BAGnewsNotes

Obama More Or Less

Obama: John F. Kennedy or John F. Kerry?

Okay, sorry about the Wolf Blitzer-ish, "paper or plastic," exaggerated forced-choice question.  Having watched Obama closely in the debate last night (and since we were discussing him earlier in the week), I wanted to come back to him ... but from a more psychological point of view.

If Obama can't win, I think it might have less to do with his being black than being green.  (And I don't mean that from an "eco" sense.)  The buzz earlier this week was about Obama's electrifying appearance in Iowa at the Jefferson-Jackson dinner last Saturday.  That event, however, coupled with his muted debate performance last night in Las Vegas, just makes people more aware, confused and crazy over the dichotomy between the high-octane "Kennedy Obama" and the tentative and overly deferential "Kerry Obama."

The good news is, I don't believe Obama's tentativeness is "diagnostic."  That is, I think it is more a growth issue (as compared to Kerry, whose personality has significant depressive and passive/submissive features.)  Instead, I think Obama, at this stage in his career, is mostly lacking in the experience and confidence necessary to more fully assimilate his considerable passion and oratorical gifts.

Along these lines, the most interesting picture of Obama I've seen recently was his appearance two weeks ago in a skit on Saturday Night Live.  At a Halloween party thrown by Hillary and Bill Clinton, a character enters the room disguised as Barack Obama, and when he pulls off his mask, he is Obama.

Bridge World In An Uproar

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Here's the photo of the "incident" that "has the bridge world in an uproar."

The image shows America's women's team members (l to r) Jill Levin, Jill Meyers, Debbie Rosenberg and Irina Levitina during the award ceremony following their victory in the world championships last month in Shanghai.

Here's the article link for background on the punishments being levied; what the world bridge organizational ground rules are for brandishing political communications scribbled on the back of a menu; and comments, by the players, about the atmosphere at the competition, which was described as less warm toward the Americans than during previous tournaments, with a lot of anti-war, anti-torture and anti-Bush sentiment being expressed.

In my mind, the biggest deal about this image -- photographed during the singing of "The Star Spangled Banner" while several team members were waving small American flags -- is why it's a big deal at all.

Getting The Hell Out

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Have you seen Absolut Vodka's new campaign illustrating what "a better world" might look like in various American cities?

In New York, art work would replace commercial signage in Times Square and 2nd Avenue would get a subway.  In Northern California a bike lane  (via cgi.ebay.com) would  traverse the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge, and in Los Angeles (via militantangeleno), the city would reclaim the forsaken L.A. River and incorporate it into the urban infrastructure.

And then, there's New Orleans.

In the obvious read, the inbound freeway would be jammed with trucks bringing in heavy machinery for building and reconstruction.  With the flood of resources pouring in (pardon the pun), the outbound lanes would be empty as that nobody would want to leave.

I'm thinking the image might have something of a double-edge, however.  As such, I offer two alternative (if slightly less idealistic) reads.

1.  High Mileage

IN AN ABSOLUT WORLD, most residents would have the means to afford the cars and gas to actually come and go.

2.  Developer Dreams

IN AN ABSOLUT WORLD ... all that building equipment flowing in would be repair/build fair-market housing.

3.  Too Little Too Late

IN AN ABSOLUT WORLD ... the freeway heading away from the city would be wide open, so that next time everyone could get the hell out.

More kvetching here.

(image: TBWA/Chiat/Day, New York)

Swiftboat Anatomy

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When a reader forwarded me an anti-Obama email last week, I dismissed it.  Because its gone viral, however, I thought I would take another look.

The copy accompanying the image reads:

Senator Barack Obama, Governor Bill Richardson, Senator Hillary Clinton and Ruth Harkin stand during the national anthem.

Barack Hussein Obama's photo (that's his real name)......the article said he REFUSED TO NOT ONLY PUT HIS HAND ON HIS HEART DURING THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE, BUT REFUSED TO SAY THE PLEDGE.....how in the hell can a man like this expect to be our next Commander! -in-Chief????

