When Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. gather at the White House on Thursday evening to have a beer with the guy who lives there, the suds-sharing will be what White House press secretary Robert Gibbs has dubbed "a teachable moment."

It will at least be a grand photo-op. White House reporters are poised for the event. Cable news shows are prepping for special coverage. ("Is the sergeant going in for a second beer, Ed?" "I don't know, Wolf.") But if this is indeed a teachable moment, the question is, what is being taught?

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President Obama last week deftly defused Gatesgate when he made a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room and noted that he regretted having said that the Cambridge police had acted "stupidly." He reported that he had spoken to Crowley and that in the course of their conversation the suggestion had arisen: a can-we-all-get-along beer at the White House. We reporters at the White House weren't sure at first if Obama was serious about that. But the lid was off the bottle, and all talk of the Crowley-Gates affair turned to the pending foamy reconciliation -- and, of course, the beer of choice for the three participants.

Mission Accomplished. Obama had gotten himself out of a hole of his own making.

But aside from demonstrating how to handle a PR challenge, is there any other edification that can come from this three-way chug-fest? Is this, say, a model for improving police-community relations? Not really. In most cities, the sadly inevitable conflicts between officers and residents will not be eased by subsequent White House-brokered sit-downs. (The president is a busy guy.)

At the White House press briefing on Tuesday, CBS News correspondent Chip Reid pressed Gibbs on what the Crowley-Gates meeting could yield in practical terms. The question may have been a bit unfair, for the White House is not quite billing this encounter as on par with the time President Jimmy Carter brought together Egypt's Anwar Sadat and Israel's Menachem Begin. But Reid wanted to know if the White House was "doing anything to . . . make this a continuing teachable moment." Gibbs said, "I don't have anything specific on that."

Part of the problem is that we don't know what caused the problem between the two men. Did tempers flare and lead to Gates' arrest because of racial factors? That's how the episode was cast in many quarters at first. Such an assumption was not far-fetched. Racial profiling has long been a problem throughout the nation, and law enforcement conflicts often have racial undertones -- or overtones. Given that Obama had worked against racial profiling as a legislator, it would be natural for him to want him to use a high-profile example to increase public awareness and push for remedies.

But so far there's no telling if race fueled the face-off in Cambridge. Might it have been class? In academic communities, there's often tension between town and gown. (See "Good Will Hunting.") And it's not hard to imagine some Cambridge cops bearing resentment toward Harvard faculty members for the, uh, obvious reasons. So is it class friction that has to be ameliorated through the judicious application of barley and hops?

A teachable moment generally requires clarity. For instance, Obama could have truly scored a T.M. at his press conference last week if, while discussing health care reform, he took out a list of all the campaign contributions insurance firms have made to Republican and Democratic legislators working on the health care bill and read it aloud to a national audience: "Wonder why it's tough to get health care reform through Congress? Well, study up on this, people." Now that would have been instructional.

The Crowley-Gates beer, though, is not likely to signal much more than that Obama can clean up a mess quickly. That's actually a good trait for a commander in chief to possess. It was refreshing to see a president acknowledge in a mature manner that he had screwed up. And even though Crowley is reportedly coming to Washington escorted by a police union official and an attorney, the script now calls for all three men to be gracious and to say encouraging words about mutual understanding. The message will be: Make toasts, not war. There's nothing wrong with that. But it's not that much of a lesson. When all's said and drunk, the educational agenda of the get-together seems rather light. Or make that lite.

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Sharp-eyed readers might notice that the title of this blog is the same as that of a novel I wrote a few years ago. I'd like you all to know that I'm no relentless self-promoter. (Note the use of the word "relentless.") My editor suggested this title for the blog and, more important, nixed several others. So "Deep Background" it is. By the way, you can follow my postings and media appearances via Twitter.


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