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Hillary Clinton, Playing A Game Boy. Really.

by Melanie Schmitz

That iconic photo of Secretary Clinton in sunglasses texting on her Blackberry is so last year. On Monday morning, the William J. Clinton Presidential Library posted everyone’s new favorite photo ever on its Instagram: Hillary Clinton playing a Game Boy. By midday, the library’s account, which boasts a plethora of incredible Clinton family photos and vintage #TBTs, had already racked up an impressive number of views, drawn attention from the media, and become the talking point of everyone’s water cooler chit-chat.

The photo of a young first lady Clinton on a flight from Austin, Texas to Washington, D.C. in 1993 has already become a supporter favorite, with some suggesting that it would make an excellent wallpaper for your phone, tablet, or computer. Others called Clinton a former "gamer" — which is probably a stretch, but who’s counting?

The buzz surrounding the Instagram post really isn’t all that surprising, considering the lengths to which the press has gone in recent days to keep up with the 2016 presidential candidate. After footage of reporters booking it across a lawn to chase down Clinton’s van and the ongoing debate over Clinton’s Chipotle burrito bowl made the headlines last week, many began to wonder just how desperate we all truly were to get our hands on fresh Clinton content, no matter how mundane. The newest photo, then, is sure to keep her at the top of everyone’s gossip list for a while.

According to The Washington Post, Clinton has been a "Game Boy master" for some time, despite reports to the contrary which paint her as an aging baby boomer with a special disdain for modern technology. In 1997, Post reporter Karen Tumulty, then a reporter for TIME magazine, quipped:

With Chelsea's departure, the First Lady who mastered Game Boy has resolved to overcome her phobia of computers. Her chief of staff, Melanne Verveer, lately caught her thumbing through a book called Internet E-Mail for Dummies.

There are several jokes to be made at this point, but we’ll leave it to the comedians.

According to The Verge and a 2002 feature story by The New York Times, Clinton's game of choice was none other than the nail-biting thriller Tetris. "Between Nintendo sales and PC sales, 70 or 80 million copies of that game sold," recalled Gilman Louie, the man who brought the popular game to America. "We even found out that Hillary Clinton loved playing Tetris on the Game Boy."

The new image of Clinton as a "gamer" might be a bit far-fetched, but more than likely, it will serve to bolster her reputation as a fresh voice in politics (despite having worked the circuits year in and year out) and a humble woman of the people — something that her current campaign manager, Robby Mook, is looking to push over the next 18 months.

SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

Whether she's creating headlines for knocking back a cold one to relax with her pals ("Dude, if this is true, I want to party with Hillary," tweeted one supporter) or cracking jokes that have the rest of the room in tears of laughter ("Her sense of humor is one of Washington’s best-kept secrets," reported U.S. News & World Report on Monday), it's a safe bet that the new and improved "everywoman" Clinton is successfully on her way to an epic 2016 standoff for the White House.

Images: Getty Images (1)