Posted: Thu 30 Jul 2009 18:08 Post subject: Why Obama is serving beer to the professor & the police off.
Beverage Profiling
Why Obama is serving beer to the professor and the police officer.
By John Dickerson
Posted Wednesday, July 29, 2009, at 6:02 PM ET
Sometimes a beer is just a beer—except in politics, where beer may signify any old thing we want it to. It is the most abused of all the spirits. Since the early '70s, the typical voter has often been referred to as Joe Six-Pack. Beer made the cover of Newsweek magazine as part of a discussion of whether candidate Barack Obama (represented by a leaf of arugula) could connect with the common man (represented by a frosty mug). This was an extension of the political sorting technique of describing Democratic candidates who appeal to upscale voters as "wine track" candidates and those who appeal to blue-collar voters as being on the "beer track." George W. Bush, according to some, was a more appealing candidate than Al Gore because a poll showed that he was the candidate people would prefer to have a beer with.
what are we to make of President Obama's invitation to professor Henry Louis Gates and Sgt. James Crowley for a beer Thursday night at the White House? First, like the whole Gates-Crowley affair, this beer detente is another infusion in this summer's stimulus act for columnists (it's a bipartisan bill; Sarah Palin has done her part as well). The night is also a boon to headline writers: The Prof and Cop Hops Stop! Hot Heads Share a Frosty! Prof, Cop Quaff With Barack After Squawk.
But is there any meaning to squeeze out of the choice of beverage? Serving sherry would not have been the right call. The president has already been accused of siding with the professor. So did he choose beer to compensate? During the campaign, when Obama was seen as the "wine track" candidate, he worked to correct that impression by having a beer in front of the cameras.
During the campaign, the beer metaphor was sometimes apt—Obama did have trouble with white working-class voters—and sometimes highly imperfect. Obama beat Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin, arguably the most beer-sodden state: home of Schlitz, Miller and City Brewing, and birthplace of Pabst. The Bush-and-beer trope was even more imperfect. In the "poll" conducted by brewer Samuel Adams, Bush barely beat Gore (40 percent to 37 percent)—statistically, it was a tie. Plus, if Bush was the candidate people most wanted to have a beer with, wouldn't he have won the popular vote? (And then there's the theory that the majority on the Supreme Court was drinking beer when it ruled in Bush v. Gore, but that's another matter.)
But the problems with this metaphor go even deeper. Beer may be the drink of the "regular guy," but it is not only the drink of the regular guy. There is plenty of elitism in beer these days. The next time you're at Whole Foods, count how many seconds it takes before a man wearing a golf shirt, no socks, and loafers is standing beside you examining the shelves of expensive foreign and microbrewed beers. Wine, meanwhile, has been moving in the other direction, though of course there have always been bargain-basement brands: Thunderbird, MD 20/20, Night Train, and Boone's Farm.
When Obama announced that he would have a Budweiser on Thursday night, it suggested he was going for the most regular-guy brand he could find. (It sells for about $6.50 for a six-pack.) But it turns out that the cop likes the same kind of fancy beer the professor does: He's having a Blue Moon, a Belgian-Style witbier ($7 to $9 a six-pack), while Gates is having a Red Stripe ($7) or Becks ($. Upon this affinity for upmarket beers may be built a towering reconciliation.
The thing with beer is that it's about not class but diffusion. Obama wants to lessen tensions, so he's picked the drink of the backyard and the ballgame. Whether you light your grill by pressing a button or dumping a can of lighter fuel on briquettes, you probably have a beer nearby. If Thursday night's group therapy were playing out in any suburban American home, the next move after getting the beers would be for Obama to show the two men his new flat-screen TV.
Beer is the antithesis of the strutting and overreacting that gripped all three male actors in this drama (unless you drink too much, and then it is the enabler of those impulses). "Maybe it's a guy thing," said Wendy Murphy, lawyer for Lucia Whalen, explaining why her client—whose 911 call brought Crowley to Gates' house—was not invited to beer night.
There is a rich history of beer at the White House. George Washington drank it after battle. Thomas Jefferson brewed it at Monticello. During Prohibition, "Beer for Prosperity" was the cry of those who saw repeal as a way to create jobs and raise taxes, and Franklin Roosevelt ran on that platform. At the 1932 Democratic National Convention, he pledged to end dry laws "just as fast as the Lord will let us authorize the manufacture and sale of beer." Eric Felten, author of How's Your Drink, says that when that happened, breweries delivered their first batches to the White House, where Eleanor Roosevelt had promised to have the newly legal beer served.
