Obama’s Last State of the Union – A News Photo Grand Tour

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

It seems Somodevilla (hello, Aldous Huxley!) wasn’t buying the vision of a more perfect union. On the contrary, it’s the House chamber as a hall of mirrors. …And, chalk up one more example of the newswire morphing with art photography.

(For gear people, the image was made using a Theta S from Ricoh for the product’s mobile app but was also offered to the wire as both a horizontal and a vertical.)

Pool/Getty Images North America

The most prominent demonstration of Obama’s effectiveness last night was how, after about the first twenty-minutes or so, he managed to turned a smirky Ryan into much friendlier wallpaper.

Melina Mara/The Washington Post

This photo says everything about Obama’s argument about quiet efficiency, especially regarding foreign policy and external threats. It’s certainly a hallmark of the Obama approach that situations, like the one that came to light during the day yesterday, be addressed calmly and methodically. You can imagine Kerry checking what time the Iranians were going to release our detainees.

Mark Wilson/Getty Images

If it’s caption contest material, it’s also photo editors calling out the Rubio touch.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Also, Souza’s last hurrah.

Evan Vucci/Reuters

You can see here, and in the two photos at the end, that Evan Vucci crushed it.

Once again, Scalia, Thomas and Alito stayed home. Roberts, on the other hand, has his own designs. As bookends, Kagan and Sotomayor look pretty nonchalant while the others, tellingly perhaps, seemed straight out of a bird cage.

Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

And then, there was “The Notorious” holding on.

Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

Yes, it’s typical SOTU fare. But along the way, Obama offered repeated props to our killing machine.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The Kim Davis appearance — clearly a provocation as Obama made a towering case against intolerance — won the evening as social media red meat. (And it put a twist on the suits and “the defense of liberty” besides. ) Most of the riffs on social media, by the way, (except Frisch’s, who was still mourning Bowie) saw Davis dressed like Cosby.

Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Is this a commentary about Bernie being outside the mainstream — or is it sticking him there? …And another one.

Mark Wilson/Getty Images

If this shot has something of the Hillary bug eyes, it was unusual to see Warren back on the national stage. Popularized by Obama as the color that transcended “blue states and red states,” many of the Democratic women were wearing purple. Seeing Warren in it, though, seemed to reference a standard the town cannot meet.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

I read somewhere that the speech made only one mention of gun control.

Evan Vucci/Reuters

And, to the extent Obama still means business…

Evan Vucci/Reuters

it was still a swan song.