A Missed Historic Opportunity

President Obama, as the first non-White president, missed a truly monumental opportunity to take his place in History.  When protests broke out around the country about two Black men being killed by police, the President could have stepped in as an authority figure to settle down the inflamed emotions.  He could have issued words of wisdom to mend the divide and heal the wounds, to address the deep distrust some have about police and the legal system.  He was in the historically unique position to say, "My people!" and begin to heal generations of problems.

Instead, the President took the outrageous and illogical position of blaming the police.  In neither case was race a factor, and yet the President took the side of the protesters and fanned the flames.

Not once did he point out that the man in Ferguson died because he refused to cooperate with the police.  Not once did he point out that the man in New York was resisting arrest, doing something illegal, and died because of pre-existing serious health problems.  Not once did he call for all citizens to respect and cooperate with the police, and to respect and honor the evidence judged by the grand juries.  And not once did he call on the protesters to do their part to heal the wounds.

Without the protesters admitting the facts of the cases, without them seeing that there was no racial component to either case, and without them living in the world of truth and facts, they will continue to live in a land of illusion where emotions rule and there can be no healing.

The President only blamed the police.

And for that, he will go down in history as a footnote instead of as a great leader.