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Go Home Barack Obama Is Turning the Oval Office Into a Man Cave

PLANK NOVEMBER 30, 2012

Barack Obama Is Turning the Oval Office Into a Man Cave

BY NOREEN MALONE

On Thursday, Barack Obama invited Mitt Romney to the White House for lunch. The two shared white turkey chili and repaired to President Obama's man cave, formerly known as the Oval Office, for photo ops.

The transformation of the room became complete when, sometime in the past year, the president swapped out the fussy beige floral couches that formerly sat in the room for the possibly-velour tan behemoths you see before you. Though our sourcing is spotty on this, we suspect this is the only place Michelle would let the president put the furniture from his bachelor apartment. Or else they were the gift of an enthusiastic Ohio State fraternity, obtained during President Obama’s campaign travels in the state. The throw pillows, one can only assume, came free with a year's subscription to Sports Illustrated. The coffee table looks familiar: I could swear it's from the free section of Craigslist. 

The couches simply make form follow function: the room is the most important bro-out zone in the nation. It's a place you've got to get in the right mindset before entering, as Obama's personal secretary demonstrates below.

 

It's a place where high fives are the coin of the realm. 

 

Except when fist bumps are.

 

It's a place you can watch basketball.

 

And play basketball. 

 

Or football. 

 

Even Australian rules football!

 

You can just toss the pigskin around by yourself whenever you need to unwind.

 

Or check your form in the mirror.

 

No one will judge you for needing to be close to a football at all times.

 

Or for using one as a leather footstool. Nice, bro. Who needs Restoration Hardware?

 

There's even a nice patio for just chilling out and having a beer with a buddy.

 

Nerds might get paddled, though. Is this the real reason Orszag stepped down?

 

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

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22 comments

Every time I think our president can't possibly get any cooler...

- Tristan

November 30, 2012 at 12:27pm

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Yeah so what's up with the Steelers helmet? Shouldn't that be a Bears helmet? Sheese.

- Sophia

November 30, 2012 at 12:29pm

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I didn't notice the furniture in the Romney lunch picture, but I did notice the difference in the posture of the two men. Obama looks at ease, presidential even, with his hand in his pocket, his shoulders relaxed, his legs and feet the right distance apart, his suit perfectly tailored to his small frame. Romney, on the other hand, looks anything but presidential, more like an anxious salesman meeting a customer, shoulders tense, bent at the waist, legs bowed and feet too far apart, even his expensive suit doesn't fit very well. Based on the posture of the two men, I would have guessed that the cheap-looking couches belonged to the salesman.

- rayward

November 30, 2012 at 12:44pm

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I like the decor now above the first picture, I don't think it is remotely a man cave though, for one, where is the pool table and bar? or mini (or for the uber man full) fridge? It is also missing the huge 52 inch screen (or row of screens for viewing many football games at once) and it is far too bright and airy and if done right you could practically see the stench of testosterone and musk hang heavy in the air in a true man cave.

- blackton

November 30, 2012 at 1:16pm

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I'm all for the occasional lapse into Obama adulation but this feels just a little too fluffy for TNR. What happened to the high minded think pieces on geopolitics and political ideas? Why the non-stop coverage of defeated figures who'd best be consigned to oblivion? As a European what I loved the most about TNR was its openness to the world beyond America, a rare quality in a US politics mag. If the beltway was the outermost limit of my universe I'd read Politico.

- Singlpayer

November 30, 2012 at 1:42pm

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Where's the futon?

- timteeter

November 30, 2012 at 1:49pm

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Singlpayer, we just had an election, and this is what Americans call "dancing in the end zone." Don't worry, we'll move on.

- timteeter

November 30, 2012 at 2:16pm

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Thanks for the reassuring words timteeter. I await second-term sobriety with bated breath!

- Singlpayer

November 30, 2012 at 2:29pm

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Singlepayer - if it makes you feel any better, People has an article up about what Obama should do about Syria.

- GeoffG

November 30, 2012 at 2:53pm

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Man cave? Is it the nice browns? About time some slightly more modern furniture got in there. I hear that he even has some modern art hanging on the walls of the White House in places--not all impressionist gauzy stuff or striff portraits. Isn't the horse statuette by Remington, and one first placed there by Reagan? Nice piece in any event; it has been there a while I believe. Let's face it, this photo---freely available in very high def---was the cause of many person's lingering consideration about many things! (id they agree that it would be a single picture, and that both would approve of it in advance? I would assume so.)

