Collateral Damage: I Have Theory

I just read a piece in the August 10/17th New Yorker (Discriminating Tastes, page 21, y'all) in which the writer states that President Obama strayed from his tried and true "script" when he rolled out his Cambradge Police "acted stupidly" line. This writer seems to think that Obama made some sort of strategic error by ending an hour long press conference with a seemingly improvised line in which the Most Powerful Man on Earth criticized some policemen who may or may not have been doing their jobs correctly and subsequently (surprise, surprise) ignited a flappy firestorm of debate about race, cops, and how many unpaid parking tickets one man can collect in Cambridge.

Here's my theory: Obama knew exactly what he was doing.

Obama is a politician. And not just your average politician. He's the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, which (in my mind) means he's one of the best politicians alive. He plays in the biggest of the big leagues. Nobody becomes POTUS by being naive, stupid or lazy. As much as my mother would love to believe that GW Bush was an idiot, I believe the inverse is true. GW put on a really good act, took the hits he needed to take, and did exactly what he wanted to do (and probably had a great time doing it).

................

Careful, George. You're here to get paid. Say something baffling and move on.

So, I give Obama credit. The same credit everybody who put him in office* gives him the rest of the time. I don't think this man does anything without weighing the consequences. He's smart. And when I heard his "stupid" statement I knew immediately what he had just done.

He simply changed the subject.

Think about it. This wasn't just ANY press conference. This was a press conference on Health Care, which was POTUS-BO's big political football. But he ran into trouble when his own team fell apart. Embarrassing! So, he simply changed the subject. Literally, with one well placed phrase, we went from asking "Wait, I can get the living room redone in Death Panels?" to endless conversations about Skippy Gates, the Cambridge police and beer drinking. Genius.

And by the way, the Skippy Gates thing is a lot funnier than health care so I'm glad Obama did it. And I'd much rather endure Important Race Conversation #24 again than start another war somewhere. I'm tired of that particular presidential distraction.

An interesting note: Obama could have sent Biden out to do the big dumb distraction. That's Biden's job. And I think we're getting robbed of some of that great Vice President boobery.