Our “conversation on race” is yielding a cluster of “teachable moments,” due to a break-in that wasn’t, a racist who isn’t, and a narrative that seemed (to some people, including the president), almost too good to be true.

The president took the side of his friend, Harvard professor Henry (Skip) Gates, who said he had been accosted in his home by a “rogue” police officer and arrested by him when he protested; and condemned the policeman, who said he had answered a report of a break in (by Gates, who had locked himself out of his residence), that Gates hadn’t explained, but accused him of being a racist, and that he had arrested Gates for making a public disturbance when the noise drew a sizeable crowd.

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