HispanicBusiness

If President Obama's remark that a white police officer acted "stupidly" when arresting a black Harvard professor was the gasoline on the fire of an already hot controversy, perhaps a beer will be the water that cools it down.

During a press briefing, President Obama on Friday mentioned the possibility of having the two men over at the White House for a beer.

The firestorm ignited on July 16, when Cambridge Police Officer James Crowley, responding to a neighbor's 911 call regarding two black males who appeared to be breaking into a house, arrested Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., who was returning from a trip and locked out of his own home. (Click here to read Crowley's police report.)

Obama's made the remark on Tuesday, during a press conference on health care, prompting police unions to demand an apology.

Today, for instance, union members from the Cambridge Police Department hosted a press conference in which they criticized not only Obama -- who called Gates a friend -- but also local and regional public officials in Massachusetts.

"As far as the president's comments, the governor's comments, and comments that I did not hear that our mayor made, I think when the time is right they should make an apology to us," said Steve Killian, president of the city's police patrol officers association, according to Boston.com. "Cambridge police are not stupid. I am proud to represent the officer of the Cambridge Police Department."

On Friday, during a media briefing, Obama said he has spoken with the police sergeant over the phone, and that towards the end of the call, there was a discussion about the three men having a beer at the White House, according to the New York Times.

Obama also acknowledged that he "could have calibrated" his words more carefully, but added that he told Crowley that he disagreed with Crowley's statement that Obama should not have weighed in.