For at least a week, Ology’s political editors have pondered the 24-hour coverage of the tragic shooting death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin. In the prism through which all news must be viewed between today and November 6, the presidential election, it has not been entirely clear what the political motives were for progressive and liberal media outlets to lead with this story for days on end. On Friday, however, with the President of the United States weighing in on Martin’s controversial shooting death, the motivation for the excessive coverage becomes clear – Martin’s death yields yet another opportunity for the White House to carve the electorate up into opposing blocs. The president and his party believe that they can come out on the other end with the majority bloc even if a few lasting fissures in the social fabric are created along the way. Inflaming racial animus is a small price to pay for a second term.
“When I think about this boy, I think about my own kids,” Obama said on Friday about Martin. “I think every parent in America should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this. And that everybody pull together.” Obama then wandered into the realm of racial identity politics: “My main message is to the parents of Trayvon Martin. You know, if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon,” said the president. “All of us have to do some soul searching to figure out how something like this has happened.”
And thus, a nuance-laden tragedy is framed in the starkest of terms for the electorate. One could be forgiven for thinking all aspects of this case are clear as water and there are no gray areas to parse over – but that is a mistaken belief. Some of the many nuances of the Martin case include the controversial Florida law which prevented local police from immediately arresting the shooter (which, contrary to hyperventilating overreaction on the left, was likely to be forthcoming) as well as the alleged shooter’s inability to fit into a neat racist caricature. These issues require deliberative and thoughtful analysis – none of which can now be accomplished after the nation’s most polarizing figure has made his opinion known.
But unlike previous instances when Obama elevated local controversy to national issue, the president is being led by the nose on this one. It was not the White House that raised this story to prominence as with so many other similar cultural issues that the president felt compelled to comment upon. This story was foisted upon him by the nearly ubiquitous progressive media coverage.
And who can blame progressive media? The story seems tailor-made to advance two liberal narratives: 1) the need for gun control and the negative effects of gun proliferation and laws that protect gun owners in the event of their use and 2) the evidence that racism is still a motivating factor in the United States therefore it is acceptable to question Obama’s detractor’s potentially racist motivations.
For several days, as the coverage of the Martin killing grew in scope and scale, it seemed as though the White House would stay out of the coverage. It could be that they, like Ology Politics editorial staff, did not see the immediate political gains from weighing into the controversy. It could also have been that the president saw this divisive story as a hot button that would damage the national psyche by elevating a local tragedy to a national scandal that demands legislative redress. Those of us who gave the Obama administration this pittance of credit exercising some foresight and restraint have sadly been proven wrong.
This cynical strategy may yet work; giving president Obama a second term at the expense of national comity. It may also backfire – the Martin killing is not the Emmitt Till case. It is not the March on Selma. This story is mired in gray areas; a horror story that should not be politicized. The president made a misstep over a similar, if less consequential, racially motivated case before which he probably wishes he could relive.
Recall, in 2009, African-American Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates was arrested by Boston police as he tried to break into his own house. When asked about the controversy, Obama could have deferred but instead opted to elevate a local story to a national controversy by saying outright that the police acted “stupidly” and this incident constitutes a “teachable moment.” The farce ended with Gates, the arresting officer Sgt. James Crowley and the President of the United States having a beer on the White House lawn to hash out the centuries-old racial animus that Obama had just exacerbated.
This incident is comically referred to as “The Beer Summit” of 2009. It came at time when the president was still enjoying sky-high approval ratings and was enjoying the waning days of his honeymoon in office. Those days are long behind us. Obama walks a narrower tight rope today; he should choose is battles far more carefully.
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Follow Noah Rothman @Noah_C_Rothman
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