Not only would it be unbecoming of the Obama Administration to "let a crisis go to waste", apparently the same philosophy applies to photo-ops. Fresh off the heels of calling the manager of a Wisconsin custard shop a "smartass" for asking him to lower their taxes, Vice President Joe Biden made his way down to the site of the oil spill. Billy Nungesser, Plaquemines Parish President, was under the impression that he was going to sit down and have a meeting with the VP, except it never happened. Instead, Biden showed up 3 hours late, took a picture, and marched on his merry way. “Well, I was disappointed. We waited with the other parish presidents for a little over 3 hours, he walked in, took a picture, and he was on his way. I got 30 seconds with him and I thought we we're going to sit down and have a meeting. I brought a book of stuff I wanted to discuss", Nungessen, clearly distraught, said of his visit.
So Biden snubs a Parish President, and Obama told the troops earlier this year they "make for a pretty good photo-op"... I don't know if this was a common-sense PR plan to keep Biden on a short leash given he's prone to stick his foot in his mouth every time he opens it, or an outright shun of the man. Either way, that wasn't the time or place for those actions.