I go on vacation and what do I come back to?  Our president embroiled in a controversy over remarks he made accusing he Cambridge, Massachusetts Police Department of “acting stupidly” in arresting a belligerent black professor while investigating a potential break in.

So many words could be said about this.  It of course goes without saying that President Obama is ‘acting stupidly’ in taking a reporter’s bait at a news conference and choosing to even engage on this issue before all the facts are out.  Further, he was ‘acting stupidly’ in getting involved in what is obviously a local issue and nothing with which the President of the United States has any business delving into. 

As the facts began to come to light later in the week, it was the clear the president’s perception of the events that led to the arrest of Henry Gates, Jr., a Harvard scholar, were incorrect.  Police Sgt. James Crowley, who arrested the dear professor, acted wholly appropriately when Gates became belligerent when asked to produce identification. 

Gates went on a tirade saying the officer didn’t know who he was “messing with,” said, “I’ll speak with your mama outside”, and “this is what happens to black men in America.”  Despite repeated warnings to settle down, Gates continued to be uncooperative when all he really needed to do was explain the situation.

As it turns out, Sgt. Crowley has an exemplary record and his account of events has been backed up by other witnesses.  Among those who agreed that Crowley acted appropriately in arresting gates in Sgt. Leon Lashley, who interestingly enough is black himself. 

As the tempest grew over the president’s comments, he chose to make a statement to the White House press corps on Friday saying, “Because this has been ratcheting up and I helped contribute to ratcheting it up, I want to make clear that in my choice of words I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sgt. Crowley specifically and I could have calibrated those words differently.” 

While the president certainly needed to address his ‘misstatements’ on the issue, his comments fall well short of a full apology that Sgt. Crowley deserves.  Further, his comments feed into the portrayal of black America as being a victim and this is wrong – the fact he stands behind a White House podium speaks to that.  Our nation has moved beyond that and it is time the president and some in the African-American community did as well. 

The only people who were ‘acting stupidly’ throughout this affair were Henry Gates and President Barack Obama.

• Related: Arrest report for Henry Gates (Smoking Gun)