Obama Calls Police Stupid

President Obama stood by his criticism of the Cambridge police department's arrest of Harvard University Prof. Henry Louis Gates Jr., telling ABC News's Terry Moran he was "surprised" by the controversy sparked by his comment during a prime-time news conference Wednesday that the department had behaved "stupidly."

"I have to say I am surprised by the controversy surrounding my statement because I think it was a pretty straightforward commentary that you probably don't need to handcuff a guy, a middle-aged man who uses a cane, who's in his own home," Obama told Moran in an interview set to air Thursday evening on "Nightline," excerpts from which were made available online.

The president called arresting officer Sgt. James Crowley an "outstanding police officer" but emphasized that "it doesn't make sense to arrest a guy in his own home if he's not causing a serious disturbance."

He also sought to be more even-handed in apportioning blame, suggesting that Gates, too, ought to have behaved differently. "I have extraordinary respect for the difficulties of the job that police officers do," the president added. "And my suspicion is that words were exchanged between the police officer and Mr. Gates and that everybody should have just settled down and cooler heads should have prevailed. That's my suspicion."

Earlier, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters traveling to Cleveland with the president on Air Force One that Gates's arrest was the result of behavior on "both sides" that got "out of hand."

"Let me be clear," Gibbs said. "He was not calling the officer stupid, okay? He was denoting that ... at a certain point the situation got far out of hand, and I think all sides understand that."

Obama has not spoken with Gates about his arrest, Gibbs said. At the news conference Wednesday, Obama called Gates a friend, saying "I may be a little biased here."

Obama's blunt assessment of the Cambridge police has sparked a wave of online and television chatter. "Now, I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that," Obama said Wednesday night. "But I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home."

Gibbs also clarified that when Obama spoke of potentially being shot for trying to jimmy a door, he was speaking of the White House, which is heavily protected by the Secret Service, and not of his private home in Chicago or the Chicago police.

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4. Added :25-Jul-09
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