During the Obama administration, there has been exclusion of photojournalists from a number of events. The White House published the ‘exclusive’ images of these political events on its Flickr account. For photojournalists on the White House beat, the move to exclude them is a disruption to their routine. Using Althusser's Ideological State Apparatusand visual rhetoric, this analysis examines the process of image control in 2013 and interprets offcial photographs posted by the White House on Flickr, an online public photo-sharing site. This study looks at the potential motivations for this control surrounding modern political images management, which shaped presidential image and produced presidential legitimacy conveyed in symbol and meaning. Finally, this paper argues that the effectiveness of ideological management is possible through creating a reality of simulacrum and offers a valuable adjunct to the traditional analyses of political communication.