But the most important job, in the view of many, is the president's role as a crisis manager.

That, his supporters say, adds up to a good crisis manager.

And my critics would have difficulty establishing that I am not a good crisis manager.

The President's top crisis manager determined to rescue his legacy?

But the current president, in contrast, prides himself as a crisis manager.

"The crisis managers are flying out to Saigon by the hundreds."

"They have identified the crisis manager at the highest level and told everyone else to go back and run the business."

And crisis managers have plenty of resources to fall back on.

Wharton had lived up to his reputation as a crisis manager.

As a crisis manager, however, I saw only a stone-cold exercise in damage control.