This week, President Obama went to Flint, Michigan to try to assuage people’s fear about the water supply. And, in the least majestic photo opportunity in presidential history, he was captured on film taking a sip.

In my line of work, I’ve actually spent a fair amount of time around presidents. In fact, I’ve met each living president.

I met Jimmy Carter at a Habitat for Humanity event in Ft. Worth. George HW Bush and Bill Clinton raised money in Galveston after Hurricane Ike. President Obama spoke in New Orleans on the tenth anniversary of Katrina.

I’ve met George W. Bush several times, most recently at the Katrina anniversary, as well.

And I’m sure all of these leaders of the free world are totally writing about the time they met me on their blogs.

But listen, couldn’t President Obama have one of his consultants workshop some ways to make drinking a glass of water look more presidential?

When you spend time covering a president, one of the things you learn about how presidential administrations work is how many people are involved. During the unfortunate episode in which I lived in Houston, I covered an event with George W. Bush where he attended a fundraiser for a Congressional candidate. The reporters rode in his motorcade.

We had at least a dozen cars plus the police escort to shut down parts of Interstate 45 from Ellington Field, south of the city, to someone’s house in the River Oaks neighborhood about 25 miles away.

It was, I noticed, an incredibly quick commute, especially given that it was about 4 o’clock in the afternoon and everyone was just getting off work. I’m certain all the other commuters who got held at rolling highway closures felt exactly the same way.

At any rate, I think my experience spending several minutes with presidents gives me the authority to weigh in on this issue. You don’t see awkward pictures of other presidents taking a gulp of water. They always look more presidential.

Consider some other presidents’ reactions to a satisfying nosh that are absolutely historically accurate:

Ulysses S. Grant

“That sarsparilla led to a radical reconstruction of my taste buds!”

Grover Cleveland

“Man, that was some good marmalade. I just had two non-consecutive terms… of deliciousness!”

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

“The New Deal from this iced tea is going to reform my thirst!”

Richard Nixon

“That coffee was so energizing, I feel like I could stay up all night carefully wiretapping the phones of the Democratic National Committee!”

So I believe President Obama could have looked more majestic while he took a sip of water. If you don’t think he has a staff of water consultants, you don’t know how politics works.

Couldn’t they have coached him on how to look his most refreshed? They could have gotten together the night before he arrived, toured the location in Flint and studied what type of glass he should drink from.

That morning, they could have sat down with the president and held a round table on how he should drink.

“We’re going to want you to smack your lips together and say, ‘Ahhh!'”

But then another consultant chimes in.

“Wait a minute, would ‘Mmmm!’ work better in the Bible belt? Let’s get a team on that.”

“You know what, Mr. President?” the first consultant responds. “We’re going to encourage you to belch.”

“But not so hearty a belch as to turn off voters in the Midwest, though,” the second consultant offers.

The other consultants nod at each other and review their notes.

I think the president’s Sippin’ Consultants really let him down on this one.