Can’t we all just get along?

By Jennifer J. Foster

Published: July 27, 2009

Just when you thought the saga surrounding the Harvard professor arrested in Cambridge, Mass., couldn’t get any more disconcerting ...

From FoxNews.com:

President Obama’s highly anticipated sit-down with Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. over some brews is expected to take place early this week, administration officials said Sunday.

INCREDULITY ALERT: No, that isn’t a figure of speech ... yes, the president of the United States really did invite a local cop and the man he arrested over to the White House for a beer ... or some beers, depending on the story you read. END INCREDULITY ALERT

Obama extended the invitation Friday in phone calls to the two men as he tried to calm a furor over racial profiling and his comments this week that the police “acted stupidly” in arresting Gates. He invited both to share a beer.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told FOX News on Sunday that he isn’t sure whether the meeting has been scheduled but added that the White House is hopeful it will occur “in the next several days.“

“And it’s our hope that, as the president said, this can be part of a teachable moment, that we can create a better communication and a dialogue between communities and police and help everyone do their job a little bit better,“ he said. “And it’s our hope that soon Professor Gates and Sgt. Crowley can sit at the White House and talk about some of these issues and have a beer with the president.“

... Obama will try to broker the peace between Crowley, whose supporters say he was unfairly maligned by the president’s comments for doing his job, and Gates, whose backers say he was a victim of racial profiling.

Good. Grief.

And if this isn’t enough, we even have the helpful knowledge that Dr. Gates is a fan of Red Stripe and Beck’s beers.

I’m just wondering ... if the president is expecting this to be a “teachable moment.“ who’s going to be getting the lesson—the person charged with having “acted stupidly,“ or the person who made the charge itself?

It is incredible to me, absolutely astounding, that the president of the United States is going to be spending time this week personally involved in tamping down fury over a local issue. And in the White House, to boot.

Good thing he doesn’t have anything pressing on his plate.

If only the president had kept his response short and vanilla on Wednesday night. If only ... if only he hadn’t “acted stupidly.“ He could be spending time working on ... oh, I don’t know ... health care reform.