Four men sat at a table drinking beer–the most photographed beer in the world. That is pretty much all there is to say, which is just how President Barack Obama wants it.

Across the Rose Garden lawn, on a small landing outside the Oval Office, White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs and Vice Presidential Spokesman Jay Carney stood there grinning, as content as cats in a windowsill watching the dozens of photographers and scribblers scramble for a few seconds to document the visual contrivance. It was, let history note, a public relations coup, a photo-op to beat all photo-ops. The two combatants in a confrontation that roiled the nation, raising unresolved issues of race, class and police power, were shown to sit together with the nation’s political leaders. Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley, Vice President Joe Biden, Obama and four glasses of beer. That was all, save some peanuts. Never mind the complex issues. Never mind the question of resolution. Never mind what they said.