The funny thing about this picture is that it looks completely fake, like I’m posing next to a cardboard cutout. The light bouncing off the mirror does funky things. (PS, when posing for a picture with future presidents, always place yourself in front of a gigantic mirror.) The photo was taken after this interview from March 2006. In the intro I wrote:

The weight of much hope and expectation rests on the narrow shoulders of Barack Obama, the first-term Democratic senator from Illinois.

His eventual presidential run is seen as inevitable (some pundits even hype a 2008 bid).

Some pundits indeed.