It's been awhile since I blogged, as I've been quite busy working.  But fear not, your Beer Commissioner is here.  Many of you may not know it, but your Beer Commissioner fancies himself a bit of a presidential historian.  Dan McCollough I am not, but his books are wonderful, and I highly recommend you read them. 

As many of you know, President Obama has been in the news alot lately.  Something about the healthcare system, or what not, but President Obama also made some beer news.  I certainly understand if you missed it, but it's true.  President Obama made a bet with the Prime Minister of Canada on the USA-Canada Gold Medal Hockey match.  Probably one of the best hockey games ever played, or so everyone says, but I was at a little kid birthday party (without beer) and missed the whole thing.

Last week, the President paid off the bet.  I'm not making this up.  President Obama sent the Prime Minister of Canada 2 cases of Yuengling.  Two cases of the Beer Commissioner's favorite beer.   Being that I'm a minor league presidential historian, and being as I AM THE Beer Commissioner, I got to thinking, maybe President Obama is the most 'pro-beer' President of all-time?  Hell, the Norweigians gave him the Peace Prize after he had been in office for a month, I think after 14 months, I can declare him the most pro-beer president ever.  After all, I'm the Beer Commissioner, and if I can't declare President Obama the most pro-beer president ever, who the hell can?

Let's look at the record.  I think its best, we eliminate presidents first.  Rutherford B. Hayes would be eliminated immediately.  His wife was called lemonade Lucy because they were famous teatotallers.  Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover are also eliminated.  Any president worth his salt would never preside over an era of prohibition where booze couldn't be sold at all.  Thomas Jefferson is eliminated, because everyone knows he was a wine drinker.  George W. Bush is also eliminated.  Poor guy gave up drinking. Richard Nixon was a world renowned scotch drinker, and Kennedy is out, because his family were all scotch people.  Millard Filmore is also elminated, because, frankly, nobody named Millard can't be the most pro-beer anythingt.  President Clinton is out, because we all know he preferred cigars.  Jimmy Carter is a possibility, because he was afterall, a peanut farmer, and beer goes GREAT with peanuts, but he was also a Southern Baptists, and any good baptist knows there is a fine line between Saturday night and Sunday morning (all credits for that line go to Jimmy Buffett).  William Henry Harrison is eliminated.  He was only president for a month.  That can get you the Nobel Prize, but not the coveted most pro-beer president ever award. 

So, we are left with 30 presidents that are eligible for the prestigious award.  And there are several good candidates.  George Washington brewed his own beer, but little else is known for his beer advocacy.  Lyndon Johnson kept beer on tap in the oval office, which is good, but he taxed the hell out of it too.  Bad....He's gone.  Gerald Ford had Coors shipped to the White House from Colorado.  That's pretty impressive, but little else is known about his beer loving.  No other president really has a pro-beer track record that I know of, which brings us to President Obama.

Who could forget the beer summit?  I blogged about it.  I was given special access to the President, Vice-President the cop and the professor's sit down meeting, over beers to discuss race relations.  President Obama recently had a physical, and his doctor told him, to cut back on the beer.  Not cut back on the wine, the steak, the cigarettes, but the beer.  Look at the health care bill.  Nobody knows how the hell this thing is going to be paid for, but there sure are alot of new taxes to help.  Higher taxes on income, dividends, capital gains, taxes on tanning salon visits, sugar, tobacco, gas.  There are new taxes on just about anything you can conceive of, but one thing.  Beer.  No new beer taxes.  Are you kidding me? 

And then, he bets the prime minister of Canada.  There are lots of great things in Canada the President could have asked for.  He could have asked for the other half of Niagra Falls.  He could have asked for Michael J. Fox, or Caroline Rhea (and I personally think Caroline Rhea is a mega hottie of the highest order).  He could have asked for polar bears to put in algore's movie.  He could have asked to have the captain of the Canadian women's curling team to sit in on cabinet meetings.  But no, what did he ask for? He asked for two cases of Canadian beer.  I'm not kidding.  It was a beer versus beer throwdown.  Even if you lose, you win?  Are you kidding me?  This man is dedicated to his suds, and for that, I salute you Mr. President.

Folks I'm not saying anything about the man's politics.  But, he has his beer priorities in line, and I'm all for it.  The evidence is clear, and President Obama, is quite simply, the most pro-beer president, ever.