One thing is certain, two years down the road, this story will come up again. And plenty people are already taking notes, for example a certain Mrs Palin.
For sure Obama has made a political mistake; regardless of how he calibrate his remarks and recalibrate the counter remarks.
To be confirmed by the tapes, if ever released, the supporting witnesses show that Gates has pulled up the racism card too quickly. His other mistake, to be confirmed, is to loose temper and insult an officer a few steps from his door, and refuse to calm down after second warning.
Disorderly conduct is a questionnable charge, but Crowley can not be accussed of wrongdoings for it. This charge can be issued by his own discretion/judgement. It’s one of the police “tools” to maintain authority / order; and it is common to just drop the charge right after; once the tumultuous event has already passed. Regardless of what he has in mind, wether he’s racist or not, he played the game correctly; no racist words/comments involved – again, to be confirmed by the tape.
In any case, Obama’s mistake doesn’t need a tape to be confirmed; he is already the loosing party in this case.
