Obama Vs. (Anybody)

The Daily Mail offered this juxtaposition a few weeks back.

At the time, I would have called this either a desperate vision of 2012 or ’16 — or simply “ludicrous.” Looking at it now, however, it seems to have anticipated last week’s Dick and Barack show, reflecting an instinct on the part of the media to identify and install a counter-force to Obama.

Is this “side-by-side business” the beginning of a trend? And if it is, don’t forced comparisons with weak antagonists — if fun-and-games for the media — make Obama that much stronger?