Our View: New ‘American Sportsman’?

Is it only us, or is there anyone else out there who finds it middling-odd that the White House decided, now, to release a photo of President Obama shooting skeet at Camp David in August?

Better make that allegedly shooting skeet. More on that in a second.

But first, there’s got to be a reason for this — a politicalreason — especially with the nation barely seven weeks removed from Newtown. Could it be the administration believes its credibility on gun control is enhanced when Mr. Obama, though never known as such, can be portrayed as the next coming of the “American Sportsman”?

What we do know is that if George W. Bush ever tried to pull off this sort of stunt the press would’ve had a field day. We also suspect that, given the picture, the president is not shooting skeet, as he appears to be firing at something at eye level. Skeet “pigeons” travel in parabolic arcs across the sky.

So, “photo op” rather than “skeet shoot”?