Comments on: Beers at the White House

By: Alexander

Alexander — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:55:53 +0000

It was not only in your national press, even in Europe the media reported for several days about this case.
Isn’t racism a nationwide problem (not only) in the USA?
Taken this special case as an example, it seems to me like a very nice gesture, a symbol, what your President initiated.
People all over the nation can take it as a good example how to handle such conflicts and misunderstandings.
(Though probably your gun-lobby won’t like this so much )

I do like Jamie’s post very much, he is analyzing the special case and the basic problem very good!
Thank you.

By: Darrell

Darrell — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:57:34 +0000

since it had become a national issue, the President was going to become involved

I would opine that it did not really become a national issue until the President weighed in on what should have remained a local police matter.

Simply getting national press does not make something a national issue. My federalist leanings reject the notion that the national government should even be interested in such a case — much less that the President should intervene personally. I believe that this is merely political posturing on his part.

Color me cynical.

By: Jamie Barrows

Jamie Barrows — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 12:34:03 +0000

Darrell,
I agree that it isn’t really the President’s job to mediate these kinds of disputes, but I don’t think it is something he is forbidden to do either. And to be clear, he didn’t overstep his legal authority by ordering the actions of the Mayor or the Police department.
In this case, the extreme media coverage, of what was really a misunderstanding and a minor abuse of police power, was turning the event into a serious race relations issue. By getting the two sides talking and by publicizing that event, the President defused it rather well. Are there other people who could have done it? Maybe, but since it had become a national issue, the President was going to become involved (if only through his opinion) either way.

By: Darrell

Darrell — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 23:04:56 +0000

But in this case, I think his plan is a really good idea. And I have to give him credit for it.

I disagree. I believe that in general the idea of getting together of a drink to discuss the race issue is a grand one. We can’t ever have too much communication between the various parties.

But I object to the President getting involved in a local police matter a as well as the idea of the White House being used as a the backdrop for ‘having a beer and talking about it.’

The federal government simply should not have an interest in mediating a dispute that goes on on a local level. Perhaps the mayor of the town should be having these guys over for a beer, not the POTUS.

I believe that Barack Obama still believes that he is a national community organizer who can take the time to do this sort of publicity stunt while matters of much greater moment deserve his attention. He needs to get his priorities straight.