Obama Won't Apologize to Sgt. Crowley; Would Like To Have a Beer With Him & Gates Instead

President Obama, having stepped into it by claiming that Sgt. Crowley and Cambridge Police Department had "acted stupidly", tried to weasle his way out of it by saying he should have chose his words differently.

Obama spoke during an unscheduled appearance at the daily White House briefing. He stated that he had spoken to Sgt. Crowley over the phone. "Because this has been ratcheting up and I helped contribute to ratcheting it up, I want to make clear that in my choice of words I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sgt. Crowley specifically and I could have calibrated those words differently."

Well, when you refer to an individual or an organization as having behaved stupidly you are by definition maligning them.

President Obama could have simply said to Sgt. Crowley, "I did not have all the facts surrounding the incident before me. Therefore, I would like to apologize to Sgt. James Crowley and the Cambridge Police Department for my remarks on Wednesday night."

Instead, Obama wants to have a beer with Crowley and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. at the White House.

When trying to deescalate a volatile situation between two opposing parties it is never a good idea to introduce alcohol into the mix.

But it is clear what Obama wants. A photo op. I'm sure David Axelrod can see it now. A photo of the three of them smiling together with the headline, "Barack Obama: Healing The Racial Divide."

A racial divide whose chasm he cut deeper.

I suspect Sgt. Crowley will have the good sense to politely decline any such invitation and not be used as a propaganda tool.