The Cause Of, And Solution To, All Of Life's Problem's

Hi Everyone,

We all know that Barack Obama is big on unity. He has taken on a multitude of approaches. Know what the most recent one is? Bipartisanship? Meeting without preconditions? No. His approach utilized an age-old weapon in every man's arsenal. Homer Simpson called it "The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problem." I am talking, of course, of beer.

Remember how the last President was "the guy who you could have a beer with?" This was no doubt part of his appeal. Well, his successor has taken it to a whole new level. While the last President only used this as a hypothetical, this President has literally taken that approach to solving the latest controversy.

You may have heard about the Gates incident ("Gates-gate" is what it's being called now), where Henry Louis Gates returned to his home, to discover he had to jimmy his way into the door. A neighbor called the police, and after Gates produced proof of his residence there and his tenure at Harvard, backup was present, Gates got agitated, so they took him to the police department.

How did Barack Obama get involved in this? Well, as I reported last Thursday, the last question in his primetime press conference was about his take on the incident, since he had apparently known Gates well. Obama said that the Cambridge police officer in question, Sergeant Jim Crowley, had "acted stupidly" in the incident. The Cambridge police department and the union of police officers took offense at this, demanding an apology on behalf of all the nation's police officers.

So on Friday, Obama made a surprise appearance at the White House Press Briefing, with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, to clear up the mess. He said in effect that he had talked to the officer in question, and that he had a lot of respect for Sergeant Crowley and the Cambridge Police Department. He said that he had made a poor choice of words, and that he thought this situation was a matter of two guys caught in a bad situation who acted wrongly. Then he mentioned that he invited Sergeant Crowley and Professor Gates to the White House for a beer some time this week.

It seems like that's what this was, a misunderstanding, a case of two guys trying to live their lives getting bent out of shape and handling a situation poorly. Gates had just returned from a two-week trip to China to discover that he couldn't get back into his home. Imagine getting back from a long trip, you're tired, and then you can't get back into your home. Wouldn't you be annoyed?

Crowley was responding to a 911 call. If you're a cop (and for anyone reading who works in the law enforcement business, you probably know what I mean) and you're responding to a 911 call, you've gotta be ready for anything. The guy could draw a shotgun or charge the officers. Cops are trained to be ready for any situation when they respond to a 911 call.

So anyway, on to this beer. There are times when a good cold beer can really be what you need. There are plenty of things you could use to ease tensions and resolve a situation. However, there are times, like when you come home from a long week of hard work (of which the President has ahd plenty and will have many more), when you just need a nice cold brewski. now that I'm done with this post, I think I'll grab one. Cheers!

This is the Daily Reeder, Over&out.