Another wasted opportunity

I have hesitated about how to comment on Gates-gate. The cynic in me responded first. There are examples like this (he said-he said about whether an event was racial profiling) every day. Why did this one get national exposure? Because Gates is a friend of Obama. Heck, for a trip to the white house and the great national exposure both of these guys are getting (the book deals are already on the agents’ desks), I would gladly volunteer to be profiled and arrested.

If the result is a real and productive conversation about race and police procedures it would be useful enough that I will sacrifice the last two weeks of national attention on the more pressing matters of housing, health care reform, the economy, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc. But if not, what a waste!!! All I have seen lately is discussion of which beers they selected and if Obama selecting Bud Light was a political calculation because it’s the most popular beer in America.

So far, it hasn’t been much better than the Michael Jackson coverage, which also could have resulted in some real conversation about race, popular culture, and some other useful issues. But they never materialized in that case. All we got there is the debates about who will get custody of the kids and memorials about his music, his skin color evolution, and random gossip.

Another wasted opportunity. This is what I expect from US news these days.