Obama 'body man' Reggie Love says he played cards with the president during bin Laden raid
It's one of the most iconic photos of the entire Obama presidency. Obama sitting in the situation room with his national security team, everyone with tense looks on their faces, the president leaning forward anxiously as they await news of the raid to kill Osama bin Laden.
There was speculation at the time that the scene was staged and Obama was photoshopped into it. Nonsense, said the White House.
Except we now learn from Reggie Love, Obama's close friend and "body man," that he and the president played about 15 hands of spades during the raid.
A famous photo shows President Barack Obama hunkered down in the Situation Room in May 2011 with his national security team as U.S. Navy SEALS carried out the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
But his former body man Reggie Love said in an interview posted online Wednesday that Obama also played cards to distract himself during the day-long ordeal.
In the wide-ranging interview, Love further revealed the president's reaction upon finding his birth certificate after critics raised an uproar over his eligibility for the White House.In the July 18 interview, which took place during a lunch hosted by UCLA's Luskin School of Public Affairs, Love talked about life with the president, including the historic moment more than two years ago when bin Laden was killed.
Describing it as a "very long day," Love said most people were in the Situation Room but Obama came to the private dining room to play cards with Love, White House photographer Pete Souza and staffer Marvin Nicholson.
"[President Obama] was like, 'I'm not, I'm not going to be down there, I can't watch this entire thing'," Love said. "We must have played 15 hands-15 games of Spades."
The president could very well have returned to the situation room for the climax of the raid, so the notion the photo is bogus is a stretch. What is also bogus, however, is the image crafted by Obamabots of a president fully engaged, on top of the situation, and engrossed in the operation.
Admittedly, once set in motion, a Commander in Chief has very little to do but await the outcome of an operation. And it's not like he left the White House and went golfing. But what do you think are the chances that the narrative of a courageous president, pouring over details of the raid and worrying about the safety of his men will be altered to reflect this new information?
Not a chance.