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In the photo that has hung in the West Wing for three years, President Obama looks to be bowing to 5-year-old Jacob Philadelphia, his arm raised to touch the president\u2019s hair \u2014 to see if it feels like his.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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For decades at the White House, photographs of the president at work and at play have hung throughout the West Wing, and each print soon gives way to a more recent shot. But one picture of President Obama<\/a> remains after three years.<\/p>\n
In the photo, Mr. Obama looks to be bowing to a sharply dressed 5-year-old black boy, who stands erect beside the Oval Office desk, his arm raised to touch the president\u2019s hair \u2014 to see if it feels like his. The image has struck so many White House aides and visitors that by popular demand it stays put while others come and go.<\/p>\n
As a candidate and as president, Mr. Obama has avoided discussing race except in rare instances when he seemed to have little choice \u2014 responding to the racially incendiary words of his former pastor, for example, or to the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager in Florida. Some black leaders criticize Mr. Obama for not directly addressing young blacks or proposing policies specifically for them.<\/p>\n
Yet the photo is tangible evidence of what polls also show: Mr. Obama remains a potent symbol for blacks, with a deep reservoir of support. As skittish as White House aides often are in discussing race, they also clearly revel in the power of their boss\u2019s example.<\/p>\n
The boy in the picture is Jacob Philadelphia of Columbia, Md. Three years ago this month, his father, Carlton, a former Marine, was leaving the White House staff after a two-year stint on the National Security Council that began in the Bush administration. As departing staff members often do, Mr. Philadelphia asked for a family photograph with Mr. Obama.<\/p>\n
When the pictures were taken and the family was about to leave, Mr. Philadelphia told Mr. Obama that his sons each had a question. In interviews, he and his wife, Roseane, said they did not know what the boys would ask. The White House photographer, Pete Souza, was surprised, too, as the photo\u2019s awkward composition attests: The parents\u2019 heads are cut off; Jacob\u2019s arm obscures his face; and his older brother, Isaac, is blurry.<\/p>\n
Jacob spoke first.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to know if my hair is just like yours,\u201d he told Mr. Obama, so quietly that the president asked him to speak again.<\/p>\n
Jacob did, and Mr. Obama replied, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you touch it and see for yourself?\u201d He lowered his head, level with Jacob, who hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cTouch it, dude!\u201d Mr. Obama said.<\/p>\n
As Jacob patted the presidential crown, Mr. Souza snapped.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, what do you think?\u201d Mr. Obama asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, it does feel the same,\u201d Jacob said.<\/p>\n
(Isaac, now 11, asked Mr. Obama why he had eliminated the F-22 fighter jet<\/a>. Mr. Obama said it cost too much, Isaac and his parents recounted.)<\/p>\n
In keeping with a practice of White House photographers back to Gerald R. Ford\u2019s presidency, each week Mr. Souza picks new photos for display. That week, Jacob\u2019s easily made the cut.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a photographer, you know when you have a unique moment. But I didn\u2019t realize the extent to which this one would take on a life of its own,\u201d Mr. Souza said. \u201cThat one became an instant favorite of the staff. I think people are struck by the fact that the president of the United States was willing to bend down and let a little boy feel his head.\u201d<\/p>\n
David Axelrod, Mr. Obama\u2019s longtime adviser, has a copy framed in his Chicago office. He said of Jacob, \u201cReally, what he was saying is, \u2018Gee, you\u2019re just like me.\u2019 And it doesn\u2019t take a big leap to think that child could be thinking, \u2018Maybe I could be here someday.\u2019 This can be such a cynical business, and then there are moments like that that just remind you that it\u2019s worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n
A copy of the photo hangs in the Philadelphia family\u2019s living room with several others taken that day. Mr. Philadelphia, now in Afghanistan for the State Department, said: \u201cIt\u2019s important for black children to see a black man as president. You can believe that any position is possible to achieve if you see a black person in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jacob, now 8, said he indeed does want to be president. \u201cOr a test pilot.\u201d<\/p>\n
The New York Times<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the photo that has hung in the West Wing for three years, President Obama looks to be bowing to 5-year-old Jacob Philadelphia, his arm raised to touch the president\u2019s hair \u2014 to see if it feels like his. \u00a0 For decades at the White House, photographs of the president at work and at play have hung throughout the West Wing, and each print soon gives way to a more recent shot. But one picture of President Obama remains after three years. In the photo, Mr. Obama looks to be bowing to a sharply dressed 5-year-old black boy, who stands…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13602,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,95],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pertoo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13599"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pertoo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pertoo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pertoo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pertoo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13599"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pertoo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13601,"href":"https:\/\/pertoo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13599\/revisions\/13601"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pertoo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pertoo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pertoo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pertoo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}