This picture shows Barack Obama and Valerie Jarrett at Manny’s Coffee House in Chicago in November 2008, a week or so after his victory. Jarrett is one of his most trusted advisers and friends, someone who helped him to get his start in Chicago politics and who always tells it to him straight. Michelle Obama says she is like a big sister.
I do not know what it is about this picture that gets to me. It has to do with the utter ordinariness of it – ordering lunch. It also has to do with Jarrett somehow. She made me feel like I was in the picture, if that at all makes any kind of sense.
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I like it too, thanks for posting it — hadn’t seen it before. I too like the humanity of the moment, but I also like the composition, which increases that humanity. They’re both looking off in the same direction, and that contrasts them more with the people in front of them; their black clothing versus the other people’s white clothing also helps to set up that contrast. Everybody’s standing still, but the composition still somehow has a lot of motion in it, a lot of vibrant life. It really is a great shot.
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