You can make fun of me for being a goody two shoes, but I've never finished a beer in my entire life. I am, however, willing to drink a beer with President Obama if that will open the door to an honest conversation on race relations in America.
President Obama's announcement that he will get together today with Dr. Henry Louis Gates and Sgt. James Crowley for a beer sounds, honestly, like a bit of political posturing from a man who is trying to reverse the stain of tremendous embarrassment. But like a political pro, the president is getting chummy with police departments across the nation, and this will help him recover from his own "George Bush moment," in which he attacked the Cambridge Police Department while admittedly not knowing all the facts.
Perhaps the first beer in the White House will turn into a second and a third. People let it all hang out when they get drunk, so maybe open bottles of beer will encourage the three parties involved to have an honest dialogue on race. In fact, why don't the rest of us drink a beer too? The American racial conversation should not only include three people behind closed doors, it should include all of us.
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