It is the sort of workplace meeting most of us can only daydream about: President Barack Obama is slated to sit down in his office today with a couple of guys for a round of cold beer and a “teachable moment.”
His guests: Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Sgt. James Crowley, the Cambridge, Mass., policeman who arrested Gates after a verbal throwdown at the scholar’s home.
The teaching moment: the loaded subject of race relations and black-and-white perceptions in America.
But there’s another lesson here, bubbling beneath the surface like carbonation in a frosty mug: When it comes to savvy political gestures, nothing says “We’re just plain folks” like tossing back a beer.
Obama might be convening a private meeting, but the choice of beverage — earthy, unfancy and the embodiment of regular guy-ness — was for the public’s consumption.
“There’s nothing more American than beer,” said Tim Harris, veteran bar manager at Jax Fish House in LoDo. “Wine is a little too erudite. Martinis are too pompous. Beer is a great choice.”
Beer is a civil beverage, short on pretense and long on camaraderie. Reasonable people can get a lot done when they meet over a cold one. Understandings can be reached, raw edges smoothed, teachable moments taught.
And as Coloradans know, beer can be parlayed into political power.
Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, who first made his name as co-founder of Wyn koop Brewing Co., suggests that beer “implies fellowship.”
“Most of us don’t drink beer by ourselves,” he said. “Beer is about a relaxed, uncharged atmosphere. In moderation, it’s the perfect vehicle for conversation because it reduces the barriers between strangers.”
“Beer is of the people.”
The choice was astute, said Denver City Councilman Charlie Brown. Obama, an Ivy League law-school graduate, is trying to strut some blue-collar bona fides — qualities called into question (most notably at a wine-and-cheese event) on the 2008 campaign trail.
“I think they might have something stronger than light beer and might have more than one,” Brown said. “This isn’t exactly a chardonnay-and-cheese meeting. You don’t want an elitist image.”
Marty Jones of Oskar Blues Brewery in Lyons said he was thrilled that the trio would talk over a beer. “Our country was founded by people who met and talked and planned over beer,” he said.
So what beer will be served at the White House?
Obama reportedly will drink Bud Light, the calorie-counting cousin to the King of Beers.
Gates is on record as enjoying Beck’s, a German Pilsener, and Red Stripe from Jamaica. Crowley is known to favor Blue Moon, a wheat beer brewed by a Coors subsidiary. It’s often served with an orange slice — not very proletariat, perhaps, but that’s why there are different buttons on the jukebox.
In an odd twist of the tap, Gates and Crowley could be related. Gates is half Irish and says his ancestry includes the legendary warrior Niall of the Nine Hostages — whom Crowley also counts in his family tree.
“Maybe they should pour a Black and Tan,” said Jones, referring to the Irish pub staple that combines Guinness stout and Harp lager. “They’re two beers from the opposite end of the spectrum, but mixed together they make a beautiful thing.
“That’s how it ought to be with people,” Jones said
William Porter: 303-954-1877 or wporter@denverpost.com
