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Notes Photo November 19, 2010

Gang Hero, Really? Why Racist Stereotypes of Obama Are So Off-the-Mark

By this point in Obama's presidency, it's pretty clear to most people (except the most lizard-brained) that the racist/gang attack is a straw man. But if that's the case, then why do it?

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Notes Photo November 15, 2010

Foot of the Buddha

What makes the photos of Obama's visit to the Great Buddha statue in Kamakura so arresting on the last day of his Asia trip is the dramatic contrast between the symbolism of the statue and the all-out post-midterm hell awaiting him back in D.C.

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Notes Photo November 13, 2010

Obama the Invalid

Beyond the analogy of America as a car stuck in a ditch, the harsh photo represents Obama as the guy who was in the car when it got totaled.

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Notes Photo November 9, 2010

Your Turn: The Boehner-Obama Bump

BagReaders weigh in on Barry Blitt's new New Yorker Obama - Boehner Oval Office fist bump cover. (...Or, is it the Blitt Obama fist bump do over?)

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Notes Photo November 8, 2010

The Pic from Mumbai

The measure of the post-midterm trip is the ability to successfully change the subject.

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Notes Photo November 3, 2010

MIDTERMS + 1: Sucking, Or Sucking it Up?

Today's "day after mid-terms" wallpaper symbolizes a perfect collusion between an all-too-generic interpretation (guy takes hit, guy chastened) and the conservative one (President reeling from policy slap-down from the American people). The only thing is, both readings are wrong.

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Notes Photo November 2, 2010

When Politicians (Not Just Pictures) Actually Spoke To Two Americas

The scene of this man kneeling in front of Obama's limo is suggestive of the awesome gap between the have and increasingly-despairing have nots in this country ... a problem, during this election, we heard next-to-nothing about.

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Notes Photo November 1, 2010

Final Optics of Campaign 2010

After all the drama and battling, the mid-terms boiled down to this NYT composition leading today's front page.

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Notes Photo October 31, 2010

Final Election '10 Obama Portrait

With one day to go before this critical mid-term election, who could think of a greater threat both to these mid-term elections and to this deep thinking President than reason and intellect?

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Notes Photo October 29, 2010

We've Got to Stop Meeting Like This

Maybe what the shot captures is a classic Dem characteristic: smelling the fear.

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Notes Photo October 25, 2010

Newsweek's Cover: The Hopeless Election

Saying that "Change Is Coming … Again," and then offering us Boehner as Obama made over, the message is that the "change" America experienced in 2008 involved little more than a Washington change of face.

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Notes Photo October 15, 2010

White House Flickr: Wattage You Say?

What with Obama turning on the juice to turn out the mid-term vote, campaign narrative or not, it looks like his team is looking for every and any bit of wattage right now.

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Notes Photo October 7, 2010

Barking at Seals

Keep an eye out right now for an "Obama as hapless" meme. Media -- and the GOP, or course -- are always looking for any suggestion of weakness.

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Notes Photo September 28, 2010

Obama, the Rolling Stone Cover, and Playing from Behind

With the Tea Party's standard bearers looking more and more radical and wild-eyed, this photo of the President, calm and grounded outside the Oval Office, is all the more impactful for the lack of drama or pizzaz.

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Notes Photo September 27, 2010

D’Souza’s Rage as a Cover

If many writers have already provided Mr. D'Souza's bizarre pseudo-intellectual racist attack a thoughtful slapdown, my concern is the visual language.

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Notes Photo September 25, 2010

Winner … and Still Champion!

Considering the date of this winning "Magazine Cover of the Year" award, it seems the message has only grown stronger.

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Notes Photo September 23, 2010

A Matter of Life and Death

Sure, it's only one picture, but in embracing this woman with cancer, Obama actually and finally interjects some heart into an issue that is, after all, a matter of life-and-death.

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Notes Photo September 22, 2010

Obama's Wars (And That's Just at the Office)

If Mike Allen thinks Woodward's book is a net positive for Obama, the cover surely isn't. Call it "team of rival-ry."

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