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Photograph of, from left, Vice President Joe Biden, Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Cambridge Police Sergeant James Crowley, and President Barack Obama by Alex Brandon/AP
The most-eagerly awaited executive office beer/photo op/cherry-on-top- of-a-controversy -that-spurred-a- discussion-about- race-relations has happened. President Barack Obama welcomed Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Cambridge Police Sergeant James Crowley, two men whose last meeting was much more fraught. Vice President Joe Biden joined in for a (non-alcoholic) brew as well. According to the Caucus, "What are they drinking? Well, for those who believed Bud Lite would be the drink of choice for Mr. Obama, they are in luck, as are those who thought Sgt. Crowley would stay with Blue Moon. Mr. Gates drank Sam Adams Light (a Massachusetts-based brew), and Mr. Biden chose a Bucklers, a non-alcohol beer. Maybe Mr. Biden has to drive home."
Politico, which noticed that "Crowley was seen sipping his beer during the brief photo-op, while Obama and Biden could be seen digging into a bowl of pretzels and peanuts," has some of Obama's remarks to the press before the drink:
“I am, I have to say, fascinated about the fascination with this evening,” Obama told reporters during an Oval Office meeting with the president of the Philippines Thursday afternoon.“I noticed this has been called the beer summit,” Obama said. “It’s a clever term but this is not a summit, guys. This is three folks having a drink at the end of the day and hopefully giving people an opportunity to listen to each other. And that’s all it is.”
“This is not a university seminar,” said Obama. “It’s an opportunity to have some personal interaction when an issue has become so hyped and so symbolic that you lose sight of just the fact that these are people involved, including myself. All of whom are imperfect.”
Meanwhile, also in DC, a lawyer who "jokingly" said he hated the police in earshot of the police was arrested for disorderly conduct.
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No, Mr. President/Celebrity, it's a photo op. Don't you have a country to run or something?
Like Obama has been sitting on his ass recently? In which country do you live, dude?
"No, Mr. President/Celebrity, it's a photo op. Don't you have a country to run or something?"
'Cuz its the same as being out and playing golf while we're bombing the shit out of things?
Right? Right!
Watch this drive.
...
chill out dudes. this picture is awesome.
"This is three folks having a drink at the end of the day..."
Did Biden crash the party?
BUD LIGHT I SAID!
No, it's worse! Biden is as well. Buckler is made by Heineken International.
That commie sonuva...
On another note, we now know that Obama's favorite beer and his favorite pizza are both made in Chicago's archrival city: St. Louis. Chicagoans cannot be very happy about this.
Blue Moon is owned by Molson, which is of course Canadian. So Sam Adams (now the largest American brewer since Anheuser Busch was bought by Inbev) is the only American beer there.
where did they get these fresh on draught at the WH?
hopefully this will settle the unfortunate case of the cop who falsely arrested the uppity black and falsified the police report.
stupid obama! how dare you criticize our heroes!
Your heroes are often tazer-happy, trigger-happy murderers of minorities. Sometimes they're not heroes (except to white supremacists.)
That's the first time in history 4 guys put on suits and ties to go out for a beer
www.forgotten-ny.com
Biden doesn't drink because of a family history of alcoholism.
While I generally like Obama, this trick is such a waste.
3 of the 4 guys are on government salaries - mid-day, drinking beer. Your tax dollars at work.
What is Biden doing there? Whose running the country during this damage control/PR moment? For once it wasn't Biden making the gaffe - doesn't he get 'time served' for past offenses so he can go back to his office and play Minesweeper?
I've never been president or anything like that, but i'm pretty sure there's no "presidential command center" which must be manned by either the president or vice president at all times. they most likely sleep similar hours as well, leaving the country perilously unsupervised EVERY SINGLE NIGHT!!!!
I understand that - Rahn Emmanuel runs the country anyway, and he only sleeps in 30 second increments. They don't even let Biden hold the keys to 'Golf Cart One'.
I'm just worried that Biden will fail to get his world record in MS solitaire.
Don't be a tool. At worse this is a silly PR move. At best it helps the country, in a small way, talk about race issues. I'm sure that if the president's immediate attention was needed on an urgent matter that his staff would know where to find him.
It wasn't midday, it started at 6pm.
Knickerbocker, let's do the math.
Let's say Obama had drinks for an hour.
