Beer summit (from left); Vice President Joe Biden, Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., Police Sergeant James Crowley and President Barack Obama. (Getty Images)
Two weeks after black Harvard professor Louis Gates, Jr. accused white police sergeant James Crowley of racial profiling for arresting him at his home, both men sat down to talk about it like gentlemen -- with free beer.
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden joined them for the "beer summit" in the Rose Garden. Reporters were kept 50 feet away and allowed to stay only one minute, according to a report in the Washington Post.
It was good to see everyone cool down and talk about the misunderstandings and issues that arose when Crowley arrested Gates two weeks ago. Gates had just returned from China and couldn't get into his front door, so a cab driver helped him jimmy the lock. A neighbor who did not know Gates saw the men trying to break in and called the police. Gates was outraged and got into a confrontation with the police, who arrested him. The charges were dropped, but the accusation of racial profiling made headlines.
Obama's remark that police "acted stupidly" pumped up the volume on the issue. Hence the beer summit.
But the most interesting part of the summit, as TMZ so astutely reported, was not who said what, but rather who drank what. Here's the lowdown:
Obama -- Bud Light
Biden -- Bucklers
Gates -- Sam Adams Light
Crowley -- Blue Moon
Here are a few photos of the little tête-à-tête:
Top: Gates and Crowley go deep. Center: Obama and the Veep reach for the nuts. Bottom: Obama kicks back.
Comments
Is there something wrong with having a beer my god you people act like he has to be a saint and not do anything wrong. Find something worth writing about.
Culture mandate! obama rock!
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