So it is — and like CJ says, there’s one very special guy in particular who should be learning from it. Six minutes here of what I can only describe as a tour de force of ObamaSpeak: Long-winded, excruciatingly politic and platitudinous, amounting to nothing more, really, than “there are two sides to every story” and “race relations are sensitive and complex.” No apology, either. In fact, this reminds me of the two-step he pulled when the Wright story broke big last year. His first statement was a pander to his base to score cheap political points (“I can’t disown Wright,” the Cambridge cops behaved “stupidly”); then it blew up in his face and he shifted into damage-control mode as Barack the Centrist (“This is not the Jeremiah Wright I thought I knew,” Crowley’s a great cop). Here’s an idea: The next time you’re pressed on a matter of racial controversy, how about eschewing the knee-jerk defense of demagoguery right off the bat, champ?

Credit where it’s due, though: He couldn’t have come up with a better distraction from the developing ObamaCare debacle if he tried.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy