I'd nominate the tv feed of Jesse Jackson weeping at Grant Park in Chicago while waiting for President-elect Obama to give his acceptance speech. Cynics wondered, predictably, if Jackson's tears were of frustration rather than joy: after all, Jackson was the only other African American to come anywhere close to being nominated for president (not that he came all that close), and he notoriously (and profanely) criticized Obama last summer when he wrongly thought he was off-camera. But for most, I suspect, the image was a moving one, even if Jackson's attitude toward Obama is, in all probability, complex. The media's narrative tends to allow for little nuance in the relationships between black leaders--either Obama is the culmination of all that Jackson has worked for, or else Jackson and Obama are rivals.
On the other hand, I think few of the political cartoons in the days following the election will stick. Much has been made about humorists' supposed difficulties in finding a comedic edge when it comes to Barack Obama. (See here and here for interesting discussions.) Whatever the cause, the main problem seems to be a lack of originality. Lots of references to Obama's famous "fist-bump":
...and to Abraham Lincoln passing the mantle to Obama:
...and to Abraham Lincoln fist-bumping Obama:
...and to Martin Luther King, Jr. fist-bumping Obama:
A good part of these cartoon's drives is wishful thinking: the implied (or explicit, sometimes) claim that, now that an African American president has been elected, America's legacy of racism is over. George F. Will was upfront about this: "We are free at last from the inexpressible tedium of the preoccupation with skin pigmentation." Stephen Colbert was equally upfront (if less sincere), asking interviewee Charles Ogletree: "Is, then, racism over?"
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