Of course everyone will spend months (decades?) dissecting the images, even they are are perfectly conventional prom pictures. Two couples, dressed up, enjoying the “best time of their lives.” Utterly normal, utterly generic.
Much more notable to me is the inscription in the young lady’s yearbook. We have so few samples of his writing from before he supposedly wrote the memoir that many dubbed world-class writing. The little bit from law school, that one poem that is indeed horrid - but then, Pulitzer novelists are capable of horrid poetry, so that doesn’t prove much.
Here is a sample from when he’d every reason to want to say something memorable - this is when you’d want to creative. You’d think about it, compose it in your head. This is when any innate talent could be expected to flicker and foreshadow future glories.
But, here, there’s notable nothings. And he misspells. He is grammatically awkward. This ... is utterly generic prose, from a conventional, average American kid. This inscription has been written in a million yearbooks by a million average American kids. Not a creative construction, nothing clever, not one interesting word choice or turn of phrase.
My verdict: this writer is a prose stylist of slightly below average ability and sensibility. This is not Harvard material. This is not the person who would go on to write “Dreams from my Father.”
You left out my favorite sample of Obama’s writing. This excerpt from one of the ‘Constitutional’ law exam questions from his U of Chicago days:
“Law week, two men, Richard and Michael, walked into you office and asked for your help.
You learn that they are a monogamous, gay couple who have been living together for the past ten years. Both men are successful architects, and after devoting the past decade on their respective careers, they have now decided that they want to marry and raise children together.”
http://www.westernjournalism.com/exclusive-investigative-reports/is-obama-stupid-and-lazy/