He seems to have aptly defused the situation and, in typical Obama fashion, turned it in to a teachable moment—so hopefully the frenzy will die down now..
At least some amusement came out of it with the lawn comments at the end.
Earlier I thought "Gates is the new Sanford" because I found this to be an unwelcome distraction from more substantive issues. But maybe that's selfish of me and shedding light on this kind of thing really is "part of the portfolio"—so hopefully he won't botch it into such a great frenzy next time.
With regard to saying it was appropriate to step into it even though it was a local issue is wrong. He could step into any issue he wants but he has to wait until the appropriate time.
ReplyDeleteAs a lawyer, he knows he should not have stepped into it until the issue was resolved. He has now prejudiced any juries if this were to go to trial, civil or criminal. In fact, it may preclude Gates from suing the city for false arrest, or it may preclude the police officer from filing a defamation suit. Charges against Gates have been dropped, so no criminal trial, but a civil trial by either one of them is still possible.
I don't think it's quite right to expect uninvolved people to avoid commenting on something (esp. a publicized event) just because it could, potentially, be litigated.
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