Gates and Crowley: White House, Beer, Thursday

An Obama administration official has leaked some important information to the Associated Press, on condition of anonymity of course.

WASHINGTON -- A Harvard professor and the police officer who arrested him have agreed to meet with President Barack Obama at the White House on Thursday.

An administration official tells The Associated Press that Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Sgt. James Crowley of the Cambridge, Mass., police department are scheduled to meet Obama on Thursday evening. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting has not been announced.

From the New York Times:

Will it be Budweiser? Or Pabst Blue Ribbon?

Whatever the beer, a senior White House official said Monday night that the Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Sgt. James Crowley of the Cambridge Police Department will be sharing that promised brewski at the White House with President Obama on Thursday at 6 p.m.

The two men both expressed an interest in a bury-the-hatchet brew last week when Mr. Obama called both of them to try to turn the temperature down on the firestorm created after Sgt. Crowley arrested Professor Gates for disorderly conduct even after determining that Professor Gates was in his own home and not breaking and entering, as originally suspected.

There was a lot of back and forth at the White House on Monday about the promised kiss-and-make-up session — mostly related to what kind of beer that Mr. Obama — who isn’t known for beer-drinking — might serve.

Obama doesn't drink beer? Really?

Does he only do it when the cameras are on him and he wants to look like a regular guy?

Like here:

It doesn't bother me that the Obama White House intends to hold the Beer Summit, with Henry Louis Gates and Sgt. James Crowley, on Thursday.

What really, really bothers me is that this little stunt was arranged but Obama has yet to have Special Olympics athletes over to the White House to play basketball and to bowl.

After Obama mocked them when he appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno back in March, the stunningly cruel remarks by Obama were smoothed over by the promise of an invite. At the time, Obama told Special Olympics Chairman Tim Shriver that he would have Special Olympics competitors over to the White House for basketball or bowling.

Shriver is still waiting for that to occur.

From The Guardian, July 9, 2009:

Obama offered to have some Special Olympic athletes to visit the White House to play his favourite sport, basketball, or bowling, one the president has perhaps had enough of — but to date nothing has happened: "We have not had a specific event yet where the president can interact with Special Olympics athletes yet, but we're hopeful. He has been busy."

It really ticks me off that Obama made the Beer Summit happen but he hasn't made good on his promise to schedule an event for the Special Olympics athletes.

This lame Beer Summit is really all about Obama. He's selfish. It's damage control for him, nothing more.

Obviously, the race issue really exploded in Obama's face last Wednesday when during his prime time news conference he made the idiotic comment about the "Cambridge police [acting] stupidly." He had to do something.

Obama's cruel comment about the Special Olympics apparently wasn't seen as that damaging to Obama politically. Although the matter was damaging enough that it required Obama to make an apology and extend the vague "Let's do lunch" type of invitation, the White House determined that was enough. Nothing else needed to be done immediately. There was no need for a media-hyped photo op, capturing Obama hanging out with the Special Olympics athletes, because the controversy didn't take on the life of the Gates case.

And to date, Obama has not scheduled an event with them. Clearly, they aren't important to Obama, certainly not as important as Gates and Crowley.

Obama isn't about doing what's right. Obama is about doing what's right for him.

The Beer Summit is a political dance. Obama acting in the role of peacemaker is so, so sickening given that he bears responsibility for causing the national uproar.

Obama, Gates, and Crowley can drink some beer and have a good time Thursday evening. Whatever. What beer will they drink? Who cares?

None of that silliness will make Americans forget what they learned about Obama as a result of this "teachable moment."

Obama is not at all the post-racial figure he claims to be. He's a race-baiter. When he declared that the "Cambridge police acted stupidly" even as he admitted that he didn't know the facts of the case, Obama revealed the sort of racist thoughts he harbors and what he's willing to exploit for personal political gain.

Either Obama just assumed that racial profiling was involved in the case, or he wanted the American people to believe that it was. In any event, Obama's exploitation of race was an automatic response, a reflex. It's clear that sort of racial perspective is deeply embedded in him.

I guess Jeremiah Wright really did influence him.

Getting to know the real Obama is not pretty.

He mocks the Special Olympics, calls police stupid, shamelessly plays racial politics, and breaks his promises.

Not pretty at all.