Obama Staffers Take It Off in Georgetown Bar

What should we think after White House staffers Tommy Vietor and Jon Favreau were photographed shirtless hanging out with friends in a Georgetown bar last weekend? According to conservative bloggers, the pic exposes the Obama staff as a bunch of frat boys playing beer pong in the midst of a catastrophic oil spill and two wars, Politico reports. Obama allies counter that it depicts a hardworking group of "young guys blowing off steam"—no big deal.

White House veterans said the incident shows Obama's young team could use someone like the Clinton administration's Evelyn Lieberman, the "one part doting Jewish mother and two parts drill sergeant" who kept other staffers' dress and comportment in line. Regardless, Vietor and Favreau's friends would just like to set the record straight: They weren't playing beer pong, and their shirts were off because they'd gotten caught in the rain before going into the bar. Click here to see said photo.
(More Jon Favreau stories.)