Is this truth the optic that Obama's critics are actually anticipating: An Associated Press photograph of the leader turning to his globe of golf within an hour after the East Coast temblor on Monday?
Anytime a president takes a 10-day vacation, as he did last week at Martha's Vineyard, pundits and enthusiasts alike warned that the image of him playing while the nation is mired in economic stagnation could make for bad optics.
Proved it was an alphabetical and natural mishap, not the economy, which crashed his kin's vacation plans. Now we have a photograph that shows the president attempting to maintain composure and play through the 5.9 magnitude tremble, and, naturally, it has sparked some snark.
President Obama remains on vacation. Even if it’s just an act of God that might end his golfing by getting at least nine holes in right now, Los Angeles Times opinion website editor Emily Moth Miller wrote on Facebook.
Barack safe and sound on the golf course during quake, but gets summarized anyway, Washington Times' Outside the Beltway author Toby Malcolm posted on his Facebook wall.
Not to be outdone, Ari Fleischer, ex-press secretary for former President George W. Bush, wrote on Facebook about the new normal in the United States: "WH demands potus didn't feel today's shake. Don't worry about it. This administration is steady as she goes. Remember November 2012."
Other users chimed in with wisecracks like the big temblor putting the president's ball into the sand trap.
In the first part of his vacation, the White House had made a show of keeping a rather low profile at the vineyard, perhaps losing sight of their strategy to not get caught on camera playing golf when he spotted cameramen waiting beyond the one-eighth tee during a round, according to the Boston Globe.
And White House aides made sure to stress that the leader was conducting business every day, receiving briefings from counterterrorism chief John Brennan and economic adviser Brian Deese. The official photos of Obama released by the White House press office showed him conferring with Brennan with a furrowed measure of concern on his face.
Sure enough, real life events intruded on vacation - first a flare-up regarding Libya, and then the earthquake.
On Friday, before the temblor, Obama began a round at the Farmville Plough Nick Golf Club, the public courses in Pine Bluffs. His foursome included White House travel director Marvin Nicholson, Chicago pal Eric Whitaker, and Washington power broker Vernon Jordan.
According to a press pool report, Barack wasn't exactly on his A game.
On the first hole, Obama stepped up to his ball, which was several feet from the bunker, and took two practice swings. He missed the bunker on his first golf shot, but got it close. Then he tried to tap it in, but missed again. He eventually holed the ball to let others in his party proceed while he watched, the press pool noted.
At that point, the press corps was ushered off the course as Obama continued to the next teeing ground.
The earthquake, whose epicenter was in Virginia, was felt by the press corps waiting for Obama shortly after they finished lunch...at 1:51 p.m. However, it was unclear whether the president felt it on the driving range.
He was, however, photographed and videotaped taking calls on a cellphone.
By 2:50 p.m., the White House trust required him to care for the fixed outstanding issues, indicating that the president had taken a conference call with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley, National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, Homeland Security Advisor John Brennan, FEMA Director Craig Fugate, and other geological and nuclear regulatory experts.
The president was assured that there were no immediate reports of critical infrastructure damage, including at airports and nuclear facilities, and that there were currently no requests for assistance, White House press secretary Jody Dean, who aims to be with the president at Martha's Vineyard, told reporters. The president called for regular updates on the situation.
Reporters were not satisfied and continued to press the administration on whether or not the president had experienced the earthquake. Sometime around 6:45 p.m., Jay Carney said that Obama did not feel the quake at that time.
Not everyone was put off by the president's golfing excursion. The best Twitter message on the topic was one from a user named Spykes whose Twitter handle is Dammyyie, who greeted the president's typical laid-back manner.
"Shoutout to presidential golf today as the states have fallen in love with this earthquake... president Obama still chillin' like a villain," they wrote.