--- title: George W. Bush Asked President Obama to Take His Photo description: When former President George W. Bush needed a photo taken on Saturday, he needed only to ask President Barack Obama canonical: https://time.com/4506781/george-w-bush-barack-obama-photo/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-24T19:11:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T00:48:36.843Z article:section: Politics og:title: George W. Bush Asked President Obama to Take His Photo og:description: Photographer-in-Chief og:url: https://time.com/4506781/george-w-bush-barack-obama-photo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3e8fa8b8767952e0/6988a75f8e060178b046796b/smithsonian-african-american-history-opening.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US-MUSEUM-AFRICANAMERICAM-CULTURE-HISTORY og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: George W. Bush Asked President Obama to Take His Photo twitter:description: Photographer-in-Chief twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3e8fa8b8767952e0/6988a75f8e060178b046796b/smithsonian-african-american-history-opening.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # George W. Bush Asked President Obama to Take His Photo  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Sep 24, 2016 7:11 PM UTC  Former First Lady Laura Bush, former President George W. Bush, First Lady Michelle Obama and President Barack Obama stand for the National Anthem during the opening ceremony for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture on Sept. 24, 2016 in Washington, D.C. Former First Lady Laura Bush, former President George W. Bush, First Lady Michelle Obama and President Barack Obama stand for the National Anthem during the opening ceremony for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture on Sept. 24, 2016 in Washington, D.C.Zach Gibson—AFP/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Sep 24, 2016 7:11 PM UTC When former President George W. Bush needed a group photo taken on Saturday, he did the obvious thing and asked President Barack Obama to do the honors. In a [video](https://twitter.com/npa222/status/779722663916953600?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) from the [opening](http://time.com/4506699/president-obama-opening-smithsonian-museum-african-american-history/?xid=homepage) of the [Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture](http://time.com/4487318/smithsonian-museum-african-american-history-culture/) on Saturday, Bush appears to attempt to take a selfie with a few people at the ceremony. Unsuccessful, he instead leaned over and tapped on Obama, who appeared happy to step in and help. U.S. presidents—they’re just like us. > [](https://twitter.com/CNN/status/779756655143772168) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4506781/george-w-bush-barack-obama-photo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4506781/george-w-bush-barack-obama-photo/"},"headline":"George W. 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