Gates-Gate: Time to Move On

President Obama has realized his mistake, as has Professor Gates, and even many of police officer Crowley's defenders admit he stepped over the line, perhaps because of ego. Let bygones be bygones, shall we?

Thank you, President Obama. As a conservative who believes this issue was blown out of all proportion, I am grateful for your secondary comments regarding the arrest of Professor Gates. I must admit, I was hoping for a full apology and retraction, but as Pat Buchanan put it, "It was a goodly slice of humble pie the president ate there, but it was a class act. To ask more would be churlish." For those conservatives who continue to attack the president's comments, and Professor Gates, remember that we have health care, cap-and-tax (I mean, trade), illegal immigration, the Honduran crisis and the Iranian protests, among other issues, with which to attack the president and create our own effective policies. The Gates debacle is over - the police officer (Crowley) has won in both the public eye and legally, and this particular distraction from the major issues is over with. While the issue won't die as long as a tiny minority of Republicans give the race-baiting Democrats the opportunity to make headlines (or as long as Democrats create such headlines without Republican provocation), let's handle each issue as it arises (after all, as George Will might say, we DO live in an entitlement society, so these situations will arise again). For those liberals who blame Crowley, let's agree he almost certainly overstepped his boundary, assuming Gates identified himself. If Gates didn't, well, that's a different issue. The facts are, however, that police everywhere (especially on the Cambridge force, black, white and otherwise) are defending Crowley, and the man's record shows no racial prejudices to speak of, and in fact show a police officer who is vastly in favor of racial blindness. Instead, can you please support the D.C. school voucher system, where Democrats are trying to prevent 1,700 poor students - most of them minorities - from receiving a quality, low-cost education because the unions don't like the program's success? On both sides, let's not let this distraction keep us from the issues. President Obama has realized his mistake, as has Professor Gates, and even many of Crowley's defenders admit he stepped over the line, perhaps because of ego. Either way, the evidence increasingly shows it was likely a case of both parties overstepping certain professional and personal boundaries. Let bygones be bygones, shall we?