Obama: Fast Food JFK

People will flinch from the comparison for a million reasons. Still, swap candid for composed, Main Street for Camelot, and pop culture and name-the-city “local legend” fast food joint for high style and haute cuisine and, optically at least, you’ve got Obama looking — at least now, in full campaign mode — like 2012’s JFK.

These days, in the camera’s eye, and especially, in comparison to the opposition, he’s, yeah — all that. As much for the slogans as the fact the photo largely slipped everyone else’s attention, it’s my favorite of the campaign so far. What’s most brilliant about the photo, though, is what it telegraphs strategically about the campaign. Beyond the charisma, Obama is going to beat Romney the same way he beat McCain — as the comfort food.

(photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images caption: US President Barack Obama arrives to pick up lunch during a stop at the Skyline Chili restaurant in Cincinnati, Ohio, July 16, 2012.)