The beer summit

It's a date.

The White House said today that the police sergeant, the professor, and the president will toss back a beer around 6 p.m. Thursday.

President Obama invited Cambridge police Sergeant James Crowley and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. to share a cold one with him in hopes that it would help settle the dispute that has become a roiling national debate about race and police procedure.

Obama, himself, added fuel to the fire by saying that Cambridge police "acted stupidly" in arresting Gates in his own home. The president called both men on Friday to lower the temperature of the controversy, and that's when the idea for the beer popped up.

The disorderly conduct charge against Gates was dropped, but it's still unclear exactly what happened. And the two principals are still talking about suing each other.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters today that the get-together is "about having a beer and de-escalation."

"The president wants to continue to take down the temperature a bit," said Gibbs, adding that weather permitting, the three men will meet at a picnic table outside the Oval Office.