683: Beer Summit
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A quick warning, there are curse words that are unbeeped in today's episode of the show. If you prefer a beeped version, you can find that at our website, thisamericanlife.org. Remember that old-fashioned idea? The two people who disagree about politics could sit down, talk, each would see the other's point of view. LBJ used to quote scripture as he headed into political negotiations, come let us reason together. Now, of course, we all realize that's impossible, I'm ever stating, for a fact, but, you know, what I mean, right? There was this famous moment a few years ago when all of this seemed way more possible, a moment which feels so long ago now, it came about because of this thing that happened at the presidential press conference. Before I take your questions, I want to talk for a few minutes about the progress we're making on health insurance reform. That of course is Barack Obama, years 2009. One of my co-workers here at the radio show, Robin Simeon, has been revisiting this piece of very recent history because it is so recent but feels like it's almost quaint, the fact that people thought that sitting down and talking together might work. Hey, Robin. Hey, Ira. Okay, so I talked to Dan Pfeiffer. He's the deputy communications guy in the Obama White House at the time. He was there in the room for that press conference. So beforehand, they'd gone over with the president the 10 specific reporters they wanted him to call on. And he got to the end of that list and instead of going off stage and you can tell the president was feeling very good about his performance because usually when he thinks he's doing well that he will take more questions and nothing ever good ever comes as the one more question. All right. I tried to make that short so that Lynne Sweet would get her last question. Thank you, Mr. President. And I remember this question like he was yesterday. Recently, Professor Henry Lewis Gates Jr. was arrested at his home in Cambridge. What does that incident say to you and what does it say about race relations in America? Well, I should say at the outset that Skip Gates is a friend. So I may be a little biased here. I don't know all the facts. Okay, so just to remind everybody. Henry Lewis Gates Jr., a famous Harvard professor, African American scholar. He comes home one night, he's trying to get into his own house, and he has a problem getting in like the keys don't work or something. And someone sees him and calls the police. The cops show up and the responding officer, Sergeant James Crowley, he learns that it is, in fact, Gates own house, but then they get into an argument and it escalates and they both have words and then Gates gets arrested. Right. So, okay. So this comes up at the press conference. Yeah.
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