Obama Remains Clueless, Barkley Speaks Up and Tavis Smiley Mouths Off On Trayvon Martin

While many were surprised, some even shocked that George Zimmerman was acquitted of murder in the death of Trayvon Martin yet few were surprised that the not guilty verdict was met with shouts of "No Justice - No Peace".

No one was surprised that the Reverend Al Sharpton took his message of hate to the ever willing press corps.

Everyone is speaking out about the Zimmerman verdict. The under educated masses who have been fired up by the sicko media types like Nancy Grace who fake broken heart routine with Martin's parents should earn her an academy award.

The President himself stepped into the fray saying "Trayvon Martin could have been me" and recalled his pre-political life and the uncomfortable feeling he had hearing car doors lock as he walked down the street.

Cedar's Take: The President might want to consider just how uncomfortable the white woman walking alone to her car after work and being approached by a black man wearing a hoodie, feels.

The President might want to consider what it feels like to be on a family vacation to Washington DC and finding themselves on the wrong part of Pennsylvania Avenue on a Saturday night. Surrounded by hundreds on African Americans just out in the streets on a hot summer night.

The President might want to consider what it feels like to see your parents robbed at gun point by two black teenagers in a shopping center parking lot.

Or what is feels like to be Cedar's 80 year old aunt who suddenly has a black teenager jump of a park bench and land directly in front of her.

The President failed, in fact the media, and the nation failed to call out Trayvon Martin for his reported "creepy cracker" racial profiling of George Zimmerman.

Mr. President race relations is a two way street.

Then there is Charles Barkley who in case you missed it, told  CNBC's Maria Bartiromo and the world know what he thought of the Zimmerman verdict.

“Well I agree with the verdict,” Barkley said. “I feel sorry that young kid got killed, but they didn’t have enough evidence to charge him. Something clearly went wrong that night — clearly something went wrong — and I feel bad for anybody who loses a kid, but if you looked at the case and you don’t make it — there was some racial profiling, no question about it — but something happened that changed the dynamic of that night.”

“And let me say, Mr. Zimmerman was wrong — he was racial profiling. I think Trayvon Martin — God rest his soul — I think he did flip the switch and start beating the hell out of Mr. Zimmerman. But it was just a bad situation. And like I said, the main thing I feel bad for, it gives every white person and black person who is racist a platform to vent their ignorance.

“I just feel bad because I don’t like when race gets out in the media ‘cuz I don’t think the media has a ‘pure heart,’ as I call it,”

Barkley continued. “There are very few people who have a pure heart when it comes to race. Racism is wrong in any shape [or] form — there are a lot of black people who are racist, too. I think sometimes when people talk about race, they act like only white people are racist. There are a lot of black people who are racist. And I don’t like when it gets out there in the media because I don’t think the media has clean hands.”

Cedar's Take: Chuck is dead on.

Finally Tavis Smiley, who criticized The President's comments on Trayvon Martin's death and the outcome of the George Zimmerman trial.

(corrected Travis to Tavis, is this really his name?)

The PBS host says: "I appreciate and applaud the fact that the president did finally show up. But this town has been spinning a story that's not altogether true.

He did not walk to the podium for an impromptu address to the nation; he was pushed to that podium. A week of protest outside the White House, pressure building on him inside the White House pushed him to that podium. So I'm glad he finally arrived.

But when he left the podium, he still had not answered the most important question, that Keynesian question, where do we go from here?

That question this morning remains unanswered, at least from the perspective of the president. And the bottom line is this is not Libya, this is America. On this issue, you cannot lead from behind."

Cedar's Final Word:

Trayvon Martin is dead because his parents failed to prepare him for life, and because African Americans are viewed as potential threats by other races, police and society in general.

Trayvon Martin is dead because rather than walk straight to the home where is father was staying was wandering around the streets, and because he was angry and because he thought Zimmerman was a good way to take out his frustration.

Trayvon Martin is dead because he decided to confront and attack the creepy cracker following him.

Trayvon Martin is dead because African Americans have a sense that they are "owed" something by whites and this thinking is learned behavior.

Trayvon Martin is dead because George Zimmerman refused to be a another victim of an attack by a African American thug.

I personally know dozens of people who happen to be black, they are my friends, employees, clients and neighbors. They are not thugs, but they are victims of their own race, of their own color and they are helpless to change the fact that they are often perceived as criminals and threats.

But they are smart enough to throw off the stereotype, they act different, they dress different, they are different. They often go to extremes to present an image that is anti thug, that is anti ghetto rat, and that is law abiding. They have managed to lift themselves above the stereotype.

Are they racially profiled? Every day, by everyone.

Trayvon Martin had a chance to disprove George Zimmerman's assumption of another thug looking to break in to someone's home. But he decided to confirm for eternity that he indeed was a thug.