Thank you. My only point was that this was a flat out execution, just like the two officers in New York and it will not get the media coverage that Freddy Grey and Michael Brown received.
Red, that question is beneath you. After the four or five "unarmed black men" (regardless of circumstances or prior actions) were shot by police officers over the last year or so, Obama has come on TV and spoken about how the policing has to improve, how they are not doing their job, how the victimize young black men, how black lives matter, and using too much force, and on and on. While you may not agree with the sentiment, surely you are aware of this never ending trashing of the police by the person with the number one bully pulpit in the known universe. The message has been clear to a great many people, I am surprised, shocked actually, that it has resonated with you. Red, I think you follow LSU football. If Coach Miles tells the team they are gonna beat Alabama, constantly, there are a lot of kids on that team that are really really gonna believe this. It is what leaders do. They lead, mostly by words, sometimes by example. If the President of the United States gets on tv, even once, not to mention dozens of times, and talks about problems in the police departments, how they are victimizing young black males, how they are using too much force and all the other anti-police comments he makes, there are a bunch of people gonna take it to heart, and run with it. We are seeing the results, this summer and spring, with the almost 30 law officers gunned down, many execution style. One of my best friends, became one of the first Executive Officers from my USNA class. I asked him what it was like, his response, "They do what I tell them. It is scary." That my friend is what leadership is about, and when the President is condemning the police at every convenient opportunity, or their actions, someone is going to do it! Please realize, I am pretty anti police. My experience with them has been very negative, and I feel in every interaction, the police or highway patrol has been in the wrong and in most cases acted like an asshole. But, I am intelligent enough to understand that if the President condemns and condemns them with words, sooner or later, as we see very very plainly, some minion will carry his words to the next level, and condemn them with a shot in the back.
Please stop with the feigned indignation. No question is invalid. And this one is serious, even if you don't like it. It hasn't. And the people to whom this is "clear" are the people who attack Obama constantly for everything he does. What I'm surprised at is your inaccurate characterization of comments in one speech as "constant" attacks upon the police. He was the friggin' President trying to calm both sides of an issue after Baltimore where the police killed an unarmed man and in the same goddamn speech he criticized the looters and called them thugs, for which he was criticized from the other side. "There's no excuse for the kind of violence that we saw yesterday. It is counterproductive. When individuals get crowbars and start prying open doors to loot, they're not protesting. They're not making a statement. They're stealing. When they burn down a building, they're committing arson. And they're destroying and undermining businesses and opportunities in their own communities. That robs jobs and opportunity from people in that area. That is not a protest. That is not a statement. It’s people — a handful of people taking advantage of a situation for their own purposes, and they need to be treated as criminals." "You’ve got some of the same organizers now going back into these communities to try to clean up in the aftermath of a handful of criminals and thugs who tore up the place." "My thoughts are with the police officers who were injured in last night’s disturbances. It underscores that that’s a tough job and we have to keep that in mind, and my hope is that they can heal and get back to work as soon as possible. There are some police who aren't doing the right thing. It seems like once a week now." We have seen too many instances of what appraise to be police officers interacting with individuals primarily Africa-American and often poor in ways that that raise troubling questions. And it seems that is comes up once a week now. This is not new and we shouldn't pretend that it's new. The good news is that perhaps there is some newfound awareness because of to social media, video cameras and so forth that there are problems and challenges in how policing is applied in certain communities and we have to pay attention to it and respond" How does this one fairly innocuous statement and accurate constitute "constant" attacks upon police? Tell me that. Tell me how it even constitutes "condemnation"? He never used the word or anything like it. The problem is that Obama does not condemn the police at every convenient opportunity. He has made as many supportive comments as critical comments and none of them rise to condemnation of the police. I know you are very anti-police which is why your comments ring so hollow to me. You "condemn" them all the time. You should understand what he is talking about when he says that they need to get their act together and get rid of their own bad apples, like the one that shot a guy in the back on video in South Carolina. That is not a condemnation of the police, it is a pragmatic statement of fact and a recognition that some police actions are unacceptable. You know this. You call that an intelligent understanding? You actually think that whenever a cop gets shot, then some thug is acting on Obama's "condemnation"? And you call me intellectually dishonest. Take a look in the mirror, Commander.
Well, we will have to disagree. Still think you are a great American. OBTW, all of the wonderful comments you quoted are caveated and either come before or after anti police remarks. The mark of a skilled orator, not necessarily a competent president.
I would suggest that the mark of a pragmatic President is not to take one side on a controversial issue. He was trying to defuse a situation, not exacerbate it. The police screwed up in Baltimore and it had to be acknowledged along with the thugs and criminal miscreants. Perhaps he simply caveated his anti-thug remarks.