WAPO straightens out the facts, including the point that the shot -- taken at a steak fry hosted by Tom Harken in September -- occurs during the national anthem, not the pledge of allegiance.  (If you're interested, here's the pic in its original context, and the original slide show from the beginning.)

This cheap piece of email (despite what Bill Clinton said) is the first definitive piece of swiftboating of the '08 campaign.  Let other bloggers speak to why it circulated the way it did ... and why the media seems to have run with it.  ...For a particularly nasty example, by the way, check out the MSNBC blog, "First Read."  (Scroll down to "Obama.")  The choice part reads:

" A while back, we had heard of some rumored polling (which we could never get confirmed) indicating a large percentage of African-Americans in South Carolina who thought Obama was a Muslim. "

Beyond the "allegiance charge," however, I think this image -- the way its being used -- also plays on fears and anxiety over immigration (and assimilation).  To get a better sense of this, take a look at this juxtaposition.

           

It doesn't matter that Bill Richardson is American-born with his father a naturalist from Boston.  To the "target audience," what we've got is "a good immigrant," -- a Hispanic guy who has got himself a good American last name; knows how to aligned himself properly to fit in (see stars and flowers); proudly stands up for the flag; and can look his fellow Americans straight in the eye.

What we have, on the other hand, is a black man with a Muslim name who has not only turned his back on the flag, but also turns away from the model (in the person of Richardson) of assimilation.

(h/t: Joe.  image: Danny Wilcox Frazier / Redux for TIME. September 16, 2007. time.com)

Bush/San Antonio 2: Looking Elsewhere ... Or From Behind

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I wanted to follow up on Bush's visit this week to the 100% privately-funded Center for the Intrepid rehabilitation facility, confusingly located at the Brooke Army Hospital in San Antonio.

I was interested in the report by AFP that the President spent time with the wounded soldiers "killing" Iraqis.  According to the wire report:

US President George W. Bush had a shoot-out with the "bad guys" in Iraq on Thursday, playing a computer game with war veterans that simulates a firefight in Baghdad, the White House said.

Bush tried his hand at the game with two soldiers during a visit to a rehabilitation center in Texas that treats veterans wounded in Iraq.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Bush helped "shoot the bad guys" in a Baghdad neighborhood, albeit virtually.

She said the president saw several "cutting edge virtual reality games" that allow recovering soldiers at the center in San Antonio to simulate riding in a car or boat.
Apart from the computer game session, Bush's visit with badly wounded soldiers was often emotional as he spoke with patients who had lost limbs or suffered severe burns in the Iraq war.

Dan Froomkin is justifiably exercised over this aspect of the visit, going off on how the gesture (although he didn't exactly say it this way) both obscures and highlights Bush's complete lack of experience with combat.

What is disappointing, but not surprising at all, is the photo accompanying the AFP story.  Many captions I've noticed on-line link this image to the gaming session.  I don't know if that is the case, or not. All we see are soldiers in the background around a portable device.

Short of witnessing the President taking aim and firing, however, what the shot does reveal -- in mocked and powerful contrast to the rest of the highly posed and composed images of the visit  -- is that the Commander-in-Chief -- so venerated by the soldiers in most of the images that were circulated -- is no competition for attention with a handheld video game device.

And a couple more notes...

The White House photo documentation of the visit differs in significant ways from the MSM coverage.  One would never have known from the traditional media, for example, that women soldiers were also being treated at the facility.  Are there reasons the visual media (consciously or unconsciously) left out the fact?  (And why is it that the White House photographer chose to "hide" the woman's injuries, photographing her and the President from behind?)

Also, check out this shot of Bush giving a thumb up at a "flowrider" demonstration.  Not only does it evoke a surfer chic, the impression of the woman looking admiringly on lends even more to the beach boy aesthetic.

If you would, please add any reactions to the discussion thread below at yesterday's original post.

(image 1: unattributed/ AFP.  image 2: Eric Draper/White House., November. 8, 2007. San Antonio, whitehouse.gov)