[gargamel]

Not only do I not disagree with anything that Obama said, but I don't even see how any of it is debatable. I don't agree with playing the race card when it isn't an issue, but it was at least part of the issue here. If not as the cause of the officer's action, then at least as an aggravating factor in why Gates got so upset. To not discuss the racial aspect of this would be burying your head in the sand. Gates' race resulted in him having to deal with institutional racism in his life, and it's the reason that he assumed institutional racism was at play when he was threatened with arrest in his own home. We don't know if it was the cause of this situation or not, but Obama didn't say that it was.