Lynn Baber… for love of God and horses

Yesterday the great beer summit took place at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC. President Obama accepted Officer Crowley’s suggestion of having a beer to try and create order of the chaos that disturbed our peace when he arrested Prof. Gates last week. Did you watch the body language of the summit? There was one summit participant who stood out like a sore thumb by their stiff, unrelaxed manner. All we had as input was the visual, since any audio record of the meeting was not broadcast. The visual alone was instructive.

Let’s look at the way the summit began. Prof. Gates and family were given a tour separate from that given to Officer Crowley and family. Can you say segregation? What kind of signal does that decision send?

Okay, on to the summit itself. The Vice President sat in, and actually looked like he might have been engaged in the proceedings. Of course, three of the four at the table appeared relaxed and willing to “chat.” One did not.

The only report I have heard so far is the conclusion offered by Officer Crowley, “We agreed to disagree.” Pundits have taken this and suggested that it was enough just to have opened a conversation about the race issue. The conversation about the race issue hit the headlines and hit top volume back in the ’60′s, if not before. This summit is just more talk that yielded nothing. Nothing.

The bottom line… before the summit Gates thought he was wronged and Crowley thought he acted profesionally. After the summit nothing has changed. Should the incident occur again tomorrow, Gates would still be pissy and Crowley would still arrest him. Nothing changed.

The President won’t admit he was wrong. He was. Gates won’t admit he was wrong. He was. Crowley has been the class act all the way as far as anyone can see. Yes, there may be one fact more I don’t have… so I will give myself that option to ammend my statement should such a fact arise. President Obama doesn’t seem to feel the need to limit his opinions to bothersome things like details.

You are never correct by calling what is good, bad; calling what is wrong, right. No positive cause is advanced. A conversation alone solves nothing.

The summit was a photo-op for Obama and his buddy. Too bad his buddy didn’t check with a body language coach before attending. Props to Biden and Crowley. They’re the only two who may have sat in their chairs with open minds. Don’t know for sure, but I do know that there was no fruit produced by this charade. At least, no good fruit.

So, is just having a conversation enough? If you have a conversation with your 16-year old son about the dangers of driving drunk, yet he goes right out, attends his own “beer summit” and drives drunk anyway – was the conversation alone enough?

Conversations that don’t result in some change… even the subconcious opening of a previously closed door… are nothing but a waste of oxygen.