Here is a pair of pictures from the LA Times, and one from Google Images.
First, Obama, in 2005 after his Illinois race for the Senate. Graciously, in his Senate office he features nice wall art -- a portrait of Justice Thurgood Marshall, an urbane and sophisticated African-American lawyer of undoubted, exceptional skill. He was well recognized before he was appointed by Lyndon Johnson to the Warren Court - Marshall being the NAACP lawyer who had argued Shelly v. Kraemer in 1948 where racially restrictive covenants running with deeds to housing were struck down as unconstitutional, and in 1954 he litigated Brown v. Board of Education, ending segragation of the Topeka Kansas schools, where "separate but equal" was held by the Supreme Court to be inherently unequal. He was Johnson's Solicitor General before the Supreme Court appointment, and was the first black Justice [probably also first as Solicitor General].
Marshall never backed down from a difficult fray, with a firm but restrained will to win. Appropriate for the courts, even if not best for the less restrained world of political campaigning. And it was a time for Obama to relax and to smile.
Second, an earlier 2004 photo during the Senate campaign, Obama serious. Intent. Preparing for his delivering the keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic Party's national convention. There will be time to smile later, work's needed now. Political effectiveness is key in a contest where there's one winner out of two.
Big question. In early November, how close will John McCain resemble Sonny Liston?
