What does this picture say to you?
August 7th, 2009 - Written by Joey
That’s Sergeant Crowley on the left, Professor Gates in the middle (who, if you recall, is handicapped), and President Barack Obama on the right, after their ‘beer summit’.
My thoughts? Well, let’s just say that most people’s natural reaction is to help someone out when they don’t get around so well, especially if that person happens to be one of our elders, and if that person is also someone we consider to be ‘a friend’.
On the other hand, you could view this as Sergeant Crowley assuming that Professor Gates needs help, when in all likelihood, he might not. It might be insulting to Gates if one were to offer him assistance, and perhaps Obama, being a good friend of his and all, knows this and respects Gates’s wishes to get around on his own.
However, Professor Gates’s body language doesn’t indicate this, and it appears as though the pair are having a polite conversation. When you consider that fact that it’s always good manners to assist another human being who has a little trouble moving from point A to point B, and when you also recognize the sort of respect that our men and women in uniform are taught and expected to uphold, I’d say that Professor Gates doesn’t much mind being helped…even if the help isn’t necessary. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think for a minute that these two are going to be hooking up for beers at a local establishment anytime in the near future, but they are exhibiting basic human respect for each other.
Whatever conclusion you’d like to glean from Obama’s position in the picture can be left for the comments section. I’m far more intrigued with the interaction between Crowley and Gates, to be honest. I guess I’m just always impressed by a man who has class, and Crowley obviously does.
That, and I gave up on Obama displaying class of any sort the moment I found out that he gave the Queen of England an iPod with his speeches on the playlist.
h/t: Thomas Lifson at American Thinker, who makes no bones about expounding on Obama’s ‘lack of class’.
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