Why didn’t the president and the vice-president keep their jackets on, as their guests did? The rolled-shirtsleeves stuff was a hackneyed bid for informality, especially with the ties still on.
Could it be that President Obama was afraid of how the photos might look to Middle America if they had shown a white man outnumbered by black men–and elite black men at that?
The Nose On Your Face pretty much summarizes the Vice President’s role at the media event.
“Biden. Gates. Crowley. Obama.”
Image courtesy of http://www.thenoseonyourface.com/conservative-satire/new-photo-emerges-from-obama-beer-summit/.