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Obama calls cop: Bad 'choice of words'
by Mark Silva
President Barack Obama today placed a personal call to the Cambridge, Mass, police sergeant who arrested Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. last week in a saga which the president had publicly termed a measure of the racial profiling that plagues African Americans, with the president saying at a prime-time news conference this week that the police had "acted stupidly.''
Obama also stood before television cameras today at the White House to personally address an issue which has stirred controversy across the nation since the president first voice his opinion of the arrest of the African-American scholar in his own home.
The president, while stopping short of a direct apology, did make it clear that he regrets his "choice of words'' the other night at the news conference, and publicly commended the police officer as one with a fine record. He did say, however, that he had no regrets about addressing the issue, which has underscored how sensitive the question of race relations remains.
Obama also joked that he was extending an offer to the officer and the professor, who is seeking an apology from the sergeant that is not likely: A beer at the White House.
"I wanted to address you guys directly because over the last day and a half obviously there's been all sorts of controversy around the incident that happened in Cambridge with Professor Gates and the police department there,'' the president said in the West Wing today.
"I actually just had a conversation with Sgt. Jim Crowley, the officer involved,'' Obama said. "And I have to tell you that, as I said yesterday, my impression of him was that he was a outstanding police officer and a good man, and that was confirmed in the phone conversation -- and I told him that.
"And 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 Sgt. Crowley specifically -- and I could have calibrated those words differently. And I told this to Sgt. Crowley.
"I continue to believe, based on what I have heard, that there was an overreaction in pulling Professor Gates out of his home to the station,'' the president maintained. "I also continue to believe, based on what I heard, that Professor Gates probably overreacted as well.
"My sense is you've got two good people in a circumstance in which neither of them were able to resolve the incident in the way that it should have been resolved and 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,''said Obama, the first-African American president and one who has not often directly confronted the issue of race in office. "So to the extent that my choice of words didn't illuminate, but rather contributed to more media frenzy, I think that was unfortunate.
"What I'd like to do then I make sure that everybody steps back for a moment, recognizes that these are two decent people, not extrapolate too much from the facts, but as I said at the press conference, be mindful of the fact that because of our history, because of the difficulties of the past, you know, African Americans are sensitive to these issues,'' he said.
"And even when you've got a police officer who has a fine track record on racial sensitivity, interactions between police officers and the African American community can sometimes be fraught with misunderstanding,'' he said.
"My hope is, 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 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 has been paying much attention to health care,'' said Obama, with a wry joke for how his "choice of words'' had overtaken the message that he had hoped to spotlight in his prime-time news conference Wednesday night, his call to Congress to act on healthcare reform.
"I will not use this time to spend more words on health care, although I can't guarantee that that will be true next week,'' he said.
"I just wanted to emphasize that -- one last point I guess I would make. 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 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,'' he said. "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 my portfolio.
"So at the end of the conversation there was a discussion about -- my conversation with Sgt. Crowley, there was discussion about he and I and Professor Gates having a beer here in the White House,'' he said. "We don't know if that's scheduled yet, but we may put that together.
"He also did say he wanted to find out if there was a way of getting the press off his lawn,'' Obama said of an officer who has been besieged by reporters since the news conference. "I informed him that I can't get the press off my lawn. He pointed out that my lawn is bigger than his lawn.
"But if anybody has any connections to the Boston press, as well as national press, Sgt. Crowley would be happy for you to stop trampling his grass,'' the president said.
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