Cambridge PD & Gates: The Real "Amos & Andrew" (& some White Sox jubilation)

At the end of President Obama's press conference on, ahem, health care, Lynn Sweet asked a completely impertinent question that became inflammatory. Lest we forget, the press conference was about HEALTH CARE. Sweet's question, which was really a non sequitur, centered on Obama's reaction to the arrest of Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., of Harvard, by officers who thought he was a burglar.

Police in Cambridge, MA arrested Gates on July 16 on suspicion of breaking and entering. The problem was that Gates was "breaking into" his own house. Luckily, the incident ended quietly and without violence, so Bruce Springsteen doesn't have to write another song about racially-motivated police brutality.

The question itself ended the press conference about health care reform, which is incredibly important. It also dominated the news coverage of the event. Unfortunately, in the ensuing scatological maelstrom, aka shit-storm, the absurdity and irrelevance of the question was lost amid stupid news reporters who heard nothing but Obama's reaction to the bullshit "question." It effectively ruined what had been a substantive q&a. People, in general, have tunnel vision when it comes to sensationalism. They neglected to realize that Sweet's question had absolutely nothing to do with the conference, and that it only stoked the conservative pundits' appetite for anything that makes Obama look bad.

The Gates episode itself reminded me very much of the 1993 movie--nay, film--"Amos & Andrew," starring Nicolas Cage, Dabney Coleman, and Samuel L. Jackson. In that movie, local police open fire on Jackson because they assume he's a burglar breaking into a house in the all-white island community. However, he owns the house, and the "gun" he pointed at Brad Dourif was actually the fob to turn off his car alarm, which Dourif had set off. To save face, Coleman, the town's sheriff, conspires to have Cage, a small-time crook with an unhealthy proclivity for teenaged girls, act like a burglar who wants to break into Jackson's home. Hilarity ensues, of course.

I could draw the conspicuous parallels here between this movie and the episode with Gates, but that would insult your intelligence. Plus, I'm lazy, and still excited about White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle's incredible perfect game against the Devil Rays.

Not to take anything away from Buehrle, but the defense deserves a lot of the credit for the feat. I love Buehrle, and always have, because he moves the game, which can be quite tedious at times, along at a rapid clip. He pitches like one of those batting cage machines. One after another ball he hurls. He relies on the defense to do its job and stop the opposing team from scoring runs. Dwayne Wade's Willie Mays-esque play against the wall to save a home run, and thus preserve Buehrle's perfect game, has received much applause, but I don't think it has yet gotten enough credit.

So, let's congratulate Buehrle on a great game and a historic effort, but let's also not neglect the vigilant defense that made the game all the more perfect.

R