July 29 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama will have Bud Light tomorrow when he hosts an old friend and the police officer who arrested him.

Obama, 47, has picked the top-selling beer in the U.S. for his get-together at the White House with Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Cambridge, Massachusetts, police Sergeant James Crowley, White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs said today. Crowley will probably drink Blue Moon and Gates is likely to opt for Red Stripe, Gibbs said, citing news reports about their preferences.

Political strategists and marketing experts called the pick an easy, non-controversial choice for a meeting designed to defuse the tension sparked by the July 16 arrest of Gates by Crowley.

“He’s trying to send a message that he’s an average American and these are two other average Americans,” said Matt Mackowiak, a Republican strategist. “If you complicate that by making an exotic choice, or an import, or too expensive, you can be too cute by half.”

‘Acted Stupidly’

Obama invited Crowley and Gates to the White House after the president drew criticism in a July 22 news conference for saying the Cambridge police “acted stupidly” in arresting Gates at his home on a disorderly conduct charge, which was later dropped. Obama spoke hours after police union officials in Cambridge called on him to apologize.

Two days later, Obama called Crowley and Gates, an old friend, to invite them to the White House for a beer.

“I think this will be a very casual affair,” Gibbs said yesterday. “There’s no formal agenda other than cold beer.”

Anheuser-Busch Cos. President Dave Peacock said today in an e-mail that the St. Louis brewer “would be proud if Budweiser, Bud Light or any of our beers are chosen for the White House meeting.”

Julian Green, a spokesman for competing beer-maker MillerCoors LLC of Denver, said his company would have preferred the president select Miller Lite.

“But regardless of the pick, it’s good news for our industry that beer will be shared for this light-hearted moment,” Green said today in an e-mail.

Top-Selling Brand

Bud Light is the top-selling brand in the U.S. with almost 22 percent of grocery, drug and convenience store case sales as of July 12, according to data from Information Resources Inc., a Chicago-based market research company.

“Leading brands tend to be a very safe choice for a politician because, in a sense, they’re saying to the public, ‘You picked it, not me. I’m just reflecting your choice,’” said Al Ries, who founded an Atlanta-based marketing company, Ries & Ries, with his daughter.

Case sales of Bud Light fell 5.5 percent in the 13 weeks ended July 12 as No. 3 Coors Light gained 1.7 percent and No. 4 Miller Lite dropped 7.6 percent, according to IRI. Dollar sales for Bud Light and Miller Lite also dropped.

Ries, who ran a New York advertising agency for 27 years before starting a marketing consulting company in 1989, said media coverage of Obama’s beer choice could give Bud Light an edge against Miller Lite and Coors Light. It isn’t likely to turn around sliding beer sales in the faltering economy, he said.

Foreign Owner

The only catch with Obama’s choice could be the owners of the Bud Light brand: Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, the Leuven, Belgium-based parent company of the famous St. Louis brewery.

“The problem is that Budweiser and Bud Light, the best selling beers in America, are not owned by an American company any more,” Ries said.

Obama should have a beer from an American-owned brewery, U.S. Representative Richard Neal of Massachusetts wrote in a letter to the president today. Neal, a Democrat, suggested Boston Beer Co.’s Sam Adams or another local brew.

“I stand ready if you need any assistance obtaining any of these high-quality Massachusetts-owned and -brewed beers,” Neal wrote.

To contact the reporter on this story: Hans Nichols in Washington at hnichols2@bloomberg.net; Nicholas Johnston in Washington at njohnston3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 29, 2009 18:23 EDT