$400,000 Obama's annual salary ÷ 240 workdays in a year (rough average 5 days per week, 4 weeks per month) ÷ 8 hour workday = $208.33/hour
$208.33/hour ÷ 130 million taxpayers = $0.0000016 per hour per taxpayer
The cost of the electricity to type in your comment likely outweighs the 1.6 ten-thousandths of one cent of your tax dollars paid for this beer meetup. (Or should I say tax penny?)
No, it wasn't midday. This was at 6pm.
You may be confusing him with former Pres. George Bush.
This is a sad day for Natty Boh lovers everywhere.
milk it.
I'd love to meet the guy whose job it was to stock the White House with beer today.
Yesterday NPR announced that Gates would be drinking Red Stripe.
Then NPR interviewed Jim Koch. the founder of Sam Adams beer, which Gates is now seen drinking today, and Koch was surprised that neither Bostonian was drinking Sam Adam beer.
Was Gates listening? Is that why he switched beers?
Drinking Red Stripe, the Jamaican beer, is like drinking Jamaican water. You don't so it unless you must. The only reason why Gates would want to drink that piss is because it is brewed by black people. If this doesn't show the man's inherent bias and prejudice, nothing will.
I guess some Obama adviser got to him and told him to drop the Red Stripe and don't introduce his racist agenda into the White House 'beer summit'.
You're an idiot. Red Stripe's a damn good beer on a hot day, and it has a bite that other lagers don't. Also, it reminds me of Jamaica, which is a good thing. But the real issue is you stretching like a piece of Laffy Taffy to make some nonsensical point about Gates' reported choice of beer. Project much?
When you don't drink Red Stripe, what do you drink? Let me guess, a Corona. With a twist?
Jamaican pot is good, Jamaican beer is not. People drink Red Stripe in Jamaica, because the only other indigenous choice is that malt crap they sell.
Anyone who would write like you did, "it has a bite that other lagers don't" doesn't know shit about lagers.
You want a bite, buddy? Bite this!
...and Sasha and Malia generously offered their tea party set for the occasion.
Sam Adams is one of the best beers around actually, right after Brooklyn Lager.
The real issue here is that the police have become sacrosanct. If a cop shows up, your rights -- to your property, to your liberty, to free speech -- all instantly disappear. However, I can see this concept makes people nervous, so it has been obfuscated by pretending the great incident was about race or class. It was and is about unlimited police power, and now it has to be joked off, because the police rule and no politician wants to rock the boat. The Iranians have mullahs and basiji, and we have the cops.
Let me grab my tin-foil hat...
All right. That'll be enough out of you. You're under arrest.
I just figured out the solution for health care reform: errrrbody get drunk
You can criticize Obama for turning this into a media circus, but the lesson we take from this is loud and clear -- we're all capable of dialogue, and we're all capable of hearing someone else's point of view in a civilized way.
It's a complicated and potentially polarizing issue and Obama rushed to judgment, a judgment I happen to agree with, but this is the president I voted for -- someone who brings people together. You'd never see W. pull off something like this.
The last thing Obama wanted was this media circus.
This crap fell on top of him while trying to reform and extend healthcare for Americans.
He's trying to make things better, not promote an upcoming film or album.
This is great.
this is good and a start.
then they can talk about redlining and sundown towns.
just talking is a start whether it gets anywhere..
ixvnyc, Obama is sitting on his ass in the photo, isn't he? What exactly is this going to accomplish? It's a lame PR move to salvage some dignity after calling a cop stupid for doing his job. The cop might have done better at his job, but this whole thing does not merit or need national attention. It's fodder for The NY Post. Everything Obama does is a media circus & he clearly loves the limelight. Still, he's better than what might have been, but he's not the Superman that so many of you want to believe he is. Some of you seem to want to believe that after this "beer summit" whites & blacks everywhere will be holding hands & singing together, thanks to the Barackcracy. Unlikely to occur.
"Some of you seem to want to believe that after this "beer summit" whites & blacks everywhere will be holding hands & singing together"
I don't see anyone who said anything resembling this.
In fact, the only time I've seen such an opinion is when someone is setting up a strawman.
you are incredibly short-sighted and missing the important social undertones of this genuine discussion.
Shortsighted? How exactly? Because I think the attention paid to this nothing event is absurd? Dazzle me, please. What exactly was accomplished here? Nothing about race has improved. No one apologized. A cop from MA met the President & Biden crashed the party. Anything else?
you're taking the cynical view of the media circus, which is as usual, sad and ridiculous. i can't fault you for that. but there are interesting and unprecedented implications of handling a perpetually-delicate issue in such a manner.
