What'd I say?

Yesterday I commented about the remark made by President Obama at his press conference the night before. Among his statements, Obama said the Cambridge, Mass., police department “acted stupidly” in handling the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. The arrest has turned into a big racial controversy that I feel has more to do with a couple of people with bruised egos, one of which was arrested with charges later being dismissed.

I remarked that Obama was only half right about the incident in which white police Sgt. Jim Crowley arrested Obama’s friend Gates, who is black, for disorderly conduct. Police were called because Gates was thought to be breaking into his own home. Gates became upset over the confrontation, which led to his arrest. I said the incident should have ended when Gates produced identification. I still believe that. But I think Gates should have used common sense and perhaps kept a cooler head.

This morning several Boston-area police unions expressed their outrage — as have many other Americans, many of whom are Republicans — over the president’s remarks.

This afternoon Obama said, in a surprise appearance at the White House press briefing room, that he had called Crowley. While Obama did not apologize he said that he told Crowley he wished he had used a better choice of words during Wednesday’s press conference. Obama also is hoping to put together a “peace conference” over beers with Crowley and Gates. Great, they’ll all get drunk, wind up in a brawl and we’ll have an even bigger brouhaha! Just kidding.

Of course, the controversy won’t end there as I said yesterday it wouldn’t end anytime soon. As someone on cable news said this morning, whenever the president makes a statement on something it extends the matter at least another day. His opponents will certainly try to run the matter into the ground.

Let’s just hope the president can bring peace between the hostiles and have that beer.