What does your beer say about you?

With all the media circus over yesterday's "make up" beer session between Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Sergeant James Crowley, it's obviously a question on everyone's minds.

Apparently, among things, the beer you drink is a signifier for whether you are a self-syled elite or working class Joe, a patriot or a traitor to the Constitution.

According to New York Times columnist Eric Asimov, Obama chose Bud Light because, "like every Ivy League Democrat must battle the public impression that he’s an effete snob, [he] made the sensible political decision to go for an American everyman’s beer." But, Asimov (an effete snob himself, if there ever was one) goes on to explain that he should have picked a plain ole' Bud, lest he wanted to be perceived as "fussy" about his weight.

Well, folks, clearly this is one of those issues that Obama can't possibly win on. If he chooses a an All-American beer, like Bud or Bud Light, people accuse him of political theater and trying to appear to be blue collar. If he chooses, heaven forbid, a craft beer or a Belgian import, he risks Fox News calling him an East Coast liberal elite, or worse, some Benedict Arnold.

The irony in all of this, of course, is that Bud is now owned by InBev, the European beer conglomerate...

Which brings us to other interesting revelations that have come about from this weird episode in our nation's history:

1. U.S. Congressmen-especially ones you've never heard of--will seize upon any media opportunity to promote their local interests.

U.S. Representative Richard Neal of Massachusetts actually wrote a formal letter to President Obama today, chiding him for not drinking an American-owned beer, and offering the friendly suggestion that, next time, he choose a Sam Adams (coincidentally brewed in his district of Boston).

2. Craft beer aficionados are equally opportunistic and, dare I say it, shameless. One NPR commentator is reporting that many a hipster bartender shed a tear over Obama's "wasted opportunity" to champion the David vs. Goliath cause of micro-brews by choosing a small batch brewery's product.

3. Nerds will always find a way to make a nerdy graphic--in this case, a venn diagram--explaining the news, even if the news is about the role beer plays in political discourse.