The President…Egos…and Beer…

Today…two men with egos and a president who made a public relations mistake will be having a beer.  The President of the United States…who probably could do more trying to repair the damage done domestically and abroad over the last eight to twelve years…is going to try to “smooth out” a situation that some would admit he addressed too early.

Even the beer that the gentlemen will drink is well publicized…President Obama is going to drink a Bud Light…very American…  It looks like Sgt. Crowley will be having a Blue Moon…from Denver Colorado… Gates is going to have a Red Stripe Beer…the popular Jamaican beer import…and mostly likely another signal from Gates that he is “down” with “black”.

Some beer makers have started a little debate in the media as to why their “suds” should be preferred as the “conflict resolution cocktail”of choice…

“Yuengling is proud to be recognized as America’s Oldest Brewery,” a company spokesman told POLITICO. “Family owned and operated since 1829, we’ve been a part of conflict resolution for over 180 years!”

A rep for Sierra Nevada said: “We believe that we are the perfect fit for the matter at hand, and a great choice to represent and facilitate the resilience and understanding of the American people. Sierra Nevada [can] reinforce the idea that whether black or white, rich or poor, we are all first and foremost Americans. American citizens should support American beer.“

Personally…I think American beer is the wrong choice.  American beer contains lots of advertisements, free gifts inside cases to help sell the product, more rhetoric than substance and ultimately…hope for an “over hyped-product” that is watered down.

I do not think that Professor Gates’ choice of Red Stripe was a wise one…he should have picked a domestic American beer and I hope he gets ridiculed for his choice in the media.  Even if my personal opinion is true…when you drink beer at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue…you have to drink American Beer…unless you are a foreign dignitary and even then…

It seems Gates has been trying to spin the “clash of egos” into a racial issue since he was approached by the Cambridge Police more than a week ago.  Although most media outlets have been trying to be “politically correct” about the issue…some have come to the conclusion that if anything…the clash between Gates and Crowley was not racial.  I don’t think it was either…I do believe that Gates tried to spin it that way.

One last thing…a family member of mine triggered the alarm at their house.  The police came and asked for identification and asked the same types of questions Gates was asked (documented in the Cambridge Police report)…the family member…understanding the job the police needed to do helped the officers get the requested information to resolve the situation.  I am sure my family member would have been arrested if they started to holler at the officers and started “discussing” their “mothers”.