On July 30, President Obama bought a round of beer for Harvard University Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Sgt. James Crowley of the Cambridge, Massachusetts police, in an attempt to heal feelings in the aftermath of the arrest and alleged racial profiling of Mr. Gates earlier this month. VP Joe Biden also attended the informal gathering around a picnic table in the Rose Garden.

"We hit it off right from the beginning. When he’s not arresting you, Sergeant Crowley is a really likable guy,” Gates told the New York Times. Crowley, in an extended post-summit press conference, called Gates "a very interesting man" who was "very cordial." He added, "I respect the man a great deal." In addition to a mutual respect, a natural comfort was evident between the two men. "There was no tension, no tension," Crowley said.

Must have something to do with their shared Irish bloodline. But the skit in the New Yorker seems not far off the mark.