# The situation-room photo **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 4, 2011, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-situation-room-photo/580742 "2011-05-04T20:25:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2011, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-situation-room-photo/580742/41 "2011-05-05T06:09:49Z")
I know I’m a minority of one here, but I think it was an incredible mistake for the White House to release that photo, much more so than OBL’s death photo would have been. Obama will always have Secret Service protection, of course, but if I were any other government functionary pictured in that room, I’d be pretty nervous especially if my job required me to travel internationally. Edit: hope I’m wrong, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2011, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-situation-room-photo/580742/42 "2011-05-05T09:39:49Z")
> [@fiddlesticks](#): > > The obscured photo near Clinton is a high-rez picture (and likely annotated) of Obama’s hideout, I’m almost certain, either from a drone or satellite. Or a pizza menu. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2011, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-situation-room-photo/580742/43 "2011-05-05T11:45:16Z")
> [@Lantern](#): > > … > I had a careful look at the photo again and I really don’t see tension in Obama’s face: just complete and all-consuming focus. That’s because the picture was 'shopped before release. [This](http://www.spiegel.de/images/image-210618-galleryV9-mqtk.jpg) is the original photograph. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2011, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-situation-room-photo/580742/44 "2011-05-05T16:36:53Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > No. Everybody else looks anxious and nervous. Obama looks dialed in, intensely focused, and resolved. I noticed that contrast on sunday night when the picture was released, and basically said the same thing as the OP. it is unusual to see pres. obama looking intense, he does have that calm, laid back hawaii style. his intense look may have only been seen by basketball opponents, now we have all seen it. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2011, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-situation-room-photo/580742/45 "2011-05-05T17:03:12Z")
> [@Mops](#): > > That’s because the picture was 'shopped before release. [This](http://www.spiegel.de/images/image-210618-galleryV9-mqtk.jpg) is the original photograph. Okay, I’m still chuckling over that. 😃 So, what, is Hillary aghast at having her high score erased? ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2011, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-situation-room-photo/580742/46 "2011-05-05T19:00:15Z")
> [@Mops](#): > > That’s because the picture was 'shopped before release. [This](http://www.spiegel.de/images/image-210618-galleryV9-mqtk.jpg) is the original photograph. It’s new military technology, the Navy SEALS all have implants, essentially creating a live action version of Call of Duty. > [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Okay, I’m still chuckling over that. 😃 > > So, what, is Hillary aghast at having her high score erased? No, it’s just that Obama is way better at FPSs. She just can’t stand losing to him… I blame the 2008 Primaries. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-situation-room-photo/580742/47 "2011-05-05T19:03:23Z")
[CNN has an entire article about the photo now.](http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/05/05/iconic.photo/index.html?hpt=C1) It repeatedly veers into overanalysis but it makes some interesting points. One is that if you didn’t already know Obama was president, you wouldn’t pick it up from the photo- on top of whatever assumptions you might make about what a U.S. president looks like or what his posture might look like, Obama is also not front and center in any particular way. And for the historical record, Sec. Clinton says she was trying to cover up a cough. Like a lot of people I thought she looked horrified. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-situation-room-photo/580742/48 "2011-05-05T19:08:52Z")
> [@Mops](#): > > That’s because the picture was 'shopped before release. [This](http://www.spiegel.de/images/image-210618-galleryV9-mqtk.jpg) is the original photograph. Yeah, got a laugh out of me on that one. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-situation-room-photo/580742/49 "2011-05-05T19:10:45Z")
The other interesting thing about the photo is that you can see what a Rorschach test it is for people. I said in another post that Obama looked “grim,” and I’m sure my reading of his expression and Clinton’s say plenty much about my view of the killing. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-situation-room-photo/580742/50 "2011-05-05T19:19:55Z")
> [@tumbleddown](#): > > She’s not. Look again. Her mouth is pretty clearly closed. Would explain a lot about Bill Clinton’s past behaviour. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2011, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-situation-room-photo/580742/51 "2011-05-05T19:26:50Z")
> [@Lantern](#): > > Nice link. So basically there is more than one room and this was the smaller room. And I love the photos at the bottom with white tablecloths, flowers and breakfast. If you have to take decisions that could potentially destroy the world, you might as well do it in style. I like the picture of one of the “privacy telephone booths”. I guess the old [cone of silence](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cone_of_Silence) kept screwing up. ---
