Beer Diplomacy: The Beer Summit

I feel that Dangard Ace should be covering this one, but I have to say something about the Beer Summit. On Thursday, President Obama will be meeting with Sgt. Crowley and Professor Gates to have a beer at the White House. There's nothing that smooths over racial misunderstandings than alcohol. While it seems ridiculous, I've seen arguments settled over a pint of beer on many occasions. This moment will be pivotal, because it can put this issue to rest... or it can stir up a crap load of problems if it doesn't go well. (I'm betting that it will go well, because people will be on their best behaviour.)

More importantly, could this Beer Summit be a potential model to settle other disagreements? Could Israel and Palestine sit down, drink up, and settle their problems at the White House? Maybe we can invite scandalous investment bankers and the recently unemployed to have a few drinks and laugh it up over nachos and booze. Maybe if someone has a gripe with an IRS auditor, they can go out for drinks and talk it out.

While the Beer Summit is a very creative way at patching up the incident between Gates and Crowley, part of me feels that it is making a mockery of a very serious issue... The fact that a well-respected officer trained in racial relations and a well-respected Harvard professor both managed to get themselves tangled up in this mess. If they can't get along, then what hope do the rest of us have? We've still got a long way to go.