Gates was wrong in how he behaved towards the officer. He accused him of racism when the officer was only doing his job. When Crowley, the police officer, asked him to step outsde, Gates insulted Crowley's mother. When Crowley left the house, Gates continued to yell at him, and then was arrested for disturbing the peace.

Gates was out of line and he should have been kinder to Crowley who was only doing his job.

Obama said he did not have all the facts so he should have sshut up. There is evidence that the question was planted to bring attention of that idotic press conference that gave us no information about the plan other than Obama could not give an answer.

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When Henry Louis Gates forgot his keys that night he bought himself a whole passel of trouble along with it. After a neighbor phone is a possible burglary and by the time police arrived Gates was already back in his home. No one know what happened next but what we do know is that Gates was arrested on disorderly conduct or disturbing the peace, later rescinded, Gates provided proof that he was indeed the owner of the home in Cambridge but was arrested anyway. A racial profiling case? Probably but it's too bad they used it on one of the President's men!

In all fairness, I, like the President, and like all of you, don't have all the facts. None of us were there. There's no video of what actually occurred. It's basically he-said/she-said/he-got-arrested, but none of us can definitively say who is at fault.

That being said, my best guess is that Gates did get a little out of line in terms of disrespect of a policeman. And Crowley took offense to the fact that Gates was disrespectful. Perhaps more offense than necessary, considering the circumstances. I mean, afterall, I might be ruder than normal to a policeman if he came to my home and questioned my right to be there. And it seems like after having gotten to the bottom of it, Crowley would have apologized and changed tones to indicate that he felt bad about the situation, but had that happened, Gates it seems would not have been so irate.

So basically, I don't think either are blameless, but I'll assign slightly more to Crowley, as it does take two people to create a power struggle, and once he realized Gates was only guilty of being inside his home, he ought to have done what he could to eliminate that struggle (as the one in authority).

I have witnessed police confronting a white woman and white man who was trying to break into their own car with her purse locked inside. They weren't approached because of race but because they were doing something that appeared suspicious, which is what police are expected to do. Without all of the facts though it is hard to tell anything else from here