**Author:** ![ryobserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@ryobserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryobserver)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2011, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-situation-room-photo/580742/52 "2011-05-05T22:25:47Z")
It’s worth viewing the photo at full size, if your computer can handle it (big file): [http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/5680724572/sizes/o/in/photostream/](http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/5680724572/sizes/o/in/photostream/) At high resolution the “blurred” photo in front of Clinton is obviously pixelated, whatever it is. But what’s really striking is the emotion you can see on the faces that simply isn’t visible at smaller scales, where you can’t discern facial lines, tight jaw muscles and such. Obama and Clinton in particular look a hell of a lot more worried than they have since let on. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2011, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-situation-room-photo/580742/53 "2011-05-05T22:33:04Z")
[R. Lee Ermey] Lemme see your war face [\RLE] ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2011, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-situation-room-photo/580742/54 "2011-05-05T22:45:54Z")
I find Obamas position interesting in the photo. Its almost as if he has pulled up a chair, keeping quiet and just watching from the sidelines as the important guys around the table do their jobs. He is off to the side, sitting on a spare chair dragged in from the next room. No laptop for him, he is just a spectator at this point. But to me this position doesnt say “shrinking violet”, more that he is self-confident enough, and secure enough in himself to step back and let his staff do their jobs. No posturing, he has made the calls now he is letting the rest of the team go to work. I would imagine his staff appreciate that. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2011, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-situation-room-photo/580742/55 "2011-05-05T22:56:40Z")
It’s interesting that the obscured document is easier to make sense of in the medium and large versions of the photo vs. the “original” size. I’m guessing there is some sort of information theory thing about data compression and such going on there. The obscured document is sitting on top of a non-obscured document, a picture of the compound that doesn’t look too different than what you can get from Google…so my guess it is a higher-resolution view of the compound, as I said upthread (unless, that’s what they _want us to think!_ /cue dramatic music). ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2011, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-situation-room-photo/580742/56 "2011-05-05T23:03:20Z")
Everybody’s face is interesting, but Clinton and Obama, the two most famous people in the room, have the most memorable expressions as well. I know it’s his job, but while everybody else is focused on the front of the room, the photographer turned away from what was obviously so captivating. If I was the photographer, I would have been distracted by whatever it was the others were listening or watching and missed this historic moment. ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-situation-room-photo/580742/57 "2011-05-05T23:32:38Z")
Pete Souza is very good at capturing moments like those in this picture. If you haven’t run through the [White House flickr photo stream](http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/)lately, you should. Interesting to note that the 9 photos in the May photo set are well on their way to 800,000 views already, while April photos haven’t even made it to 200,000 and March photos are under 70,000. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-situation-room-photo/580742/58 "2011-05-06T00:32:20Z")
Two interesting things I read in the Times. First, they canceled White House tours that day so that no tourists would run into top national security people going down the hall on Sunday. Two, a staffer made a CostCo run to get snacks and soda. They listed what he got, but I forget. Maybe they didn’t want the White House cooks to know? ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-situation-room-photo/580742/59 "2011-05-06T01:51:50Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > I find Obamas position interesting in the photo. > > Its almost as if he has pulled up a chair, keeping quiet and just watching from the sidelines as the important guys around the table do their jobs. He is off to the side, sitting on a spare chair dragged in from the next room. No laptop for him, he is just a spectator at this point. > > But to me this position doesnt say “shrinking violet”, more that he is self-confident enough, and secure enough in himself to step back and let his staff do their jobs. No posturing, he has made the calls now he is letting the rest of the team go to work. I would imagine his staff appreciate that. Like a director watching his actors act, while knowing that his crew has done and will keep doing their thing. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-situation-room-photo/580742/60 "2011-05-06T01:52:57Z")
I find this photo fascinating, but I wonder why there is just one. Are more forthcoming? mmm [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-situation-room-photo/580742.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-situation-room-photo/580742.md?page=4)