Or, "I got your Chicago-style politics right here, pal."

When Teddy Roosevelt said the U.S. government should speak softly and carry a big stick, he presumably didn't mean literally. Of course, Roosevelt was fond of weapons, but not sticks; recordings show he spoke plenty loud.

But Barack Obama -- who has made no secret of his admiration for the 26th president, most notably by returning to the site of Roosevelt's Osawatomie, Kansas, speech to make one of his own -- seems to have taken the advice literally, as he listens while wielding what we can only assume is an all-American Louisville slugger.

Hat tip: Philip Bump