The Die Was Cast Early

In light of the train wreck otherwise known as the great debt ceiling battle of 2011, I like to recall one of my favorite photos of the Obama administration. Call it an early portrait of Obama’s penchant for cross-aisle kumbayah. At the same time, it was a sign of things to come.

What we see is Obama having GOP House members to the White House en masse doing his best pitch for the stimulus bill — and hitting a stone wall. (In the center-background, by the way, that’s Cantor, I believe, just starting to assert himself.) What’s even more notable than the cajoling and the skepticism, though, was the hypocritical Congress members all coming away from the meeting with the new, popular first black American President all happily clutching personal autographs.

The vote on the bill the next day? It passed 244-188, but all 176 Republicans present voted against it.

…Yeah, I also liked this one.

(photo: Pete Souza/White House)