They are painted to match several wall hangings, with clouds against a pale blue sky, recalling the imagery of Magritte, which is underscored by the early-20th-century formal wear and derbies worn by the shipwrecked Italian nobles.
That has been an unhappy marriage of traditional rivals, which was underscored Friday when Mrs. Merkel publicly criticized the Social Democrats as "increasingly unreliable" and stated her preference for a coalition with the pro-business Free Democrats.
One thing they agree on — and which was underscored by the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai — is that Pakistan is going to be at the forefront of foreign policy concerns for the Obama administration.
No Sunni member of the committee has openly challenged Grand Ayatollah Sistani's call for elections, which was underscored in June when he issued a religious ruling, or fatwa, on the subject.
They also have real security concerns, which were underscored Monday when a suicide bomber, dressed in the uniform of a Pakistani security force, killed five people at a United Nations office in the heart of Islamabad, the capital.
At the time, Smith was also drawing scrutiny for his late-night activities, which were underscored when the singer Rihanna, on her Instagram account, called out Smith for "clubbing every night" during the playoffs.
Yet it did little to tamp down criticism that he was failing to provide an overarching, inspiring vision, which was underscored by his aides making the argument that Mr. Romney would win based on the clinical work of delegate accumulation.
The efforts at trying to smooth relations between the two parties had clear limits, though, which were underscored by the president's appearances on Thursday evening at two Democratic fund-raising events in Washington.
And the jitters over the nation's economic health -- which were underscored again today by the Federal Reserve's decision to cut interest rates for the second time in three weeks -- make it politically difficult for Democrats to oppose tax cuts that Republicans have artfully packaged as recession insurance.
The mobility of his face leaves him open to lampooning, not least because of its simian modelling, which is underscored by his affectation of an equally simian gait the dangle-armed swagger, like a knuckle-walker startled to find himself suddenly upright.
