Being President while Black

From the Huffington Post:

Barack Obama sure knows how to throw a bad party. Last night's Rose Garden get-together was the most awkward beer bash in history. It was as if Obama invited a couple over and didn't know they were exes. Good times.

Seriously, this was our teachable moment? What exactly were we taught -- that racism can be fixed with a cringe-inducing photo op?

I'm not saying that the arrest of Henry Louis Gates, in his own home and after providing ID, was racist. I wasn't there so I don't know. Only Officer Crowley knows. But as Obama correctly said in his press conference last week, black men are too often pulled over by cops because of race. (Actually, everything he said about the Gates case in that press conference was correct, including his use of the word "stupidly." Too bad he was cowed into retracting it.)

The phenomenon called "Driving While Black" is nothing new. But now the so-called Birthers have come up with a novel variation on it: President While Black. They are essentially pulling Obama over and asking him to show his license and registration.

Here's my teachable moment: let's not be afraid to use words like "stupid" and "racist" when they apply; let's stop using the word "post-racial" altogether; and please, just when the conversation is starting to get interesting, let's not settle it over a few beers