"Skip" Gates and Officer Crowley have been summoned to the White House. Is a productive discussion possible – even over a beer – when sitting under the media spotlight and before the most powerful world leader?

Yes. It’s possible. But it depends in large part on both Gates and Crowley being willing to hear as well as be heard.

1. Good Guys. Good Intentions. Bad Impact. I don’t think either Crowley or Gates intended to end their evenings in the middle of a media firestorm. Gates wanted to get home from a trip and relax; Crowley was on a quiet shift in Cambridge. Setting race aside, we’ve all had the experience of walking into a conversation that we don’t anticipate will be controversial – with a spouse, an airline clerk, our teenager – and walking away from a fight that escalated beyond anything we imagined....(continue reading)

The nation is still buzzing over the arrest of eminent African American scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. at his home in Cambridge, Mass., two weeks ago. Today the president will sit down with Professor Gates and the arresting officer Sergeant James Crowley for a conciliatory beer. Essence Senior Editor Patrik Henry Bass has his own opinion on who "acted stupidly." He joins The Takeaway with his thoughts on race, beer, and the president.

But is sitting down for a beer the best way to resolve conflict? Sheila Heen, author of Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most joins, with her take on conflict resolution, negotiations, and whether beer can fix anything. Or everything.

For more on the Henry Louis Gates, Jr., listen to The Takeaway's stories, America, Still Not 'Post-Racial', Call the Police: Racial Profiling and the Law, and read Takeaway Contributor David Wall Rice's essay, Professor Gates Arrested? No Surprise.

Click through for a transcript of this conversation.

Here are the President's initial comments on the Gates arrest: