The incident itself was a minor matter considering the issues the world is facing, but when the history of Barack Obama’s presidency is written the “GatesGate” saga may be worthy of more than a passing paragraph.

What happened?  A 58-year old African American academic accuses the police of racism when he is arrested at his house.  The President says the police acted “stupidly”.  Following public criticism of his remark, the President and Vice President have a beer at the White House with the scholar and the arresting police officer.  All is well.

This wasn't in the script...

Well, not exactly.  Some historians may come to identify this incident more as a defining moment in Barack Obama’s presidency because it exposed his political immaturity and inexperience on precisely the issue that many Americans believed, when they voted last November, that he would have most to offer: race relations.

Institutionalized racism in America died years ago.  Its legacy is affirmative action – positive discrimination – and it is this policy that is controversial today.

Incidents of racism can occur in any society, but modern America is not only equipped with legal remedies and punishments, it is also sensitive – some might say overly sensitive – to instances where it might occur.  The general picture in America is of folks from all sorts of different races and backgrounds getting along fine together.

At a high school lacrosse game I was watching a couple of months ago, the parent sitting next to me regularly encouraged a player with “Way to go Habib!” as if the player was his own son.  Multicultural nirvana.  Only in America!

Taking police officer Sgt. James Crowley as another example, here is an individual who had demonstrated his non-racism well beyond any measure that may exist in most developed countries.  He had even trained racial diversity to fellow officers.

Professor Henry Gates Jr., meanwhile, was brought up at a time when institutionalized racism did exist in the United States – the 1950s and 1960s.

But it is now 2009 and when Sgt. Crowley appeared at Gates’ house to investigate a break in, he did what any police officer would have done anywhere in the world when confronted with a person in the house.  He asked for identification.

The issue could have been easily resolved.  The Professor could have laughed off the situation, shown his ID, explained how he had broken in to his own house because he was locked out and thanked the police officer for coming to his protection.

Instead, according to his own account, Gates loudly and aggressively accused the police officer of racism because he was asked for ID.

Now let’s consider this for a moment. In America, where racial preferences for minorities are institutionalized and where sensitivity to race issues is taught from elementary school, this is a serious accusation to throw around and is bound to cause offense.   And this police officer was risking his life to protect the Professor.

Gates proceeded to behave in an aggressive manner and was eventually handcuffed and taken away.  He was released shortly afterwards.  The left-of-center Washington Post then reported that he was planning to make a documentary about the arrest.  Mmm.

So, how did the President respond when asked about this?  His predecessors would probably have said that it was a matter for the police and might have added some words of reconciliation.  You can almost hear Bill Clinton saying that Americans have to come together…

But without knowing the facts, Obama chose to reinforce the damaging – and dangerous – stereotype that all police officers are racist.  He said the police were “acting stupidly”.

This caused anguish across the political spectrum.  When challenged on his pronouncement, he was initially dismissive, wondered what the fuss was about, and then later said he could have used better words.  Duh!

Now, at this point, a statesman President would have invited both Professor Gates and the police officer to the White House for a beer.  But instead, it was Sgt. Crowley who proposed exactly this during a phone call with President Obama.  The police officer, trained in racial sensitivity issues, suggested the mature approach.

What lessons can we draw from this?  First, the President isn’t nearly as thoughtful and learned as he appears when he makes prepared statements on television.  He rushed to judgment on this issue before he had a grasp of the facts.  And second, he is not as mature as we would want a U.S. President to be.  If this first six months is on-the-job training, the indications are not encouraging that he is up to it.

This does not bode well for the complex issues the world faces, from the Middle East to international terrorism, or America’s biggest domestic challenge of overcoming its economic woes.

Historians might come to see this shoddy response as the first clue that Obama’s Administration was destined for failure.  Time will tell.

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