"Gonzo" Skip Gates

First, Obama did himself and the nation NO favors by answering the question received on the Skip Gates & Cambridge P.D. (CPD) incident.

Onto the incident. Through all the reports I think some things are able to be stipulated and this is how I think this went down:

Gates tried breaking into his own home with some help from a driver. Woman saw two men trying to break in the back door of house, called the CPD.

Gates got in the house, the driver left. I'm sure at this point, with all this annoyance with getting into his own house without his keys, Gates was already frustrated and ready to pop.

CPD roll up to the house, and ring the doorbell. An already agitated Gates is quick to get snippy and not wanting to show some ID because it is his house. Reluctantly shows his ID to CPD, with either the tacit implied notification that the CPD would then go away, or the CPD told him they just needed to see his ID and they'd be on their way (you know the old cop trick of asking just to see one thing, then it's another one thing, then another...). I think it's entirely fair for them to ask for his ID and for them to run a background check on a car computer of via dispatch. Just because your address is a match on your ID, doesn't mean you're always allowed to be there. Think restraining orders.

When the CPD doesn't go away, Gates already agitated, tired, wanting to go to bed, loses his cool; He begins shouting at the CPD because he feels he's being persecuted and thus, starts to make a scene.

Thing is, he is inside his house; Where it seems you can legally yell and be completely obnoxious to a cop. At some point the CPD walks out of the house...hold on...this was either on their own accord, or they asked Gates to take the discussion outside according to some reports...my guess is the former. Therefore, I think Gates, still angry as piss, follows them out of his house to finish giving them a piece of his mind.

I think this was a case of racial profiling. However, NOT by the CPD, but by the woman who phoned into the CPD in the first place.

Gates, in my view, clearly overreacted to epic proportions. However, when the CPD found out who he was, they should have left him alone. Walk away.

Both sides have tremendous egos, but the CPD had an obligation to walk away. That was their only misstep.