Remember When Obama Was the Guy Who Best Knew How to Get There?

I was taken by the appearance of the Obama Auto Task Force (standing behind the President as he discusses the Chrysler bankruptcy), the members looking clearly outside their comfort zone. (I appreciate the Truman touch, by the way, although the painting seems to only heighten the look of anxiety amongst the team.)

Not knowing Chrysler’s fate until the night before, the team members seemed to appear before the press without their game faces on. (Geithner, in particular, casts a look to Obama like he hopes he knows what he is doing.) What the photo reveals, then, perhaps more clearly than any other so far, is the strength of Obama’s leadership — especially, in-house — in the face of multiple tremendous challenges.

— from: Rising And Falling With Detroit (BagNewsNotes – April 30, 2009)

President Barack Obama, with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, participates in a meeting on the Affordable Care Act in the Roosevelt Room of the White House.

— from White House photo caption (July 23, 2013)

Once again, Barack Obama risks looking like a bystander to his own presidency.

— from: President Obama’s passive voice (Politico – October 22, 2013)

(photo 1: Greg Gibson/Associated Press. caption U.S. President Barack Obama (C) speaks about Chrysler and the auto industry, as he stands with his auto task force at the White House in Washington April 30, 2009. Obama confirmed on Thursday that auto maker Chrysler LLC would go into Chapter 11 bankruptcy and enter a deal with Italy’s Fiat to survive. photo 2: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza.)