What I love about today’s Beer Summit at the White House is the non-apology nature of the get together. I think wives and lovers should take note.
This is a coming together of people to reconcile some “mis-statements” and no one is offering an apology.
And it is reported that they will all be sitting at the picnic table attached to the children’s swing set.
The event is taking place to quell the storm that surrounded the arrest of a Harvard professor and the President’s reaction.
The Fox News report stated: “The men are welcome to talk about that event and the surrounding imbroglio if they want to during a photo opportunity at the summit, White House spokesman Rob Gibbs said.
“‘But the lesson to be learned is the picture of harmony, and the idea that people can sit down and discuss tough issues without being disagreeable,’ he said.
“‘This is not an after-action report,'” Gibbs said, adding that the White House “‘is not here to mediate any apologies.'” Fox News.com
The non-apology make-up: I think like this idea of a non-apology. Let’s see how this makes for a new move in the ways and wars of love and marriage.
Problem: You think he is wrong. He thinks you are wrong.
Solution One: No one admits to wrong-doing. So you invite him out a beer. Or he invites you out for a beer, or maybe brings you flowers instead.
But in reality here are the ways the “make-up move” might play out.
He says, “Let’s make up.” And you say, “Only if you admit you are wrong.”
He says, “Okay, I was wrong, let’s make up.”
You say, “Fine, but no make-up sex for you.”
That won’t work, will it? I think I like just plain “kiss and make up day” which may soon come to mean “never having to say you are sorry.”
The Obama make-up move: Is it possible we have a new marital argument solution. “Come on honey, no need to be angry. Let’s try the “Obama Make-up Move.”
But here is my thinking on a solution. Whether you are right or wrong, be the first the apologize for the sake of your own well-being. And sitting down to a dinner by candle light is a perfect mood-setter. “Come to the table,” was my grandmother’s favorite response to any family argument. And it would always be set with her wonderful pastries.
Examiner links: one to a column of mine, and the other to Kristen Houghton, Relationships
And on the Gates controversy:
- The Smoking Gun.com
- Obama shoots from the lip, misses in Gates flap
- Colin Powell on arrest of Prof. Henry Louis Gates: You don’t argue … New York Daily News
Photos of the swing set at www.tressugar.com/2890246
You may leave comments at the Examiner. Beer summit ‘kiss and make up’ day: wives and lovers take note!
Copyright 2009 Rita Watson