For a while it was rare to see a photograph of Obama that didn't have a halo around his head in one way or another. Contrast that with the photographs they took of John McCain, who was usually depicted as being old, sickly and (in one well-documented instance) he was tricked (the photographer admitted this) into being shot while lit from below, making him appear almost cartoonishly sinister.

Of course, in McCain's case that turned out to be entirely accurate.