Surreal Display at White House

Surreal is the only adjective that I can think of upon seeing the news videos of yesterday's White House meeting.

From The Politico:

Analysts of race relations said the benefits of the White House encounter were murky, at best.

Mary Frances Berry, a former chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, said the lack of any substantive message from the meeting was a missed opportunity. “The President has been forced to apologize and drink beer with the combatants in an almost comical photo-op,” Berry said. Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25637.html#ixzz0MqgHjyPL

I believe the following to be true:

1. This is as much (or more) about the advantages of class status as opposed to race. There is no evidence of racial profiling in this case as the police just showed up as a result of a call. Professor Gates was not beaten, shot or abused. The charges were dropped and the professor was released at the station. President Obama, without all the facts, appeared to side with Professor Gates during a press conference that was supposed to be a platform for healthcare proposals. Professor Gates and later President Obama appear by their comments to be snobbish cronies who just happen to belong to a minority group in this drama.
2. The 'stupid' officer comes off as pretty even-keeled. Since this happened in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Sgt Crowley appears to be the least objectionable candidate for racism ever observed on national TV, the professionalism on the part of the officer as well as his overall department only improves my perception of them. With this bright of a spotlight, I am pretty sure anything negative would have showed up by now.
3. Largely, this is a referendum on presidential judgement. This became a big deal because of a petty comment made during an unguarded moment by a president. Unfortunately, this moment occurred at a prime-time, televised news conference and it was observed by all.

Again, as the official scribe for the great unwashed, it is very important for us to note that we in the great unwashed were not the only ones who noticed this.