Really? Wow.

Up until this point I have credited President Obama with being a very savvy politician, and he may still prove himself again in the future, but I must say, as a politician and a leader, he’s wearing a lot of egg right now.

A few days ago police were called to a neighborhood in Cambridge, MA when someone called to report a possible burglary. Police arrived at the house and found a man inside who affirmed that he was the owner of the home and became belligerent with police. They requested to see his identification to confirm that he was the rightful owner and he refused and instead accused them of being racists. He yelled at them, apparently demeaning the arresting officer and even the officer’s mother. The man continued his rude behavior and was eventually arrested for disorderly conduct after the officer repeatedly tried to calm the man down.

Three things about the man: he is a Harvard professor, he is black, and he is a friend of the President.

Not uncommon in disorderly conduct cases, the man was released and the charges were dropped.

Wednesday night during President Obama’s press conference on health care reform (now being called health INSURANCE reform… a little rebranding) the president was asked about the arrest in Cambridge. He replied,

”I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that. But I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home; and, number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there's a long history in this country of African Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately.”

So, while acknowledging that he doesn’t have the facts in the case, the President goes on to refer to the officer’s actions as stupid and strongly hints at the officers being racists.

Really? On national television? Without knowing the facts in the case you immediately blame and disparage the public servant and really ALL of law enforcement?

Most people have a healthy and well earned respect for police officers and this particular officer in question has been held up by his fellow officers and everyone in his community as above reproach in this area. In fact he was actually hand picked to teach classes to law enforcement on avoiding racial profiling.

The President has been back peddling but has not apologized for his comments.

Rasmussen (currently considered the most accurate political pollster) is going to report this morning (according to Drudge) that the President’s approval numbers have dropped below 50% for the first time this week.

On a side note, I have heard NUMEROUS times people quoting the fact that blacks and Latinos are stopped more by police officers. Why is this an issue? I really don’t care what race a person is, if they are suspected of committing a crime, I HOPE that police officers are confronting them. I hope they are stopping all people they suspect of a crime, regardless of their race, and the LAST thing I want an officer to be concerned about when he confronts ANYBODY is whether or not he is going to be called a racist… especially by the President.

Sorry, it’s Friday, I had to rant just a… little bit…