Though neither Henry Louis Gates Jr. nor James Crowley apologized when they met last night at the White House beer summit, the gathering was an unmitigated success. Afterwards, the two men seemed smitten with one another. “We hit it off right from the beginning. When he’s not arresting you, Sergeant Crowley is a really likable guy,” Gates told the New York Times. Crowley, in an extended post-summit press conference that convinced us he’ll run for Congress someday, called Gates “a very interesting man” who was “very cordial.” He added, “I respect the man a great deal.” And in addition to a mutual respect, a natural comfort was evident between the two men. “There was no tension, no tension,” Crowley said. Well, sure, group dates are always easier. (As Jerry Seinfeld once told George Costanza, “I don’t know why you want to play man-to-man when you could play a zone.”) So when Crowley and Gates meet again soon for lunch and this time, without alcohol, Crowley claims we’ll see if this budding relationship is for real. And if it isn’t, we’ll always have this 90 seconds of dull, silent footage to cherish.
