Crowley, Gates camps pleased by president's phone calls

[Better Believe It]

Crowley, Gates camps pleased by president's phone calls
By Brian MacQuarrie and Jonathan Saltzman, Boston Globe Staff
July 24, 2009

Calls by President Obama to Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and to Sergeant James M. Crowley inviting the men to meet with Obama at the White House were welcomed by both camps today.

Harvard law professor Charles J. Ogletree Jr., one of Gates's lawyers, praised the president, a former student of his, for calling both men.

"I think the president has taken the right approach by trying to make sure we move forward," said Ogletree. "He's always had the ability to negotiate difficult conversations, and his steps today are an important step in the right direction. I think the president has given his assessment, which makes a lot of sense, and, however you feel about it, it has reduced the temperature and allowed everyone to move forward in a constructive way."

Crowley was also pleased by the call, according to a fellow officer who asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to speak publicly about the issue.

"Jimmy said, 'I'd be happy to come to the White House and sit down with you and Gates and have a beer,' " the veteran Cambridge officer said. "The president said he was acceptable to that."

Crowley's brother, J.P., also a Cambridge officer said that he hadn't spoken to his brother about the Obama call. But he said his brother was looking forward to putting the controversy behind him.

"It's surreal. I think he just wants to get back to a sense of normalcy, back to work. He didn't ask for this," he said.

Steve Killion, president of the Cambridge patrol officers association, praised the president for calling James Crowley only a couple of hours after the news conference where leaders from Cambridge and other area police unions demanded an apology from Obama.

"I'm sure, knowing Sergeant Crowley, it's mended the fence with him,'' said Killion, who had not spoken with Crowley. "It's gone some way toward mending the fence with the patrol officers, even though I haven't spoken with any of them yet.''

"If Sergeant Crowley and President Obama and Mr. Gates sit out on the White House lawn and have a beer, I'd certainly like a picture of it -- and be jealous that it wasn't me,'' Killion said.

Please read the complete article at:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/crowley_pleaded.html

[jefferson_dem]

1. K&R.

Thanks for posting. :thumbsup:

[stray cat]

2. Now that is the appropriate response by Obama and for the rest of us as well

sure beats anything I've seen on DU, the media or free republic....

[TomCADem]

5. It Is Such A Simple Solution I Am Ashamed It Was Not Obvious To Me

I was thinking about how the escalating rhetoric play out. Instead, the President and everyone involved moved to de-escalate the situation.

[Cha]

12. PO has a history of

this kind of mending fences with lemonade:party: so I was waiting for it.

[Beartracks]

3. Nice. n/t

[tomm2thumbs]

4. Cheers for beers

[rvablue]

6. Good. Thanks for posting. n/t

[Thickasabrick]

7. Me Too!!!

"I'd certainly like a picture of it -- and be jealous that it wasn't me,'' Killion said"

Favorite part of the article. I'd love to sit on the WH Lawn and have a beer with our President!

[DarthDem]

8. Obama Is Brilliant

Just brilliant. The elegant simplicity of this solution. Of course neither Prof. Gates nor Mr. Crowley is going to refuse the invitation, the meeting should be a good exchange of ideas and completely mend fences, and after the mediots get pictures of the professor and the officer shaking hands, the story is over.

Isn't it nice to have someone *smart* in the White House - - and by in the White House, I mean the guy who was elected by the people and gets to live there - - for a change?

Fantastic.

[BeyondGeography]

9. Lots of beer in this story all of a sudden

Seems the mood has changed.

[CakeGrrl]

10. Aww, isn't that sweet? Killion's happy now

I wonder if he's man enough to reconsider his reaction to (and total misread of) the President's comment:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/23/cambridge-police-union-pr_n_244048.html

Probably not. The President's a much bigger person than his detractors.

[Cha]

11. Way Cool! And, I'm glad it all happened

just as it did because obviously sometimes you have to go through these rough patches to get to the light.

But, I never had any doubt that PO wouldn't make this right.

[Undercurrent]

13. Thanks for the post.

Hopefully this reaching out will help turn this incident into a step in a positive direction, and we can all learn something.

[democracy1st]

14. K & R

[wildflower]

15. Wow

He is a true diplomat.

Imagine how much worse this could have gotten with someone else in charge. And it bodes well for dealing with other nations.

Remember back during the campaign when he was taunted for being willing to "meet without preconditions"?