Clearing The Bar

(click for full size)

I saw this shot about a month-and-a-half ago and have been thinking about it ever since.  It’s by Callie Shell for the TIME White House Photo Blog and was taken in April at the University of Missoula’s Dahlberg Arena.

I think it says a lot about Barack Obama, particularly on the last day of the primary season.  For myself, there is a lighthearted quality, almost a playfulness here, in striking contrast to the tension and pretension, paranoia and jingoism that characterized most of Bush/Cheney’s tightly scripted photo-ops.  (Hence, the wonderfully extraneous nature of this flag.)

More clearly, though, what is notable is Obama’s ability to pull up so high, cross the bar — and to do so without seeming to strain much at all.

(h/t: Emily)