Your Turn: The "Security Room" Photo — White House/Obama In Real Time

I don’t crop. It’s a standard rule and I follow it. Today, though, I’m making an exception because I think the image of Obama is so important, and illuminating. The full image of the President’s team following the attack on bin Laden’s compound is below it. You can click to enlarge it, or go over to Flickr and view it in incremental sizes.

As of late yesterday, Pete Souza’s image has become “the photo,” akin to being in the room during during what will likely be one of the crucial moments of Obama’s Administration, not to mention, any other. The NYT has more backstory. I’m interested in your thoughts on the scene: the mindset, the team, the individual players, the configuration and Pete’s angle.  I’ll join you in the discussion thread.

(caption: President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along with members of the national security team, receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House, May 1, 2011. Seated, from left, are: Brigadier General Marshall B. “Brad” Webb, Assistant Commanding General, Joint Special Operations Command; Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough; Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton; and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. Standing, from left, are: Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; National Security Advisor Tom Donilon; Chief of Staff Bill Daley; Tony Binken, National Security Advisor to the Vice President; Audrey Tomason Director for Counterterrorism; John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism; and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. Please note: a classified document seen in this photograph has been obscured.)