Poor Barry, he really could use some cheering up. “The onetime messiah seems like a sad sack,” as New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd has written more than once, “trying to bounce back from a blistering array of sins that are not even his fault.”

This morning, President Obama was in a particularly foul mood, grim-faced, sullen. He’s doesn’t seem to be enjoying this job one bit. “I will not stand for it,” he told reporters at the White House briefing room as he addressed the latest crisis: reports that veterans’ health centers across the country are cooking the books and manipulating wait-lists to cover-up long delays for a doctor’s care.

“So if these allegations prove to be true, it is dishonorable, it is disgraceful, and I will not tolerate it, period,” the president said. “Once we know the facts, I assure you if there is misconduct it will be punished.”

And so ended an unhappy morning for the leader of the Free World. Then the Seattle Seahawks arrived – and all was right again.

Moments after the players spilled out onto a White House stage, the gleeful introductory announcement came: “Ladies and gentlemen, your Super Bowl 48 Champions, the Seattle Seahawks!” The room shook with applause.

All smiles now, the president joked, “I considered letting Richard Sherman up here and giving him the mic, but we got to go in a minute.”

Obama went on to shower praise on the team, giving shout-outs to Doug Baldwin and Russell Wilson and others, and the incredible year they all had. “You beat the rival 49ers,” he said at one point, to cheers again. “I knew you would clap on that.”

Beaming now, a very much cheered-up Obama deadpanned, “I am sorry Marshawn [Lynch] couldn’t make it today. I just wanted to say to him how much I admire his approach with the press.”

Well played, Barry. Well played.