Number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home. And number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident, is that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. That's just a fact. 

"Game Change," the long-awaited and very gossipy chronicle of the 2008 campaign by journalists John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, is chock full of revelations that are bound to stir the folks who live within ten miles of the Beltway -- and perhaps even reverberate beyond Washington. [...].

Among the more fascinating items:

On page 37, a remark, said "privately" by Sen. Harry Reid, about Barack Obama's racial appeal. Though Reid would later say that he was neutral in the presidential race, the truth, the authors write, was that his

encouragement of Obama was unequivocal. He was wowed by Obama's oratorical gifts and believed that the country was ready to embrace a black presidential candidate, especially one such as Obama -- a "light-skinned" African American "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one," as he said privately.  Reid was convinced, in fact, that Obama's race would help him more than hurt him in a bid for the Democratic nomination.

"This is a good man who's always been on the right side of history," Mr. Obama told Roland Martin in an interview for TV One at the White House this afternoon, "For him to have used some inartful language in trying to praise me, and for people to try to make hay out of that makes absolutely no sense. [...] 

"He apologized, recognizing that he didn't use appropriate language, but there was nothing mean-spirited in what he had to say, and he's always been on the right side of the issues," Obama said today.

The President said that Americans-- regardless of race -- are more concerned with issues like health care and jobs.

"I guarantee you the average person, white or black, right now is less concerned about what Harry Reid said in a quote in a book a couple years ago than they are about how we are going to move the country forward," Obama said, "That's where we need to direct our attention."

Tainting the tea party movement with the charge of racism is proving to be an effective strategy for Democrats. There is no evidence that tea party adherents are any more racist than other Republicans, and indeed many other Americans. But getting them to spend their time purging their ranks and having candidates distance themselves should help Democrats win in November. Having one's opponent rebut charges of racism is far better than discussing joblessness.

Ever since the NAACP began stepping up its attacks on the limited government movement through charges of racism against the Tea Parties, it's become rather apparent that there was a concerted effort behind this rhetoric.

You might still be unemployed, and this administration may not have brought about all the Hope and Change they campaigned on, but Republicans are all racists.

This includes many of their elected officials, their surrogates at Fox News, the radio personalities they love like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, and, of course, those awful Teabaggers.

As you know, the NAACP just put that scarlet letter on THEIR backs!!!

So if you want to keep these racists from taking back Congress, you had better get your butt out to vote in November. 

Now, last week, I had the chance to talk to Shirley Sherrod -- an exemplary woman whose experiences mark both the challenges we have faced and the progress that we've made. She deserves better than what happened last week when a bogus controversy based on selective and deceiving excerpts of a speech led her -- led to her forced resignation.

Now, many are to blame for the reaction and overreaction that followed these comments -- including my own administration. And what I said to Shirley was that the full story she was trying to tell -- a story about overcoming our own biases and recognizing ourselves in folks who, on the surface, seem different -- is exactly the kind of story we need to hear in America. It's exactly what we need to hear because we've all got our biases. And rather than jump to conclusions and point fingers, and play some of the games that are played on cable TV, we should all look inward and try to examine what's in our own hearts.

We should all make more of an effort to discuss with one another, in a truthful and mature and responsible way, the divides that still exist -- the discrimination that's still out there, the prejudices that still hold us back -- a discussion that needs to take place not on cable TV, not just through a bunch of academic symposia or fancy commissions or panels, not through political posturing, but around kitchen tables, and water coolers, and church basements, and in our schools, and with our kids all across the country.

My fellow Americans, when I spoke to you as a presidential candidate back in March of 2008, I promised that if elected, I would help to solve the racial divide that has existed in this nation since its founding.

Unfortunately, I have failed, and failed miserably. In fact, my actions over the past eighteen months have actually worsened race relations in this country rather than improved them, and for that I am deeply ashamed as well as sorry.

Politics is an ugly business, and politicians have been using race in this country as a wedge to help them at the polls for decades. I myself employed such a strategy to become state senator in Illinois, and did so in my 2004 campaign for United States Senate, as well as in 2008 to win the White House.

Like so many before me, I thought the end justified the means.

However, recent events have brought me to realize that I've been wrong, and that by continuing with this strategy, I've not only let down those of you who voted for me, but I've also let down my wife, my daughters, and myself.

What brought me to this conclusion is that a marvelous lady was almost destroyed by racial politics on Monday, and I realized that I was partially to blame for her being a target. By now, you've probably all seen the excerpted video of USDA official Shirley Sherrod speaking in front of an NAACP banquet last March. The contents of that video were shocking and disgraceful.

However, I've now watched her entire speech, as well as spoken to others that were in the room when she gave that address. I've met with Mrs. Sherrod, as well as Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and we've concluded that she did absolutely nothing wrong. She has my full faith and confidence, and will continue to act in her current capacity.

But there's a much larger issue. A conservative publisher used this video as a way of exposing what he believes is racism within the NAACP. This was a response to the NAACP's recent resolution condemning what it believes is racism within the organization known as the Tea Party.

This tit for tat has got to stop.

We Americans will never end racism if we all cry "racist" at everyone who disagrees with us. It is not racist to have differing political views. It is not racist to disagree with the president, or to organize protests against his policies.

That's what it means to be American.

I never in a million years would have imagined that the election of America's first black president would widen racial divisions in our country, but that's where we are.

With this in mind, I have looked into the matter concerning black congressmen allegedly having been called racial epithets on Capitol Hill in March. My administration has found absolutely no evidence of such, and I therefore implore those making these claims inside both government and the media to stop doing so.

Furthermore, I ask the NAACP to reconsider its resolution concerning the Tea Party while asking the handful of Tea Party members who have expressed racist sentiments at its gatherings to cease and desist.

I also ask members of my party to stop accusing Republicans of being racially motivated in their votes and speeches. Again, it is not racist to disagree with me or my policies.

I have scheduled a meeting Friday with the House and Senate leadership -- Democrats and Republicans -- to work on a bipartisan plan to end racial politics in this nation. It is clear to me now that America emulates Washington, and as long as members of Congress are using race for political gain, so too will our citizens.

We in the nation's capital need to finally lead by example on this issue, for until we do, racism will continue to strangle Main Street just as it does the halls of Congress. This is why I have also scheduled a meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus. Mr. Ben Jealous, the President of the NAACP, has agreed to be in attendance as well.

My goal at this gathering is to figure out a way for the black leadership in this country to once and for all convince African-Americans that their white brothers and sisters are not responsible for how black people were treated here in the past. Until the hatred that many African-Americans feel and exhibit towards whites is completely eliminated, we will never solve racism in this nation.

After all, almost 47 years ago, when I was only two years old, Martin Luther King, Jr. dreamed of a day when his children would be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

I'm afraid America still hasn't achieved this, and politicians like myself are partly to blame.

I have sat back and watched -- as well as played -- the racial politics game for far too long. If my two daughters are ever going to live in that marvelous nation King dreamed of, I'm going to have to bring about the real change I campaigned for many months ago.

It is my solemn hope that Democrats and Republicans alike will help me make this dream come true for all of us.

Good night, and God Bless America.