I'll drink to that, Mr. President

Tonight is the much-anticipated "Beer Summit" involving President Barack Obama, Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Massachusetts police Sgt. James Crowley. The three men are apparently hoping that the male bonding ritual of adding alcohol to a conversation to make it interesting will help soothe the tension caused when Crowley arrested Gates after police suspected he was robbing a house following a neighbor's 911 call. Turns out the house is owned by Gates, who apparently was more than upset that he was being accused of being a criminal on his own property. Obama jumped into the fray at a press conference, calling the actions of Sgt. Crowley "stupid." Crowley and his superiors claim the officer was merely doing his duty in response to a civilian's call, which, contrary to initial reports, did not mention that Gates and the man he was with are African-American. Since then, cooler heads have prevailed and now a cooler of beer will be the substitute for an olive branch as the men meet to straighten out the situation. When men get together over a beer (or two, or three) the conversation is not what you'd normally expect at a White House summit. If it's anything like the Beer Summits in which I have been involved -- mostly at pizza parlors -- the men will start off talking about that day's sports news, transition into a recap of the most recent recreation softball game, then proceed to make fun of each other. After a few more beers, one guy in the group will sit silently with a goofy look on his face while another will get really loud and obnoxious, drawing stares from other tables (or in this case, the Secret Service). At one point, I expect Obama to regale his guests with exaggerated tales of his high school or youth sports accomplishments while Crowley pulls out his stun gun to show off how cool it is. Gates might drop in a Harvard reference or two to remind the others how smart he is, then all three of them will check their cell phones to make sure their wives aren't sending them a text about "how late it's getting" and "shouldn't you tuck in the kids?" I hope the Beer Summit works. If we get reports that of Obama, Gates and Crowley buzzing the Washington Monument in the presidential helicopter during a post-summit joyride, we will know it will have been a success. (image courtesy of Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com)