What exactly was accomplished here? Nothing about race has improved. No one apologized. A cop from MA met the President & Biden crashed the party. Anything else?
it happened 15 minutes ago. why don't you give it some time to breath? this isn't about "fixing" something. it's about changing the climate/dialogue.
i know most of us america-dwellers want quick fixes and immediate results while doing nothing to assist. but sometimes, you have open yourself up to more subtle currents. take the responsibility (there's a word that means nothing to anyone in this country) to reflect on an issue, not just bitch about it being broken.
now, i realize one of those is more difficult than the other. can america not be intellectually/culturally/socially lazy for once? i guess that depends on what rush limbaugh and keith olberman have to say...
and if my utopian delusions don't dazzle you, i'm quite the smashing tap dancer. might that amuse you instead?
In case you haven’t noticed, a head of state is a very ceremonial figure whose days are filled with symbolic meetings and photo opportunities. The fact that a black president was elected already shows the progress which was made when it comes to racism, especially in the younger generations. This particular situation was caused by 2 irrational people who let their ego get the best of them, but the result was an intense national debate (see which stories got the most comments here in the past week)
Obama did what he thought was right as the president. Minor incidents like this have spurred riots in the past – some of which changed the course of history. This clearly struck a chord with people and as president he did the right thing to try and squash it – as cheesy as the whole sitting down for a beer thing was.
Obama did what he thought was right as the president. Minor incidents like this have spurred riots in the past – some of which changed the course of history. This clearly struck a chord with people and as president he did the right thing to try and squash it – as cheesy as the whole sitting down for a beer thing was.
This is basically the best explanation I've seen for this whole Beer Summit deal. I was taking issues with the whole photo-op aspect, but I guess that's part of the point - to make a public showing that may help ease any simmering tensions by showing cooler heads prevailing.
I have to say I really like this picture.
I do too.
I have to agree with a few of the comments, that I just really like this picture.
I know it's a photo-op and not necessarily as legitimate as it could, or is meant to appear, but at least it's an effort.
I just can't help but laugh a bit at all the people who voted for Bush because they felt like, 'They could sit down and have a beer with him.', when he doesn't even drink, and now there's this picture.
I like Obama, and I'm liking much of what he's doing politically, but this whole Beer Summit thing is ridiculous.
I think he's just doing it to make up for what he said, which I don't think is that big of a deal in the first place.
i disagree that this is ridiculous. in fact, i think it is hands-down the most innovative, interesting lead-by-example position i've ever seen taken on racism/racial america. use your words, not al sharpton/rush limbaugh.
it's really interesting and if it encourages more parties at odds over race (or religion or sexual orientation or whatever) to sit and drink together -- talking TO each other, rather than at each other -- i'm all for it...
...because that can only lead to a hot, intercultural orgy of epic proportions. which is what america is all about.
you make good funny. orgy ahoy!
Ok - I guess talking about race is interesting, and it's better than covering it up.
But, all of the posturing (especially by Skip Gates) for the camera is completely absurd. Additionally, I think the neighbor, who initially made the call, should have been invited. Just because she's a woman, she can drink beer too.
obama, gates and biden never drank their beers. cop was the only one to take a swig.
This is the most amazing thing i've ever seen.
I love that no commenters have mentioned anything about what was actually said at the beer summit.
Also PS I think I will now have to refer to every happy hour as a beer summit.
There's a creepy KKK wizard ghost, upside down, behind Crowley. Coincidence? I think not.
Come on people...look at the picture! If that's not proof that Crowley is in the KKK, then MJ's ghost doesn't really haunt Neverland!
I wish I can go & have a beer with the President of the United States. At least he does what he says, the ignorant people in this country have to chill out sometimes. Look at what other world leaders do in Europe, etc. They do not care that is why they live so long. Live and let live !!
I think it's hilarious that we're reading into this so much.
http://xkcd.com/617/
the best part was when Obama let one rip and they all cracked up and the professor was like 'damn son! dat be stinkin!' then Biden was like 'now dats some shit we can all agree to!'and then they freeze framed and credits.
+1
Is that Ol' E that Gates is drinking ?
I like the dynamic in this picture:
Officer Crowley seems to be looking at listening to Gates, who seems to be making a point. Obama leaning back focused on Gates and Crowley.
Meanwhile, Biden is obviously saying something, but nobody seems to be listening...
Obama probably would rather be having a banana daquari with a cute little umbrella in it.
Real presidents drink scotch.