How About the Good Samaritan?

Life is fine when everything goes right. When we are in our groove, when we know just what to do or say, when everyone is happy with us. The trouble starts when we make a mistake.

A mistake. A misstep. A wrong word. A joke that offends rather than delights. That's when life gets tough.

The hardest part of offending another is letting ourselves feel the pain of the mistake. None of us likes to feel pain. Neither the person who is offended nor the person who offends. The easiest way to deal with the knowledge that we have offended another is to shut it out, to justify our act, to put the blame on the person who feels the offense. That's the easiest way, but that is not the best way.

We all watched the drama unfold on the national stage involving Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. He has spent his professional life dealing with the history of African Americans, the injustice they have experienced. That is his profession and no one in America is more aware of the racial profiling, lynching, discrimination, slavery--the most abject form of chattel in history--than he. Gates has attained a position of respect for his achievements.

Here he is. Most likely quite tired after returning from a long trip home from China. Having made many trips between Asia and that USA, I know the feeling. Not only have you endured the ordeal of many hours going back and forth to the airport, going through security, waiting to board, and then sitting in a chair for 12 hours or so that constricts your blood vessels at the legs. Not fun for the frequent flier.

So, Gates, full of the knowledge of injustice toward the black man in America, tired, ready for rest, found his front door jammed. It must have been a chronic problem, something that he neglected to take care of in the past. So, he, irritated, breaks the door open, then goes inside quite agitated. I think we have all be there, right?

Watching the drama, an "elderly woman without a cell phone" hails Lucia Whalen on a walk to a lunch appointment through Gates' neighborhood. She points out what looks like a break in. Lucia's phone call has been recorded. She never referred to the race of Gates and his fellow. Just a good Samaritan seeking to protect Gates' property! Her only intention was to do good.


Sgt. James Crowley shows up at Professor "Bad Day" Gates's front door, doing what the good people of Cambridge pay him to do--protect people and property. He didn't know Gates yet thought that he might actually be the home owner. But when Bad Day Irish-Black American Gates bad mouthed Irish Policeman Gates, he got arrested by his team of policemen, including black officers.

OK. So far so good. Gates would cool off in the brig then return home, meet with his lawyer, and do what he does best, rid the world of unrighteous behavior toward Irish-Black Americans. Life goes on as usual. Until the news story reaches the President of the United States half baked and a Chicago reporter asks his opinion at a nationally televised news conference.

I happened to be watching the news interview live when the reporter asked him about the case. Obama fell for it. He had a knee-jerk reaction, viscerally remembering the many, many cases of police profiling in Illinois, the bill he sponsored to stop racial profiling, the fact that Gates had been arrested in his home and blurted that the police had acted stupidly. There you have it! The first African-Anglo American President of the United States making a mistake on a very highly charged issue in America: racial profiling!

What a mess! Mistakes all around! No one got killed or hurt but lots of pain spread all around. Three highly successful, professional, competent leaders stepping on each other's toes on the public stage. And now they have the honor of drinking a beer together tonight at the White House, working through their little disagreement that came to symbolize all the racial injustice that every happened between whites and blacks in America.


What happened to Lucia Whalen in this forgiveness fest? The good Samaritan who did not have to make a call to the police about a break in, got the short end of the stick.

Why didn't Professor Gates thank Whalen for being a good citizen, for putting herself out on the limb to protect his property? Why didn't Officer Crowley call Whalen to thank her for being a good citizen? Why didn't President Obama call to thank her for acting the good Samaritan without thought of herself? Instead she bore the brunt of insults and taunts, called a racist far and wide, the racial profiler. And she didn't even get an invitation for a beer at the White House with the guys! I guess the lesson here is, think twice before you act the Good Samaritan. All things will be forgiven but that.

