Obama holds beer summit at the White House

In an effort to douse down a racial firestorm, United States President Barack Obama had a glass of beer with professor Henry Gates and the police sergeant, who had arrested the Harvard professor for 'disorderly conduct'.

Sitting along a picnic table next to the White House's new swing set, the three were on Thursday seen drinking beer from clear glass mugs along and munching peanuts and pretzels served in small silver bowls.

As a later addition, Obama also invited the Vice President Joe Biden, to what the US media has characterised as the beer summit. The momentous occasion was part of Obama's effort to calm down the racial firestorm which erupted following the arrest of Gates by Henry Crowly, to which the US President added fuel to the fire by stating that the police acted 'stupidly'.

The controversy that included the offended white police officer and the leading black scholar, who also happened to be an old friend of the President, quickly spiralled into a national issue sparking a fierce debate on racial profiling by law enforcement.

Obama, however, later backed off from his remarks, and making a surprise appearance at the daily White House Press conference acknowledged that he made a wrong choice of words.

Image: US President Obama sits down for beer with Harvard scholar Gates, police Sergeant Crowley and Vice President Biden in Rose Garden

Photograph: JimYoung / Reuters

Text: PTI