Reply #12: good thoughts, as usual.

[MBS]

Here are mine, for whatever they're worth.

1. The real idiot (and someone who hasn't gotten nearly the flack she deserves) is the Harvard Magazine staff member (the circulation and fund-raising manager, of all things!!!) who made the call in the first place. In her position (in an office just down the street from his house, no less) , she should definitely have known who Henry Louis Gates was, and what he looked like. If she didn't , she is way too clueless to hold a job like that. In an atmosphere where Harvard is laying legions of worthy people off, right and left, why does an idiot like this have a job?
In some article or letter to the editor, a midwesterner mentioned that, in the midwest, people , first of all, would know who their neighbors were, and would flock to help their neighbor solve his problem. It might be bumbling help, but they would try, and their good-will would be obvious. That would have been the more appropriate response, for someone who took the trouble to know their neighbors, and/or at least to ask what was going on.

2. Henry Louis Gates is a good guy. Our local cleaners (we're both customers of the same outfit) calls him "Mr. Happy", for good reason. He's civilized, affable, open to people.
I'm guessing that he came back from his China trip tired and cranky, and was anxious, as we all would be, to just get in his house and rest after a very very long trip . He's also gone through a divorce fairly recently, and perhaps that's also added to his personal pressures.
He has a healthy ego, no doubt: but he's absolutely not an asshole, and, in ordinary circumstances, is not one to put on airs. The way I see it: if he got this mad, he had ample reason to be angry. Sure, the anger didn't help the situation, to say the least. But, boy, I'd also be angry if someone threatened to arrest me when I was just trying to get into my own house.

3. I have no doubt that Crowley is an excellent police officer, but I think he overreacted.
4. So, Gates and Crowley both overreacted.
5. I can totally relate to Obama's first comments. First of all, he was responding as a friend of Gates (who is a strong support of Obama, went to his inauguration, etc), and also as someone who has experienced the same kind of thing (if not an actual arrest, certainly the "profiling" part), and must know plenty of others who have. His comments were real, and I really appreciated them for that. (And, as I said, I can totally see where he's coming from).
But the critical reaction of the press and the Talking Heads and police/people on the street Obama's comments seems to me way over the top.
6. So three sets of people have overreacted: Gates, Crowley, and the press/blogs etc

7. I read in the paper that Obama wants both Gates and Crowley to come visit him in the White House. I think this is a good idea.