have stepped into this at all because it's a local issue. I have to tell you that part of it I disagree with. The fact that this has become such a big issue I think is indicative of the fact that race is still a troubling aspect of our society, whether I were black or white, I think that me commenting on this and hopefully contributing to constructive as opposed to negative understandings about the issue is part of portfolio." Obama took no questions following the statement.
In an exclusive interview with ABC's Terry Moran on Thursday, Obama said "I have to say I am surprised by the controversy surrounding my statement, because I think it was a pretty straightforward commentary that you probably don't need to handcuff a guy, a middle-aged man who uses a cane, who's in his own home,"
Cambridge, Mass. Police Sergeant James Crowley, the arresting officer, is at the center of the controversy. Crowley is a decorated officer with a long history of objectivity in the area of race relations and is being rigorously defended by his department and colleagues. Both Crowley and his department have said that appropriate police procedures were followed.
In a news conference earlier today in Cambridge, police and union officials demanded an apology from Obama for his remarks. Obama's position on the incident has sparked strongly negative outcry from law enforcement groups across the country.
Comedian and activist Bill Cosby said "I've heard about five different reports," in a Boston radio interview. "If I'm the President of the United States, I don't care how much pressure people want to put on it about race, I'm keeping my mouth shut." Cosby added "I was shocked to hear the president making this kind of statement."
In an attempt to diffuse the controversy and refocus on health care, the Obama made a surprise appearance at the Friday afternoon White House briefing. The President said he had just spoken with Sergeant Jim Crowley about the situation, and although did not specifically say that he apologized, he offered the following:
"Because this has been ratcheting up and I obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up, I want to make clear that in my choice of words I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sergeant Crowley specifically and I could have calibrated those words differently and I told this to Sergeant Crowley. I continue to believe, based on what I have heard, that there was an over reaction in pulling professor Gates out of his home and to the station. I also continue to believe, based on what I've heard, that Professor Gates probably overreacted as well. My sense is that you've got two good people in a circumstance in which neither of them were able to resolve the incident in a way that it should have been resolved the way they would have liked it to be resolved. The fact that it has garnered so much attention I think is a testimony to the fact that these are issues that are still very sensitive here in America…to the extent that my choice of words didn't illuminate,, but rather contributed to more media frenzy I think that was unfortunate."
"Be mindful of the fact that because of our history, because of the difficulties of the past, African Americans are sensitive to these issues."
"My hope is that as a consequence of this event this ends up being what's called a ‘teachable moment' where all of us instead of pumping up the volume spend a little more time listening to each other and try to focus on how we can generally improve relations between police officers and minority communities and that instead of flinging accusations we can all be a little more reflective in terms of what we can do in to contribute to more unity. Lord knows we need it right now because over the last two days as we've discussed this issue, I don't know if you've noticed but nobody's been paying much attention to health care."
Concluding, Obama said "There are some who say that as President I shouldn't have stepped into this at all because it's a local issue. I have to tell you that part of it I disagree with. The fact that this has become such a big issue I think is indicative of the fact that race is still a troubling aspect of our society, whether I were black or white, I think that me commenting on this and hopefully contributing to constructive as opposed to negative understandings about the issue is part of portfolio." Obama took no questions following the statement.
In an exclusive interview with ABC's Terry Moran on Thursday, Obama said "I have to say I am surprised by the controversy surrounding my statement, because I think it was a pretty straightforward commentary that you probably don't need to handcuff a guy, a middle-aged man who uses a cane, who's in his own home,"
Cambridge, Mass. Police Sergeant James Crowley, the arresting officer, is at the center of the controversy. Crowley is a decorated officer with a long history of objectivity in the area of race relations and is being rigorously defended by his department and colleagues. Both Crowley and his department have said that appropriate police procedures were followed.
In a news conference earlier today in Cambridge, police and union officials demanded an apology from Obama for his remarks. Obama's position on the incident has sparked strongly negative outcry from law enforcement groups across the country.
Comedian and activist Bill Cosby said "I've heard about five different reports," in a Boston radio interview. "If I'm the President of the United States, I don't care how much pressure people want to put on it about race, I'm keeping my mouth shut." Cosby added "I was shocked to hear the president making this kind of statement."
