boxing day 2012: Gotcha! Adorable never-before-seen photo shows President Obama caught in the web of Spiderman (as played by one of his staffer's children)

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Gotcha! Adorable never-before-seen photo shows President Obama caught in the web of Spiderman (as played by one of his staffer's children)

PUBLISHED: 14:20 EST, 19 December 2012 | UPDATED: 14:26 EST, 19 December 2012

This is President Obama as we have never seen him before - caught unawares as he walks out of the Oval Office by none other than Spider-Man - or at least a very mini version of Spider-Man.

The intimate photograph taken by White House photographer Pete Souza shows the President joking around with one of this staffer's children, who - dressed up as the super hero - pretends to shoot a spider web at Obama - who in turn reacts by pretending he is caught up in the imaginary trap.

It is just one of the many behind-the-scenes pictures Mr Souza takes every year which show a more down-to-earth and touching side of the man who has just been named as TIME's Person of the Year for 2012. It is the second time he has had the honor in four years.

Gotcha: President Barack Obama pretends to be caught in Spider-Man's web as he greets the son of a White House staffer in the Outer Oval Office in October

The magazine cited the president's historic re-election last month as symbolic of the nation's changing demographics amid the backdrop of high unemployment and other challenges.

'He's basically the beneficiary and the author of a kind of new America - a new demographic, a new cultural America that he is now the symbol of,' TIME editor Rick Stengel said as he announced the choice on the Today show on Wednesday.

'He won re-election despite a higher unemployment rate than anybody's had to face in basically 70 years. He's the first Democrat to actually win two consecutive terms with over 50 per cent of the vote. That's something we haven't seen since Franklin Delano Roosevelt.'

The 'Person of the Year' accolade is given to the person or thing that has most influenced the culture and news throughout the year for good or for ill.