Original photo by AFP

MnIndy mock-up

Beware the trappings of the office. Pranksters and demented detractors made devilish depictions of President Barack Obama during last year’s campaign, but this week the president almost created his own demonic image when he sat for a photo just inches away from a potentially satanic wall sconce. Obama, who seems to lead a charmed life, narrowly avoided growing a pair of horns.

It was just this sort of thing — being photographed before an undesirable (or overly desirable) background object  – that led the Justice Department under Attorney General John Ashcroft to hide the semi-nude “Spirit of Justice” statue behind drapes. Photographers had made a sort of sport of capturing images of solemn attorneys general before the topless female figure.

The photograph of Obama at a table with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the dangerous sconce between them, was distributed this week by Agence France Press.

An Obama-as-Antichrist theme found enthusiasts last year — despite debunking by Snopes — via Web videos, e-mails, rightwing radio and TV, and suggestions from political candidates that were both subtle and brazen.

It seemed to peter out once the election was over, though protesters from Kansas’ notorious Westboro Baptist Church continued to draw the connection and the controversy was stirred to some extent by Obama’s scheduled commencement address at the University of Notre Dame. Meanwhile, mysterious reports of Christlike imagery  – on cats and toast — continued unabated on local TV news shows.