President Obama just hosted the now famous Beer Summit at the White House, where he invited African American Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates and Sergeant Crowley, the two guys at the heart of a controversial misunderstanding, to the White House to hash out their differences over a couple of beers.   Crowley arrested Gates for disorderly conduct on July 16 after a confrontation at the professor’s home, sparking a media frenzy as Gates accused the policeman of racial profiling.  The Prez was upbeat about how things went.

“I am confident that has happened here tonight, and I am hopeful that all of us are able to draw this positive lesson from this episode.”

After reading Sgt. Crowley’s quote, I’m not so sure they totally cleared up their issues:

“I think what you had today was two gentlemen who agreed to disagree on a particular issue,” Crowley told reporters. “I don’t think that we spent too much time dwelling on the past. We spent a lot of time discussing the future.”

I guess that’s OK for the first of such summit.  I wonder if President Obama busted out a smoke during the summit.  The president has been famously trying to kick the habit since his campaign.  “I only smoke when I drink,” I think I overheard the president say. (more…)