Obama's inconsistencies on the Cambridge Police

On Friday, President Obama claimed:

"I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department and Sgt. Crowley specifically. And I could've calibrated those words differently."

Obama didn't apologize. Indeed, he still insisted that the police had overreacted: "that there was an overreaction in pulling Prof. Gates out of his home to the station."

So much for Obama's claim the previous day:

“I have to say I am surprised by the controversy surrounding my statement, because I think it was a pretty straightforward commentary that you probably don’t need to handcuff a guy, a middle-aged man who uses a cane, who’s in his own home,”

A transcript of Obama's statement on Friday is here.

Here is the transcript of an interview of Elizabeth Gates by Harry Smith at CBS.

HARRY SMITH (CBS): Is there something in this that says, ‘I'm not going to take this’?

Elizabeth GATES: I think after Sergeant Crowley followed him into his home was when he knew that this wasn't going to be standard procedure. And I think that's when, for my father, the tone changed. And I think that's when the defense went up. I think for anybody, you know, who is violated in their own home in that way, I think they would, you know, also call on their own defenses.

SMITH: In speaking with your father, was he hurt by this?

GATES: My father was so sad about this, and again because he's always – you know, my father might be one of the last black men on earth who actually believed in the justice system. You know, my father is a proponent of, you know, intellectualism can help you outrun the – the war on race. And I think the incident last week is a clear indication that that's not yet true.

SMITH: Was his heart broken by it?

GATES: My father's heart – my father’s very sensitive in this way. You know, he believes in following the rules, and when they're broken, it kind of disturbs his sense of security. And yeah, he was deeply heartbroken. I was not surprised, but he was very surprised.

SMITH: It's interesting because one of the things your father said was ‘all I want is an apology from this guy.’

GATES: Simple human apology.

SMITH: And the officer in question has said no way, no how.

GATES: I just saw that actually for the first time here on this show. I was surprised. I'd actually never seen that before. So yes, I was surprised that he said no way. . . .