I, like you, slow-clapped at his answer though– what other reaction can you have to a 60-year-old man with a cane being arrested in his own home other than that the Cambridge PD acted stupidly? But you’re right, Obama definitely stepped outside himself there. I think the fact that he was a Harvard alum who lived in Cambridge, the first black president of the Harvard Law Review (and all the racial nonsense from both blacks and whites that no doubt came with that), was also a contributing factor. He probably had a little flashback there, thought he was speaking on the steps of Widener.

That said, I actually love that he said what he said, but yup, it was bad timing. I also think its worth noting that he finally dropped truth on race when it was one of his boys at the center of the controversy. I think he stepped outside himself for a minute (hence, the really funny joke about being shot tryna break into the White House).

As far as Obama perpetuating flawed racial narratives, I agree, that’s irresponsible. But it’s more irresponsible for him to do what he did in yesterday’s press conference and drop some real talk on the Professor Gates arrest. The result being that the two minutes he spoke on that topic overshadowed the previous 58 minutes on policy. The top headline on Google News this morning was “Black scholar arrest angers Obama.” That’s unacceptable, and he knows better.

But he’s in a no-win situation. If he addresses race issues properly, it whips up controversy– manufactured and otherwise– and it’s all people talk about and nothing gets done. If he does his job as a politician– making everyone feel good– he’s perpetuating flawed narratives. He can either be the president or he can be the national spokersperson on race. There’s no way he can be both.

It’s up to intelligent folks everywhere to understand the position Obama is in and do the work he can’t.

That said, to let a flawed racial narrative continue to metastasize into the dominant narrative would be irresponsible. The one point in my piece that I didn’t flesh out nearly as much as I should have was that the reason his speeches are dangerous is because he’s, for better or worse, the worldwide spokesperson on Black Americans. There are people who point to him and say “racism. over.” Think about the Voting Rights Act challenge…their argument was essentially “we elected Barack Obama”. Irony of ironies, Obama didn’t win Texas, which is where the case originated.

I know that he’ll never say what we need to hear as America. But we can’t just sort of concede the dominant narrative to (essentially) what works politically.

Not going to happen.

oh…and before someone mentions other black leaders that aren’t the president (i.e. Jesse Jackson/Al Sharpton) let me laugh directly in your face and call you stupid.