Obama, VP, Harvard Prof & Policeman Quaff 4 Brands at 'Beer Summit'
The “beer summit” called by President Barack Obama to help resolve racism concerns sparked by the disorderly conduct arrest of a Harvard University professor at his own home by Cambridge, Mass., police has now been conducted.
Although covered live by three New York Times reporters in the newspaper’s Caucus blog, the event apparently did not include any public comments on the substance of their discussion by the four participants—Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and police Sgt. James Crowley.
However, the blog did provide readers with a photograph of the four sitting around a table outside the White House, as well as news about the four brands of beer they opted to drink out of frosty mugs: Bud Light (Obama), Blue Moon (Crowley), Sam Adams Light (Gates) and Buckler (Biden). The latter is a a nonalcoholic beer, the newspaper notes.
In brief press conferences, the President thanked Gates and Crowley for attending and participating in what he described as a “friendly, thoughtful conversation” and Crowley described a “cordial and productive discussion” with the three other men. Crowley also said that he and Gates plan to talk again by phone in the future, and said there is “no tension” between himself and Gates, the Caucus reports.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Harvard’s Gates, Officer Accept Obama Invite to Discuss Arrest Flap Over a Beer”
