As John points out in this post, President Obama has spent seven years stirring up racial division for the sake of political gain. The police has been one of his targets, from his earliest days as president, when without knowing the facts he derided Cambridge police, through hisrecent speech in Dallas, when he claimed that policing in America is infected with racism.
There isn’t anything Obama can say that will undo the damage he has caused. But perhaps, during the last six months of presidency, he can avoid making matters worse. To this end,Victor Davis Hanson lists three things Obama can stop doing:
No longer invite into the White House any leaders [e.g., DeRay McKesson] whose affiliated members have marched chanting their desire to kill police officers (e.g., “What do we want? Dead cops” / “Pigs in a blanket; fry ’em like bacon”).Do not consult with any self-appointed leader in the White House whose past has included overt and implicit calls to shoot police officers (e.g., Al Sharpton: “I believe in offing the pigs. Well, they got pigs out here. You ain’t offed one of them. What I believe in, I do. Do what you believe in. Or shut up and admit you’ve lost your courage and your guts to stand up”).Do not invite into the White House any artists whose work has glorified the killing of officers of the criminal-justice system (e.g., Lamar Kendrick’s To Pimp a Butterfly album, one of whose songs was dubbed by Obama as his favorite of 2015), whose cover depicts a group of African-American youth celebrating with champagne and cash on the White House lawn over the corpse of a white judge with his eyes X-ed out).
Hanson believes that this is not too much to ask of the president of the United States. He’s right. Unfortunately, it’s a lot to ask of Barack Obama.
UPDATE: Bill Otis suggests a fourth thing Obama could stop doing: Stop inviting to the White House people whose ankle bracelet goes off during the meeting.
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