Given the increasingly gridlocked landscape of American politics it’s kind of astounding that anything ever happens in Washington. But amazingly, President Obama’s administration strung together a big week of victories. Here are six brews I hope he’s sipping while celebrating the outcomes.

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Half Court IPA – Cutters Brewing Co.

Supreme Court rulings cemented three of the major events of the week. The Affordable Care Act was upheld as was the anti-discrimination portion of the Fair Housing Act. Also, bans on same-sex marriage were overturned, effectively recognizing them nationally. Given that the Obama Presidency has been so focused on equality and that the Affordable Care Act is his signature piece of legislation, these are all big wins.

Half Court is appropriate here because these decisions were narrowly split at 5-4 for housing and marriage and 6-3 for health care. However, Half Court was actually brewed in honor of basketball, and you know the President, a big time basketball fan, caught at least a little of the NBA draft.

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Dixie – Dixie Brewing Co.

In spite of these wins, it can’t be forgotten that only the week before, the nation was once again absorbing the news of a horrific mass shooting in Charleston. Clearly racially motivated, the shooting brought racial intolerance and gun control issues to the forefront and exposed the unfortunate truth that we have a long way to go in eliminating racism from the country.

Discussion turned pretty quickly to the fact that the Confederate flag is still prominently displayed in the South, even on the lawns of several state capitols as a “symbol of Southern Heritage”. To that line of reasoning all I can say is STOP IT RIGHT NOW. There is a beer called Dixie. Initially brewed in the South in Louisiana, it has a very rich tradition. It does NOT have a Confederate flag on its label. Why?

Because even as a symbol of “heritage”, the way of life represented was built on slavery, which was in turn justified by white supremacy i.e. blatant racism. I think we can find a new way to celebrate Southern traditions while distancing ourselves from the most disgraceful chapter of our country’s history.

The good news, many states lowered the flags and retailers started pulling merchandise showing the flag from their stores. It’s unbelievably tragic that it took the murder of nine people to realize that’s the right thing to do, but it’s a positive step nonetheless.

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Undercover Investigation SHUT DOWN Ale – Lagunitas Brewing Co.

On a lighter note, the President SHUT DOWN a heckler while he was speaking at an LGBT Pride event and it was awesome. I have no idea what the person is trying to say, but Obama’s response is classic: “Hey. Listen. You’re in my house”, and then had the person removed. Being President definitely has some perks, like a personal detail of highly trained Secret Service agents to bounce unwanted house guests.

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Double Rainbow Ale – Iron Horse Brewery

When I heard the news of the Supreme Court decision on gay marriage, I thought to myself “Aw man, now I have to go get gay-married, and I just got straight-married like a year ago!”

Great news! I found this 30-second guide to gay marriage and, apparently, my life and my marriage are TOTALLY unaffected! Well outside of the fact that maybe my country is a little more free and equal than it was a few days ago, so that’s nice.

Same sex marriage is now recognized in all 50 states. Perhaps foreshadowed by a double rainbow over the White House the week before, the White House and buildings around the country have been doused in rainbow colored lights in celebration so I don’t think anything less than a Double Rainbow will do right now. Well, maybe a Schmitt’s Gay.

#Lovewins is the trend of the day, but the unfortunate flip side of that…

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Haters Gonna Hate – Beau’s All Natural Brewing Co.

Republicans are absolutely beside themselves about many of the week’s events, but the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act might be the biggest thorn in their side. Given that the law is colloquially called Obamacare, there’s no doubt it is a huge part of how the Obama presidency will be remembered, so the decision was critical for the President.

This is the second time the law has survived a challenge at the Supreme Court level. Much to the chagrin of Republicans who would like to gut Obamacare, the decisions to uphold the law may actually have the reverse effect of further entrenching it.

To the surprise of zero Americans, Republicans have vowed to continue trying to find ways to destroy the law. The President doesn’t seem overly concerned based on this photo shoot of him getting news of the decision. So get some insurance, and do a keg stand.

Emotions are running high on both sides of these issues, but one hilarious reaction from folks who disagree with the rulings is that they are moving to Canada, where Haters Gonna Hate is brewed. There’s just one problem…

Canada legalized gay marriage 10 years ago, and it seems they couldn’t be happier we’ve done the same! Throw in the fact that their health care system is even more universal than Obamacare, and has been for like 30 years, I’m not sure it would be a better fit.

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Liberty Ale – Anchor Brewing

Respecting and treating people equally and fairly.

Acting with more love and less hate.

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These are lofty goals, and if I could paraphrase the great 1980’s philosopher, Marty McFly, heavy stuff.

It’s pretty clear that any two people sitting down and agreeing on everything is an unlikely proposition. In fact, I’d argue that it’s nearly impossible and that one of our greatest liberties is the freedom to express our opinions even if others disagree with them. But even if we can’t agree on how exactly we reach the goals above, hopefully one thing we can agree on is that they are important and worthy goals to begin with. If we can use that as a baseline for dialogue without name calling, insults, and anger maybe we can eventually follow the advice of two other 1980’s philosophers, the estimable Bill and Ted.

Be excellent to each other.

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