"[Obama's] comments may also do more to aggravate than alleviate tensions between police officers and the minority communities they serve."

Gosh, ya think? With the "authority" and imprimatur of The One pronouncing from on high, (essentially issuing a decree in the eyes of many), ya think it might aggravate more than alleviate? Ya think?????

This whole episode is absolutely pitiable, and so telling of Obama's ideologically invested outlook upon the world. Pitiable, and potentially tragic, who and what Barack Obama aligns himself with - as reflected in Iran, Honduras, now this extraordinarily well paid professor who obviously has a racial ax to grind, as reflected in Russia rather than Czechoslovakia and Poland (and I'm something of a Russophile), as reflected in trillions of dollars as targeted on ideological views of the planet's ecology (AGW), trillions of dollars as applied to health care "reform," trillions of dollars as applied to fiscal spending in general ...

Not to mention Joe Biden ...

And all of it invested with Obama's cadenced, pretentious, eye-rolling, pseudo-authoritative rhetorical style that continues to garner worshipful views from the press, from the MSM in general, other quarters as well.

Comedy or tragedy, time will tell, but this is a president who needs a few rudimentary lessons in basic realities and facing some things in a far more measured and much better grounded sense. He's like a man-child in the biggest sandbox in the world, fully expectant that most everyone cater to his whims and fancies and indulgences in general. A personification of the emperor with no clothes fable, writ large.

Very likely the best post-mortem of the bunch, from Andrew Breitbart, excerpt:

"Last week's lackluster "Beer Summit" featuring Sgt. James Crowley, professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., President Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. was orchestrated to end a national discussion on race, not begin one. That's why there were no microphones, even though each participant showed himself to be perfectly qualified, astoundingly articulate and camera-ready for an illuminating and much-needed public debate.

"The problem for the White House was the more the esteemed professor talked, the more trouble he created for his friend, the president. The clever photo-op sans audio was crafted to yank the director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research off the stage, lest anyone begin to question what is being taught at Harvard these days.

"Conversely, the more Sgt. Crowley weighed in, and his brave black co-workers spoke out, the more obvious it became that a national discussion featuring this cast of characters may not end with the results the professor and the president wanted. The status quo was at risk, and Mr. Obama used his extraordinary powers to protect it."

Bingo. Maintaining the status quo. So much for "change".