[caption id="attachment_10700" align="alignright" width="320" caption="Tonight's Teachable Moment is sponsored by Bud Light, Red Stripe and Blue Moon Beer"] [/caption]

Tonight, Black Professor Henry Gates, White Cop James Crowley and our Bi-Racial President Barack Obama, will be meeting to bury the hatchet (aka the Race Firestorm of 2009) over a pint.  Various bars across Washington DC are offering beer specials (and useless opinions ) based on the likely top three beer choices:

• Obama likes Bud Light


• Professor Gates likes Red Stripe


• Crowley likes Blue Moon

The event is intended to be a "teachable moment" for the three—specifically on the issue of race and policing that has twisted the undies of a nation for the last few weeks.  I am not sure what the teachable moment is exactly. I get the intent, but tonight strikes me more as a "diffusional moment" more than a teachable moment.  I mean are they expecting African Americans and White Cops will start doing "Meet Ups" in bars across the land to share feelings and hug out the racial divide?  Doubtful.  Instead, I think this is intended to put some closure (vis a vis a photo op) on an event that Obama stumbled into.  If some broader policy fixes bubble up as a result, then a teachable moment it was.  Otherwise, it's a chance for Team O to negate claims of being anti-cop which hounded him since the "acted stupidly" comment .

Of course, there is a protest scheduled for the event, by the very literal: "Citizens Against the Beer Summit at the White House."  The protest is spearheaded by Pastor Emmett Burns, an elected Democrat to the Maryland State House (say whaaa??) His beef:  Obama is encouraging underage drinking and youth alcoholism. Uh-huh.  Totally.