UPDATE: August 1, 2009: YES!!!
Gates sends flowers to passerby who called police

UPDATE: August 2, 2009: Gates racial drama ensnares minor characters, too

Obama is God: Or At Least Jesus Christ

"I will complete the next 100 days in 72 days. Then on the 73rd day I will rest." Pretty good humor. Pretty good humor because Obama skillfully tapped a common view of his presidential leadership. Obama is God. Or at least Jesus Christ.

"Most of you covered me. All of you voted for me." Another pun for the Press Club dinner at the White House. Funny. Funny because that is the truth. The Press elected Obama. The Liberal establishment elected Obama. Already the Press is celebrating Obama as a great president, possibly the greatest president in US history.

But just because the Liberal establishment elected Obama, and have given him a cushioned ride in a palanquin, doesn't make him a great president. He has been grappling with a Great Depression-like economic crisis. The jury is still out on whether or not his policies will work. I, like most people, hope so. His, and Michelle's, charismatic characters, won lots of friends in Europe and Latin America. That's hopeful. Hopeful, but not tangible accomplishments.

Still, Obama and Michelle might be on the path of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. The Roosevelts are two of my heroes. I live in the Hudson Valley of New York just a few miles from their presidential and first lady museums. There are remarkable similarities between the Roosevelts and the Obamas. Both inherited the White House with the nation in a great, or nearly great, depression. Both brought a charisma to the office that inspired confidence in the people during a time of uncertainty and fear. Both found the conservatives livid in opposition to bail out programs.

It might be worth noting that Franklin Roosevelt did not bring the USA out of the Great Depression. Granted, his government sponsored work programs in the New Deal helped many restore their dignity and earn money to care for their families. But the USA only came out of the Great Depression when we entered World War II in 1941. From that time, the USA had full employment, including women taking on the jobs that men serving in the military left unfilled. It took a Hitler, Mussolini, and Emperor Hirohito to bring the USA out of the Great Depression.

That points to the one thing above all else that makes a president great. The great president leads the USA through a life and death struggle for existence. Franklin D. Roosevelt met that criteria. During the pre-war years, Roosevelt did what he could to prod a pacifist USA to help Great Britain, France, and the rest of Europe to defeat Hitler and Mussolini. After Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt led the USA to rally its full strength in three theaters of war; the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and the Pacific.

Not only did Roosevelt lead the USA to defeat Germany, Italy, and Japan along with the Allied Forces, his practical non-ideological form of leadership helped to lay the foundation for the successful defeat of communism. During the Great Depression, many Liberals touted the Soviet Union as the panacea for capitalism's ills. Roosevelt preserved both democracy and capitalism by just doing what needed to be done.

Will Obama, God forbid, be given the opportunity to lead the USA through a life and death struggle like Franklin Roosevelt did? That would be the full measure of test. If not, then regardless of how much the Liberal establishment touts Obama as God or Jesus Christ, he will be a second tier president, at best.

Eleanor Roosevelt emerged after her husband's death to take leadership in creating the United Nations, drafting the charter for the United Nations. Michelle has big shoes to fill. Eleanor lacked Michelle's beauty, yet they both have charm. And both of them possess impressive intellect. Will Michelle Obama be given the chance to draft a world government document on the level of the United Nations?

Who are the greatest presidents in American history? Here are my top ten:

1. Abraham Lincoln (Civil War)
2. George Washington (Revolutionary War)
3. Ronald Reagan (Cold War)
4. Franklin Roosevelt (World War II)
5. Woodrow Wilson (World War I)
6. James Polk (Mexican-American War)
7. James Madison (War of 1812)
8. George Bush (9/11 War)
9. Harry Truman (World War II/Korean War)
10. John Kennedy (Cold War)

Let's let God--oops! I mean Obama--deal with the challenges ahead before declaring him the greatest president in history. He still has the Great Depression, Iran, Israel, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and North Korea to deal with. His call for the Green Society could pan out to be like Johnson's call for the Great Society if he fails to meet the life and death challenges down the road. Let us all pray that he has the right stuff, even if he falls a bit short of God or Jesus Christ.