I am not sure that President Obama’s “Beer Summit” accomplished anything, especially after I viewed the video above. Sure, Obama brought Henry Louis “Skip” Gates Jr. and Cambridge police Sgt. James Crowley together as they “sat at a round table in the Rose Garden with Biden and Obama talking, sipping beer and munching peanuts and pretzels out of silver bowls.”
There is no telling what they all spoke about as “News cameras and reporters were kept 50 feet away and allowed to view the meeting for less than a minute before being shooed away,” according to the Washington Post.
I did find an article about the beers they drank:
President Barack Obama: Bud Light
Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.: Sam Adams Light
Sgt. James Crowley: Blue Moon
But really, what was the point of all this? Gates should have just apologized to Crowley.
this was a total waste of time nobama had to cover his ass for opening his big mouth and getting involved into something he should not have gotten into .
Let’s see – according to the neighbor the police report was filed with invented facts about 2 blacks with backpacks – so what else are the Police lying about? Perhaps an apology is owed to the Professor.
#2,
I could not find that story, but I did find a video which I think addresses the problem well.
And Colin Powell put it best, “I was taught that as a child. You don’t argue with a police officer.”
Not as big a waste of time as Dubyah’s war, not to mention the lives and money wasted fighting it.
Sean,
You are right about that!
Art,
Here’s the story about the “inaccurate” police report, which our supposedly “liberal” press has failed to highlight:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/us/30gates.html?_r=1&scp=5&sq=Professor%20Gates&st=cse
#1 Drinking beer is never a waste of time!
#2 Sean….seriously…let it go, can we for once, not try to blame Bush for ????????? Good lord, it is just annoying, you guys are like 3 year olds…..I wasn’t a fan of the War either, but when it has nothing to do with anything leave it alone, so sound like a group of freaking morons
There’s such a thing as statesmanship and such a thing as circus. This was circus. If Obama were really concerned about contempt-of-cop abuses of power, or on the other side of the controversy bogus claims of racial discrimination, there are lots of things he could do quietly via the U.S. Attorney’s office or legislation.
Having beer in a staged event with a police officer and a Harvard professor is empty theater intended to influence public opinion — not even on the issues, but on the personalities involved. Its kind of like those silly Congressional hearings into steroid abuse. Its yet another tawdry example of how deeply our government has sunk into theatrical media events.
The up side of this story is that Universal health care took a back seat for a few days.
After all, on the 7th day we should all rest. A cold one, regardless of alcoholic content, is not a bad idea with your next door neighbor but you have to wonder where the president sets the bar for future meetings with the other 300 million Americans, many of whom have lost their jobs, fortunes and houses while he downs one in engaging in a lame “damage control” setting.
It appears that the 911 caller through her attorney is staging a law suit based on damages caused on Ms. Whalen due to the frabricated police report attributing comments to Ms. Whalen that she never made.
The real crcus is to follow vindicating the President’s comment of the police dept. acting stupidly. Whow more stupid can you get than to lie on a police report?