Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates was arrested for "loud and tumultuous behavior in a public place" the other day. When asked about the incident during his prime time press conference last night, President Barack Obama said, "I don’t know all the facts," but stated that the Cambridge police "acted stupidly." Calling someone’s actions stupid without knowing all the facts is an exquisitely apt example of the timeworn adage, "The pot calling the kettle black."

The facts as we know them are this: Upon returning home from a trip to China, Gates found his front door jammed. He went around to the back, opened that door with his key, and tried to assist his cab driver in forcing the front door open. Apparently the driver tried to force it open with his shoulder. Lucia Whalen, who witnessed the incident from her office at "Harvard Magazine" next door, called the police. Sgt. James Crowley was dispatched to the scene. He informed Gates that he was investigating an attempted break in. Gates responded, "Why, because I’m a black man in America?"

Gates refused initially to provide identification, apparently feeling it unnecessary to have to prove who he was. Crowley later said he was "surprised and confused" by Gates’ reaction. No doubt he thought Gates would be grateful that the police were looking out for him. But he had picked the wrong man to expect to act reasonably. Gates, confronted with a white police officer, immediately began viewing this as a racial confrontation.

Not just any racial confrontation, but one involving a good deal of disrespect. "You don’t know who you’re messing with," he shouted. Crowley, who was at that time in the house, (Gates claimed he forced his way in), was unable to report to the station over his radio because Gates was shouting so loudly. He stepped outside, and asked Gates to step outside, too. Gates refused at first, but then came outside, continuing to shout at the officer. "You don’t know who I am, you’ll be sorry for messing with me."

Crowley was trying to deal with an angry man who was screaming at him and threatening him. He warned Gates twice that he was becoming disorderly, and eventually arrested him. National Public Radio’s "Morning Edition," in reporting Obama’s press conference remarks, described the underlying incident as Gates being arrested in his home for breaking and entering "even after he had shown his id." Obviously, that’s not the way it happened.

In addition to calling the Cambridge police stupid, Obama also made references to racial profiling. One has to wonder, what about this incident could possibly fall under that category? Does the President honestly think the witness would have ignored the incident if it were a white man trying to break down a door? Should the police have ignored the call once they learned it was a black man trying to break down the door? This was, to put it in the best possible light, unfortunate rhetoric from the nation’s President. If nothing else, it was further proof that he should never, ever speak without a Teleprompter.

We can give Gates the benefit of the doubt for his behavior. Having just flown all the way from China, he was no doubt exhausted, and so not in the best of moods. Returning home and finding his door jammed shut would only have exacerbated his frustration. He was justified in being upset. Especially since this was housing provided by Harvard University, where he was supposed to be regarded as a prominent member of the faculty. Frustrated, angry, indignant, and tired, it is easy to understand why he got so upset when he was then accused of breaking into his own home.

Basically, Gates threw a temper tantrum. It’s completely understandable, under the circumstances. Perhaps Crowley could have been more understanding, though, like the President, he didn’t have all the facts. No doubt he responded a bit more aggressively than his report suggested. A lot of cops don’t like it when people get in their faces. A lot of cops don’t like it when civilians start making threats at them.

Maybe there was a lot of stupid behavior going around. Another example might be the fact that the question was asked at all. Was it necessary to ask the President’s opinion on the matter? Would the question have been asked if the Professor in question had been white? Or, to look at it from another angle, if George Bush were still in the White House when Gates was arrested, would any reporter have asked him for his opinion?

Obviously, Obama is right, we still have a lot of work to do on the subject of race, but from this vantage point, it’s not good citizen neighbors reporting suspicious incidents, or the police who respond to the reports as their job requires who have the most work to do. It’s reporters and self-inflated Black Studies Professors who view every incident solely through the prism of race, and Presidents who instinctively take the side of African Americans over the police who arrested them.