after looking at the photo of Obama and the Hanukkah closer I believe I figured it out

The candle is not out of the holder but the angle of the photo makes it look so.

There is no red ribbon.

I went to a sight on Huffpost re this ceremony and was able to zoom in at several different angles

I could then see that the middle holder was offset, giving the illussion of being lower.

It is a different shaped Menorah like the one in the photo below.

The middle holder is offset as this one example.

There are all kinds of Menorah styles.

So if the shot is taken from above and the middle candle is in front, that one will look lower.

So it probably is not a signal or an insult as I thought before re the middle candle

Being 12 days early might mean something though

I guess we will see soon enough