But Sometimes Change is Real

Matt Yglesias correctly suggests that these photos are the Obamas attempt to reduce the “National Cuteness Deficit.” But there’s something else too: besides being charming, it’s striking how these photographs of Malia and Sasha preparing for their first day at a new school are both so very ordinary and yet also a reminder of howit really is momentous thing that this is the next First Family of the United States of America. The ordinary reveals and, in a sense, reinforces the extraordinary…

NB: Close examination reveals that the President-elect is not in fact making a somewhat dismissive gesture to his daughter. Three fingers, not two.