Yesterday evening, the President and Vice President of the United States sat at a round patio table with a black Harvard University professor and the white police officer from Cambridge, Massachusetts who arrested him two weeks ago for disorderly conduct in his own home. Large mugs of beer, the beverage of choice, sat on the table or were being lifted to moisten dry throats, the kind that come from nervousness. My guess is this was the most uncomfortable any of these men have ever felt while drinking a beer. In the end, very little was accomplished except for the two antagonists agreeing to continue the dialogue. No apologies were issued, nor were they expected.If this sounds like an improbable Hollywood drama sketch, it isn't nearly as far-fetched as the notion that this "beer summit" as it's been called will be a "teachable moment," as President Obama has opined, in the nation's long struggle with race. It may smooth over the problems these two men have with each...(Read Full Post)