You Have Chosen...Poorly

I am prepping a post on the whole birther phenomenon. I am not going to debunk that myth; many many many others have already done so. Mine instead will be a discussion about why this is happening, and what happens to a political party when the only people left in it are nucking futz.

But my dreams for such a heady post were shattered this morning...by this.

Today is the day that President Obama hosts Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates and his arresting officer, Sergeant James "Mr. Crowley" Crowley. The President quipped that he would invite the two to the White House and have a beer to cool things off. What beers will they serve?

Professor Gates said he liked Red Stripe...

[sigh] OK. Red Stripe. So the POTUS will supply some Red Stripe for Professor Gates. Sgt. Crowley?

Sergeant Crowley mentioned to the president that he liked Blue Moon

Oh dear. OK. So Sgt. Crowley likes Blue Moon. It's starting to look more like a collegiate tailgate than a relaxed conversation in the Prez's back yard. How about the Prez? Will Obama pick a Dogfish Head? Stone? Could he know about the fine beers we have here in Michigan and go with a New Holland or Founders or Shorts? Will he go with the highly-visible Sierra Nevada?

"The president will drink Bud Light," [White House Press Secretary] Mr. Gibbs added.

NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! SAY IT AIN'T SO!!! I had such, oh, what's the word...HOPE...that Obama would choose a beer that supports American workers, American brewers and American beer! Is this guy even American?

Well, I'm not the only one disappointed in POTUS's choice of beers.

"We would hope they would pick a family-owned, American beer to lubricate the conversation," said Bill Manley, a spokesman for the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., a California-based brewer that happens to be family-owned.

Jim Koch, founder of Boston Beer Co., which brews Samuel Adams, decried "the foreign domination of something so basic and important to our culture as beer."

Genesee Brewery, Rochester, N.Y., released a statement congratulating the president for having beer at the meeting but adding: "We just hope the next time the President has a beer, he chooses an American beer, made by American workers, and an American-owned brewery like Genesee."

...

For the past several days, David von Storch, co-founder of Capitol City Brewing Company -- which owns a brewpub just a few blocks from the White House -- has been lobbying the administration to serve his company's "Equality Ale."

"What better beer to have them drink than the only beer brewed in the District of Columbia, Capitol City Brewing Company Equality Ale!" Mr. von Storch wrote in an email he sent Tuesday to several White House staffers.

...

Dan Kenary, president of Boston-based Harpoon Brewery, said he wanted to make a run at getting some of his beer into the meeting but couldn't find any intermediaries with close White House contacts. "I think just showing up at the gate with a case of Harpoon would make them look at us funny," he said.

Fellow keggers, I need you to write President Obama and express your disappointment in the fact that he has chosen not only 3 foreign-owned beers, but 3 mass-produced beers as well. So much for family-owned small American businesses. So much for American craft beer. Urge the President to support American craft beer. Local communities and small businesses are counting on his leadership to show America that craft beer isn't just a fad, it's a Presidential priority!

The end of the article cracked me up:

Maureen Ogle, author of "Ambitious Brew, The Story of American Beer," said that by holding the summit, the President risks criticism from groups working to persuade the public to drink less alcohol.

For instance, there is the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, which led the fight for Prohibition in the early 20th century. Rita K. Wert, the group's national president, said her organization is disappointed that the president is serving beer at all. "There are so many other beverages he could have chosen that would have served just as well," she said, mentioning lemonade or iced tea.

Huh? Lemonwhat? Was somebody talking?

**UPDATE**

People have asked. Red Stripe is a London-based Diageo beer. Blue Moon is brewed by Coors, owned by London-based SAB Miller. Bud Lite is Belgium/Brazil-based InBev. Sure, it's still a union beer brewed in America, but it's like the Honda of beers. It's brewed here, but it ain't a local business no more.