A Teachable Moment

What a load that is! Inherent in “a teachable moment” is the suggestion that there is someone who has a learning disability and the hour of their education has arrived. The speaker, no doubt, identifies with the educator. Nothing could be further from the truth in the recent “beer garden putsch” engineered by the white house to expose Crowley as the recalcitrant student. (Ed: Teachable moment, my Aunt Fannie; it was clearly a staged Kodak moment designed to make Himself look like one of the guys. He will never be one of the guys. He's a one man horror show.)

The whole affair simply demonstrates the unbelievable arrogance of the commander-in-chief. To assume that he has something to teach Sgt. Crowley about race relations or the manner of conducting police business in that highly mixed demographic arena is insane. Any officer with Crowley’s experience in a “town and gown” environment exacerbated by a racial component hardly needs advice from a serial lawbreaker from that same community. You do realize, don’t you, that Obama cleared up 17 unpaid parking tickets in Cambridge before he ran for president. No doubt they represent a youthful indiscretion left over from his Harvard days but are still, in the aggregate, evidence of avoiding a lawful summons and thereby breaking yet one more law. This is the same guy they selected as president of the Harvard Law Review.

Sgt. Crowley also took the opportunity to hand-deliver a letter from his fellow officer, Sgt. Leon Lashley, to the president regarding references made about the officer being an “Uncle Tom.” The letter, also copied to CNN, asserts that the issue has done irreparable harm to race relations in the community. He would probably know since that is his “beat.” There is a very special relationship between men who daily face armed enemies which transcends race and other petty differences. The man who “has your back” in the next unknown encounter is reverenced for his skills and abilities—not his skin color. These two officers clearly understand this relationship and the mutual respect it engenders.

We have heard little from Gates as a result of this encounter in the make-shift beer garden on the white house lawn. It is possible that he had been forewarned to keep his pie hole shut and not aggravate the situation any further. This is otherwise referred to as a “teachable moment.”

Throughout all this Sgt. Crowley has shown the evidence of his extensive training, devotion to his duties, rigorous attention to procedures not of his making, consideration of his entire community, and one more less definable characteristic—class. He is obviously well respected and liked by his peers in addition to clearly understanding his duties as a sworn officer.

Sgt. Crowley, I respect you for your courage but I have just one word of warning. You really should reconsider the company you keep when you go out for a beer.



In His abiding love,



Cecil Moon