Beer diplomacy: Obama aims for calm with Gates, police officer
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0
ChrisBiggins
Obama you are such a sweety. What a lovely gesture.
Don't fancy coming round ton my place in Earls Court for homemade Plaifce and chippies, oooh, in my dreams.
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Scrote
But will they be drinking Weissbier or Schwarzbier? If there's no dark beer on the table Al Sharpton et al. will be up in arms.
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Wolfpack
Just don't serve Professor Gates a pale ale or he might need to be cuffed again ;-)
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Pump24
Big bonus points to whatever beer they choose. I can just see the Superbowl commercials now...The Beer of Presidents!
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Badsey
This is maybe the part of Obama I like the most, and something that has been missing in the White House and politics for sometime. I hope others take notice and realize what a true politician does.
-it is bizarre that a goofy situation can get so blown out of proportion, but with MAssachusettes and Ted Kennedy it doesn't surprise me.
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RomeoRamenII
Sgt. Crowley should give Obama and Gates a “teachable moment” about race baiting and not go.
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Klein2
Only Nixon can go to China.
There are some things that presidents can and should do to bring out our better nature. Certainly this is something that probably only Obama can do. I don't know if this is really a defining moment for Obama, but it is a good gesture. During the campaign, someone asked him what he thought of loose pants. He said something like, "The brothers should pull up their pants." In little ways like that, instead of spending all of his time golfing or whatever, he can help the US to get past THAT and get on with IT. You always see presidents trying to go good people things after they leave office. Obama can do them when he is IN office.
In concrete terms, this Obama gesture could save the state of MA millions of dollars in penalties and court costs and show people how to be decent to each other. It is worth 200 or more meaningless photo ops.
If anyone has not read Colin Powell's take on the whole thing, you should read it. He and Warren Buffett are the most reasonable men in America.
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Klein2
The choice of beer does present problems. I would hope that they would get three of every domestically produced beer and let everyone choose, but times are tight.
Maybe they could all agree on one and share it out of the bottle, just kind of passing it around. haha.
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Triumvere
Heaven forbid Obam chooses an import; we'd never hear the end of it!
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Triumvere
*Obama
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alphawolf
This Gates is a radical and Obama's friend (go figure). Obama wants to diffuse this because he spoke out his a$$ and the truth of how this Gates shot his mouth off came out and made Obama wish he kept his mouth shut.
aw
0
Madverts
"Heaven forbid Obam chooses an import; we'd never hear the end of it!"
Europe would understand ;) American "beer" leaves a little to be desired.
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USNinJapan2
Does no one else here think it's a bit ridiculous for the President of the United States to be even remotely involved in this incident? So what if the offender (in more ways then one) in this case was a close personal friend of the President's, situations like this probably happen countless times every day accross the nation and this one particular one isn't unique nor worthy of the artificially-created national interest it's getting. The press corps shouldn't have asked him to comment about the case and Obama should never have gotten involved, period. This farcical beer session isn't going to prevent race riots, resolve the factors that caused the incident involving Dr. Gates and Sgt. Crowley or do anything other than prolong the limelight that this non-story is enjoying.
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Triumvere
Madverts,
To me, all beer "leaves a little to be desired." I'll take a cup of hot sake or a nice glass of scotch, but beer...? Still I'd wager they'd make out all right with microbrew.
USN,
No, but it might get the media to shut up about "Gates-gate". Contrary to prolonging the limelight, I think if he manages to defuse the situation a bit he'll be able to spin it to his advantage. I'll agree that it was unpresidential of Obama to comment, but the beer session is clearly an attempt to bow out gracefully. Let's pray it works.
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sharky1
Maybe they figure the odds will be even, black president, black professor, white cop, white house.
0
zurcronium
USNinJapan,
you are right. Obama is in the weeds on this one and never should have commented about such a minor issue. Of course the rightwing echo factory pushed this issue for their own purposes.
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alphawolf
It's great, because even the liberals are hoping this dies down. Gates was a black man overly sensitive to racism. He is the type that sees racism everytime he sees a white man looking at him. You can see it in his "spike lee" eyes...
aw
0
YuriOtani
Oh give the American President a brake! He is doing what he thinks is correct and this entire event shows that with 24hour news what the press will do to fill the time. I think this is a watershed moment my self. Perhaps some good can develop from this meeting. The President, the policeman and the civil rights worker. It is worth a try to make things better.
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sfjp330
The only person who needs to learn a lesson from all this is Gates, and the syllabus for that course should include a few lines about the proper way to interact with police officers. With all the knowledge that Gates has acquired on the way to becoming one of the nation's most renowned public intellectuals, he never learned how to talk to police officer, and more importantly how not to talk to one.
The answer is politely and with respect, with the goal of diffusing tension rather than exacerbating it. And this is universally true, whatever your color or the color of the officer.
This incident wasn't about racial profiling, a concept that Crowley is well acquainted since he has taught police academy recruits how to avoid it. What this incident was really about was Crowley trying to control a situation that was quickly getting out of control.
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seijichuudo9sha
The most important thing is this:the 911 caller has been identified.People need to go after her.A few beers isn't going to change anything.
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alphawolf
The guy teaches african american studies.. why do we always overblow the accomplishments of blacks who do something.. totally lopsided the way blacks and whites are treated. We aren't even allowed to have white american studies in colleges. Liberals have told whites to shutup about their accomplishments, prefering to call them accomplishments "american" and not "white american"..
aw
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sfjp330
Gates also sounded a tad naive when he said that the incident "made me realize...how vulnerable all black men are, how vulnerable all people of color are and all poor people to capricious forces." He has spent his career chronicling the African-American experience, and he just realized this now? That speaks to how detached the Harvard professor is from his own subject matter.
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sharky1
Too often, people treat other people in accordance with their perceived monthly income. All people are worthy of dignity and respect until they prove otherwise. I think this is the case with Gates, who felt he was superior to the officer, and failed to treat him with the proper respect due to any fellow human being.
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Badsey
Beer Diplomacy + Encouraging the Negative:
So if being a racist gets a Beer and a Brat with the President, what does it take to get a chair at his SuperBowl party? What if I want an ice cream with the Prez? A photoOp. Fly Air Force 1 around NYC a few times?
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sfjp330
As Crowley enters the premises of a White House, he should be careful. I hope he doesn't find himself cast as racially insensitive or on the wrong end of a lecture about how to do police work by those who have never had to do it.
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xpompey8
= History 101, 102, 103...
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