During Nixon's first term, when political aide Chuck Colson was courting the Teamsters union, he invited a host of members for lunch in the White House mess. They ordered beer with their Mexican food and were served Michelob, which happened to be distributed by nonunion labor. Thirst triumphed over politics, however, and everyone imbibed.
In entertaining Gates and Crowley, Obama will probably not be able to match Lyndon Johnson, who also used beer to break the ice in tense situations. Johnson used to take reporters on "speed and beer" drives on his ranch. He'd pop some cold ones and race off into the dust of the ranch. Obama can't do this, obviously—as spacious as the White House grounds are, they're no LBJ ranch—but even if he tried, Crowley would have to arrest him. And that's how this mess started in the first place.
Hopes for ‘positive lesson’ from beer chat
Cambridge cop, Harvard professor join Obama for brews at White House
WASHINGTON - With mugs of beer and a few minutes of conversation, President Barack
Obama tried to pull himself and the nation beyond an uproar over race, sitting on his big back lawn with the black professor and the white policeman whose dispute had ignited a week of fierce debate.
Under the canopy of a magnolia tree Thursday evening, a shirt-sleeved Obama joined the other players in a story that had knocked the White House off message: Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Cambridge, Mass., police Sgt. James Crowley. Vice President Joe Biden was also with them on a Rose Garden patio.
The men were seen chatting, each with a mug of beer. The media were stationed far away, out of earshot.
Although Obama had invited Crowley and Gates as part of what he called a "teachable moment" for the nation, it wasn't quite reachable for the masses. The coverage allowed the public to get the we've-come-together photos and video footage that the White House wanted, while keeping the discussion private among the men.
Crowley and Gates, in dark suits for the highly anticipated meeting, seemed more formal than Obama and Biden, who had ditched their coats in the early evening. The president nibbled on snacks and was seen laughing at one point. The media were escorted away after roughly two minutes.
"Even before we sat down for the beer, I learned that the two gentlemen spent some time together listening to one another, which is a testament to them," Obama said in a statement after the meeting. "I have always believed that what brings us together is stronger than what pulls us apart. 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."
In a post-meeting news briefing, Crowley described himself and Gates as "two gentlemen who agreed to disagree" about the confrontation that led to Gates' arrest.
He said that the conversation centered on moving forward, not reliving the events of the past two weeks, and that they plan more meetings.
Gates hopeful
Gates said in a statement he is hopeful that the experience will prove to be an "occasion for education, not recrimination."
Gates said the burden now rests with him and Crowley to use the opportunity to foster wider awareness of the dangers facing police officers and the fears that some blacks have about racial profiling.
Earlier from the Oval Office, Obama had done what his aides had been doing for days: lowering expectations.
"I noticed this has been called the 'Beer Summit.' It's a clever term, but this is not a summit, guys," Obama told reporters. "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 really all it is. This is not a university seminar."
When the meeting started, a TV shot showed Obama, Gates, Crowley and Vice President Joe Biden sitting at a table outside the White House.
Families tour White House
A White House aide told NBC's Savannah Guthrie that the interaction between Gates and Crowley was friendly and warm. The men's families toured the West Wing while the meeting occurred.
Beers of choice
— President Barack Obama, Bud Light
— Vice President Joseph Biden, Buckler non-alcoholic
— Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Samuel Adams Light
— Cambridge, Mass., police Sgt. James Crowley, Blue Moon
Obama drank Bud Light, Biden had Buckler (a non-alcoholic beer), Gates had Sam Adams Light and Crowley had Blue Moon.
After Crowley investigated a potential burglary at Gates' house — and ended up arresting the protesting professor for disorderly conduct — the episode exploded into a national debate on racial profiling. Obama added fuel to the fire when he declared in a prime-time news conference that the police "acted stupidly." The charge against Gates was later dropped.
There's been a political cost for the president, stealing attention from his agenda and drawing negative public reviews on how he handled the matter.
At the time of the incident, Gates demanded an apology from Crowley and called him a "rogue policeman." Obama said the Cambridge policed "acted stupidly" in arresting Gates when he had shown proof he was in his home. Crowley said that, while he supported the president, Obama was "way off base wading into a local issue without knowing all the facts."
A new poll by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center found that 41 percent disapprove of Obama's handling of the Gates arrest, compared with 29 percent who approved. The poll also found that nearly 80 percent of Americans said they are now aware of Obama's comments on the matter.
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. Upon this affinity for upmarket beers may be built a towering reconciliation.