- atlasqq

November 30, 2012 at 3:00pm

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The Oval Office is far and away not even close to being a "man cave" unless your definition is broad enough that a room with a man standing/squating/sitting/leaning/sleeping in it is a man cave. There aren't any posters of super models or sports legends, no sports memorabilia, random tchotchkes, fish, duck or deer mounts on the wall, the aforementioned 52" LCD with surround sound and the 5 under-played gaming consoles, the TV trays with snacks and random empties around and Obama is still wearing a suit instead of his turkey-eatin' pants and collegiate sweatshirt. I bet if you walk in you don't even get a whiff of stale breath and farts either. Probably smells of potpourri and cinnamon candles.

- singlspeed

November 30, 2012 at 3:50pm

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"Yeah so what's up with the Steelers helmet? Shouldn't that be a Bears helmet?" As an adopted Pittsburgher, I heartily approve of Obama having a Steelers helmet around the Oval Man Cave. As a Detroit-area native and lifelong Lions fan, I also heartily approve of the lack of a Bears helmet in said Man Cave.

- wildboy

November 30, 2012 at 4:03pm

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let me know when you get photos of the WH family room - it needed re-decorating. funny, if this exact same post, photos, language, was at say, Pajamas Media, y'all would be screaming RACIST! fist bump, bro?

- K2K

November 30, 2012 at 4:59pm

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I think the Steelers helmet picture probably dates back to the last time Pittsburgh won the Super Bowl. One of my favorite Bro-bama moments was when he had the Green Bay Packers over to congratulate them on their SB victory. The team presented him with a share of stock, and in accepting, he said that now that he was part owner, he would like to propose a trade -- send Aaron Rodgers to the Chicago Bears. He may be president of all Americans, but that little quip shows that he still bleeds blue and orange underneath, and it made me smile. :)

- austinexpat

November 30, 2012 at 6:32pm

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I agree with Singlpayer. This is the puff piece of all puff pieces. We all know that presidents are sports fans, or at least they pretend to be--it's part of the job. I've been a sports fan since 1951, and I'm in favor of more sports articles at TNR, but how about something that isn't cotton candy? ESPN the Magazine had an article recently about Obama's golf game, which reflected his personality. He likes to play alone with no press allowed. This article is reflective of Obama's public image, not the man.

- magboy47.

November 30, 2012 at 7:13pm

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What's the target demographic for this piece? It's like the tamer, even less funny version of something from Prairie Home Companion. None of the jokes are jokes. A joke plays off of the assumptions and expectations of the audience. That isn't happening here, at least not if you assume that President Obama ever behaves as a person might behave. Not to mention the male stereotypes are extremely shallow and lame.

- arock28

November 30, 2012 at 8:47pm

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magboy: very interesting that he likes to play golf alone. It is such a complex mental game. Or, maybe he does what I did when I took some lessons years ago: pretend that little golf ball is someone you do not like, and, voila, adds twenty yards of power :)

- K2K

November 30, 2012 at 9:41pm

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Perhaps we could get Rihanna to redecorate the Oval Office.

- Vogelfam

November 30, 2012 at 9:45pm

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Oh c'mon, people. Here TNR provides with an opportunity for easy, cheap witticisms . . . and you complain that it's insufficiently serious? Get a life.

- timteeter

November 30, 2012 at 10:53pm

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Well, ok, so I like the Steelers too. But a Packers hat - that would be a bridge too far.

- Sophia

November 30, 2012 at 11:55pm

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Lighten up, people! Oval Office remodels are valid news items. Not only the couches are new. The sunburst carpet- gone. The striped blue chairs- gone. Beige walls-gone; dark gold drapes- gone. Complete room makeover, everything left over from GWB- gone. When did that happen? Definitely more masculine now- muted beige carpet, maroon drapes, much more manly brown leather chairs- only the gold striped wallpaper has me a little baffled.

- jennnorton

December 3, 2012 at 3:43pm

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nice america 2016!

- sf4200

December 4, 2012 at 3:33pm

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