Obamabomb V

It's beer thirty at the White House! President Obama invited the participants in the now famous Cambridge melee to Washington. Police Sargent James Crowley and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. went to the nation's capitol for a so-called 'beer summit' to discuss the altercation between the two a few weeks back. The White House is calling this an ongoing 'teachable moment'

Hopefully the primary student was the President himself. Perhaps due to sliding poll numbers, he saw fit to raise the spectre of racism rather than act presidential and allow local authorities to pursue a local matter unless and until it might become more significant. Sure, he's backed off and may be well on his way towards soothing the issues and egos involved. But it is fair to ask whether this is the right approach.

Why not offer a simple apology and let matters stand? White House summits every time a president commits a political faux pas, which we may be inviting with this sort of reaction, seem impractical, to say the least, but it's the type of liberal grandstanding which puts form ahead of substance. It says nothing while appearing to say everything; a moral dead end. Quite frankly, admitting that you acted stupidly followed by apologizing to the offended would mean more. But at this point, hey, let's not act rashly, right?

So have your meeting. And media, gush over it as you surely will. Personally, I think that the best result of the beerfest would have been for Crowley to ask for a Guinness Stout while the President and Professor Gates sip on a Rolling Rock Extra Pale Ale each. That's about the deepest symbolism you can have in such matters.