Comedian Robert Gibbs "Clarifies" Obama's Remarks

"The President never called the Cambridge police stupid."


This morning on Air Force One, White House Court Jester (and part-time press spokesman) Robert Gibbs tried to explain to reporters why President Obama never called Cambridge, Massachusetts Police "stupid" for arresting Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates. Here is the transcript below:
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Q: Robert, some people thought it was a little unusual that the president waded into the matter between professor Gates and the Cambridge police -- a little uncharacteristic of him -- when the facts are in dispute. You know, this is the sort of thing he might ordinarily say, I don't -- you know, I don't know all the facts. Why do you . . .

Gibbs: Well, he did; let's go through what he did say, because he did say, one, professor Gates was a friend of his. He did say he didn't have all the facts. I think we've all read in the newspaper at least a baseline of fact that the president outlined first by saying you have an unidentified individual who jimmies open a door of a house, the police are called based on that, the police respond, which you would expect a series of those events to transpire like that.

I think what the president ultimately talked about was obviously there was a point at which, inside of the house, both parties involved, probably recognizing that the situation originally responded to wasn't what was actually happening, in terms of a crime being committed, and at that point -- at that point cooler heads on all sides should have prevailed. I think that's what the president was denoting in the ultimate arrest and the since dropping of those charges.

Q: Why do you think he wanted to weigh in on this, though? He obviously . . .

Gibbs: I appreciate your -- I appreciate the ability at nationally televised news conferences to pass on questions like it was a game show. But I haven't been afforded that -- I don't think the president has been afforded those possibilities before. But I will certainly pass along your suggestion.

Q: But he did go so far as to say that the police behaved "stupidly."

Gibbs: Well, again, I think -- again, as I just said, I think there's a point in this where it becomes clear that the situation as it was originally called in is not the current situation, right? At some point it becomes clear that the individual in the house owns the house.

And I think that's -- at that point, cooler heads likely should have prevailed on both sides.

Q: Robert, does the president feel that he, ever in his life, has been a victim of racial profiling -- pulled over, questioned for no obvious reason?

Gibbs: Let me check. I think there -- I think he mentions in his book an instance where that happens.

Q: Has the president . . .

Gibbs: And I know he certainly -- you know, I think he's mentioned, you know, being at the front of a restaurant where somebody hands him the keys to go get a car.

Q: That's a little different from a police action to . . .

Gibbs: Right, I don't know if he's ever felt; let me double-check on that.

Q: There was a Chicago Tribune story from 2003 that suggests that he did feel that way, but it didn't have any details.

Gibbs: I recall that, and obviously -- you know, again, I think the president also touched on the fact that working with all involved -- communities, police, and all stakeholders -- on legislation to develop a series of statistics that would allow the state of Illinois to evaluate what was going on and how best to address it -- again, I think, the important thing (is) working with all of those involved.

Q: Can I just ask you to clarify one quick thing that he said last night? When he was talking about "I would get shot trying to, you know, break into the house," he was talking about the White House or was he talking about his home in Chicago?

Gibbs: I assume he was talking about the White House. And as I said to him afterwards, having looked at a couple of them, the only people apparently not laughing at that joke were the Secret Service, at that point which, we were standing (next) to one of the guys from the Secret Service, and he laughed. So I think he was . . .

Q: He wasn't talking about Chicago or the Chicago police, is what I . . .

Gibbs: No, no, no. I think he was talking about the White House.

Q: Has the president spoken to professor Gates at all?

Gibbs: Not that I'm aware of, no.

Q: Has anybody from the White House reached out to him?

Gibbs: Not that I'm aware of. Not that I'm aware of.

Q: And when you say that cooler heads should have prevailed on all sides, you're saying professor Gates should have also handled it differently?

Gibbs: Well, look, again, I wasn't there; the president wasn't there. I think at some point, again, you have a situation that is not as it -- as not as it was called in. I think when somebody -- I think being arrested in your own home for being in your home -- I think the fact that those charges have been dropped denote that there clearly was a point at which this got far out of -- far out of control.

Q: But does he regret his use of language in saying "acting stupidly," because online polls show lots of people of Massachusetts were disappointed that he used those words while acknowledging that he wasn't in full possession of the facts.

Gibbs: Again, I think if you look at the fact that a situation got as far out of control at a certain point as it did underscores the fact that things were going in a direction that neither wanted it to go in.

After a series of questions about the timing of health care reform legislation on Capitol Hill, a reporter asked a final question about the incident.

Q: Robert, just to be clear, the president doesn't regret the language or his statement last night?

Gibbs: No, I think the president -- again, I think the president was clear in, again, denoting that at a certain point -- let me be clear. He was not calling the officers stupid, OK? He was ensuring -- I think, again, denoting that at a certain point the situation got far out of hand, and I think all sides understand that.
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Shall we go to the tape, Bob?

Oh, I got it, Bob. You see, Obama used an adverb ("stupidly"). He never called the cops "stupid", which is an adjective. I know that because I'm an English teacher. Therefore, the President comes down squarely in the middle of this issue-fair and balanced.

How much do they pay this guy Gibbs?