What if shoe were on other foot?

I've been thinking about the reaction of Gates yesterday....

He's just broken into his home... cops come to the door asking about a break-in, and despite the fact that he KNEW he'd just broken into his own home and that by definition that would have looked suspicious, he accuses the cops of harassing him because he's a "black man in America," and accuses them of racial profiling.

I still don't understand that. It's not as if he and the driver were just sitting on the porch mindng their own business waiting for a locksmith to come, and someone calls because there are "two black men sitting on a porch in an all white neighborhood," although one must ask oneself then as well... if there's an all-white neighborhood, isn't is suspicious if some non-whites are there, sitting on a porch, with no white present?

That's not racial profilng, it's just common sense. Let us not forget that most petty crimes are committed by blacks, because more blacks than whites are poor. (And there's nothing racist in that statement of fact, either. Fact of life, most white-collar crime is committed by whites, who have no reason to steal apart from basic dishonesty - it's just that they do the "victimless" crimes of embezzling money, whereas people with no jobs are forced to steal from houses. And of course most politicians are white, and most of them are crooks, too.)

In any event, what if the shoe were on the other foot, and a white person goes into black Harlem. Wouldn't that individual stick out like... well, like a white person in black Harlem? Wouldn't all eyes be on that person, wondering what the heck he, or she, was doing there?

But these days, all a black person has to do is scream Racist and there is no defense.

I'm reminded of a recent incident with Barbara Boxer and some black guy who was supposed to speak before her committee. She was talking about the good that other black organizations have done, like the NCAAP and so on, and this guy just went ballistic on her, calling her "racial" because she dared to list other black organizations that had nothing to do with his. And at the very beginning of his tirade, she had just tried to carry on, because she had no idea why he was so upset. If I may use a sexist simile, he was just like a female beauty contestant throwing a hissy fit because some other girl's attributes had been listed along with hers. Just silly. Just, quite frankly, a guy with a chip on his shoulder ready to regard anything as racist.

Limbaugh had some excerpts of an Obama speech the other day:

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_072009/content/01125115.guest.html

RUSH: Last Thursday night in New York City, President Obama showed up at the 100th anniversary celebration of the NAALCP. That would be the National Association for the Advancement of Liberal Colored People. Now, I play these four bites because it was I, El Rushbo, who told you prior to the election of President Obama that our race industry would not end. Racism, as an American original sin would not end. It would only get worse. Now, as with the health care sound bites, we have speeded these up. I find it's much more palatable to listen to this, and it also has a couple of other added benefits I don't want to have to mention. They're easily figured out. So here is Obama at the NAALCP. Make no mistake, folks, racism is alive and well in this country. The NAALCP was told as much by President Obama.

OBAMA (sped up): Make no mistake, the pain of discrimination is still felt in America (applause) by African-American women paid less for doing the same work as colleagues of a different color and a different gender; by La-tin-os made to feel unwelcome in their own country; by Muslim Americans viewed with suspicion simply because they kneel down to pray to their god; by our gay brothers and sisters still taunted, still attacked, still denied their rights.

RUSH: Oh, folks! Folks, this is the original litmus test. This is the original list of sins. This guy is out there stoking more hatred among these people. He's not bringing us together. Where's the unity? Here, we have three more of these. Here President Obama lists all of the excuses the left makes for African-American failure.

OBAMA (sped up): If you're African-American the odds of growing up amid crime and gangs are high. Yes, if you live in a poor neighborhood you will face challenges that somebody in a wealthy suburb does not have to face. But that's not a reason to get bad grades. (applause) That's not a reason to cut class. That's not a reason to give up on y'education and drop out of school. No one has written your destiny for you. Your destiny is in your hands, you cannot forget that, that's why we have to teach all of our children! No excuses! No excuses!

RUSH: Oh, yeah, give 'em all the excuses. Give them all the excuses, and then say, "No excuses." "If you're African-American the odds of growing up amid crime and gangs are high. Yes, if you live in a poor neighborhood you will face challenges that somebody in a wealthy suburb does not have to face. But that's not a reason to get bad grades." Now, Bill Cosby got drummed out of the black race for saying this stuff, right? (interruption) I don't... I know who runs the neighborhoods and who runs the schools in those neighborhoods. (sigh) Look, Snerdley, it speaks for itself. I really don't need to editorialize here. Let's now listen to Obama in full preacher mode.

OBAMA (sped up): Our kids can't all aspire to LeBron or Lil Wayne. (applause) I want them to aspiring to be scientists and engineers, actors and teachers, not just ballers and rappers. (applause) I want them aspiring to be a Supreme Court justice. I want them aspiring to be the president of the United States of America. (wild applause)


RUSH: Unless you're Clarence Thomas. Unless you're Condoleezza Rice. Unless you're Walter Williams. Unless you're Dr. Thomas Sowell. Then you can forget about all those aspirations because people like Obama are going to chop you into liver. And finally this is Obama's worldview.

OBAMA (sped up): My life could have easily taken a turn for the worse. I drive through Harlem or I drive through the South Dakota side of Chicago and I see young men on the corners I say, "There but for the grace of God go I." They're no less gifted than me. They're no less talented than me. I had some breaks.

RUSH: Ahem. Well, what were the breaks, meeting a bunch of communist mentors? Gee, if they could all meet Reverend Wright, you think their lives would be improving? If they could all meet Frank Davis you think they're lives...? (interruption) What is the question Mr. Snerdley? The Program Observer has a question. (interruption) Mmm-hmm. That's a good question. The program observer has asked: "How do you think the brothers in Harlem hear this when the first black president says that when he drives through there and he looks at the brothers in Harlem, he says, 'There but for the grace of God go I.' So what must the brothers in Harlem think?" What Obama is saying here is that we're all just winners at life's lottery.

It's all luck, and the government's gonna come in here and make it so there's no luck, and everybody finishes off just as bad as everybody else finishes off -- or ends up just as bad as everybody else ends up. But, folks, the real point about this is, this president promised unity. "We gotta get past all of this. We can't continue to think this way." He's out stoking fires of resentment in this speech. You think of the opportunity he has to inspire but going before this group and saying that? He took the opposite route. This speech didn't inspire anybody. This speech gave them continued reason to be resentful. He reinforced the existing attitude that exists in the race business today. I don't know when's the last time he drove through Harlem anyway. I think Caroline Kennedy was there more recently than he's been there. Didn't she have lunch with Sharpton at the soul food place? Sophie's, is that what it is? Sylvia's, yeah. Sylvia's. I remember that. That's when she blew it. She started eating on camera. No seasoned politician, even Ted Kennedy, eats when there are cameras around. You just don't. You can't possibly look good doing it -- and if you spill something, it's even worse.