If the supercommitee process was a test of leadership, as the Beltway media and Barack Obama himself asserted, how did the Commander in Chief respond to the leadership challenge?  When the going got tough, Obama got going … as far away as possible, as Investors Business Daily noticed earlier this week:

But wait! Where has Obama been during this fiscal crunch time?

He hasn’t been on the sidelines again. He’s been completely out of the country. He absolutely had to be in Cannes for the Group of 29.5 or whatever it’s called this month because, you know, the Euro crisis. And, then he was hosting another group of leaders in Hawaii with Michelle. And then, of course, there was the Australia trip, which he’d already postponed twice.

And, hey, as long as he’s down there, why not drop into Indonesia for old times sake and the Asian leaders meeting, score a new tropical shirt, talk some more? Not much going on back home anyway.

And today, having waved his veto wand at everybody on Monday, Obama’s gone again, flying his large plane up to New Hampshire for more useless campaign talk about construction workers fixing bridges and looking like he’s trying real hard.

But trying real hard to do what? Certainly not be president of the United States.

Jim Geraghty, who once warned that all of Obama’s promises have expiration dates, says that the President was merely making good on one of his pledges:

Recall Obama, walking around the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, hours before he gave the speech that launched his national reputation:

“I’m LeBron, baby. I can play on this level. I got some game.”

A news item from earlier this year, during the NBA finals:

Dallas Mavericks guard DeShawn Stevenson is directing some sharp words toward the Miami Heat’s LeBron James on the eve of Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

Stevenson says the Heat forward “checked out” in the final minutes of Game 4 on Tuesday night, when James was held to eight points — the lowest he managed in 90 career playoff games.

Perhaps when Obama said, “I’m LeBron, baby,” it wasn’t a boast, it was a confession.

Or, as one of Jim’s commenters put it, “Never ask LeBron for change for a dollar from LeBron because he’ll never give you a 4th quarter.”  Obama doesn’t give a second or third quarter either, apparently.

Got an Obamateurism of the Day? If you see a foul-up by Barack Obama, e-mail it to me at [email protected] with the quote and the link to the Obamateurism. I’ll post the best Obamateurisms on a daily basis, depending on how many I receive. Include a link to your blog, and I’ll give some link love as well. And unlike Slate, I promise to end the feature when Barack Obama leaves office.

Illustrations by Chris Muir of Day by Day. Be sure to read the adventures of Sam, Zed, Damon, and Jan every day!