BAGnewsNotes

Putting The Peddle To The Mettle

Last week, Clinton advisers believed Mr. Clinton was rattling Mr. Obama and drawing his focus away from his message. The results on Saturday indicated, instead, that voters were impressed with Mr. Obama’s mettle and agreed with him that the Clintons ran an excessively negative campaign here.

-- From NYT 1/26/07 News Analysis: "Obama Weathers A Test Of Mettle."

With Zogby warning the race was tightening, and the media convinced Bubba had gotten into Barack's head, this proved a quintessential photo in the South Carolina media narrative.  (It appeared in Friday's NYT "On The Trail" slideshow.)

What I was specifically wondering, however, is what the caption might have looked like if those Clinton advisors had dictated that too:

Clearly, the campaign was distracted and agitated, the mood as cold and hard as that manilla block wall at Kingstree Senior High School.  Axelrod kept repeating that they couldn't lose, but nobody was listening.  Gibbs, the communications director, just kept his head down, playing with his Blackberry. Obama, of course, was the picture of disgust.  He kept looking off in the distance, as if enduring Clinton spouting off again.  His focus clearly drawn away from his message, Obama grumbled:  "These notes...  Why, they're not worth the paper their written on!"

Surely, that's how it went down.

Next episode: Tired of "change" and "hope," Super Tuesday voters clamor for "mettle."

Obama Weathers a Test of Mettle (NYT)
On The Trail Slideshow (1/24/08 - NYT)

(image: Damon Winter/The New York Times.  Kingstree, South Carolina.  January 24, 2008. nytimes.com)

Message Discipline

This clever snap, reflecting Jeffrey Feldman's point, is a (capitalized) dig at Obama for drifting off-message.

(image: Brian Snyder/Reuters.  via YahooNews.  caption: A supporter of Democratic presidential candidate US Senator Hillary Clinton holds up a sign reading 'Hillary Gives Me Hope' at the 'Election Eve Stump Meeting' hosted by the South Carolina Democratic Party in Columbia, South Carolina January 25,2008.)

Thanks For Stopping By

(click for full size)

Krugman says the Dems -- and the little guy -- got punked in the stimulus deal.  And another bad sign: Reid is only referring to it as "a first step," suggesting he wasn't much involved.  As he told The Times:

“The secretary of the Treasury has understood, the president has understood, the speaker has understood that when it comes over here (to the Senate), we are going to take another look at it.”

Harry, you left the barn door open!

Anyway, I was studying newswire pics of the deal announcement (featuring Pelosi, sandwiched between the House Republican leader and the Republican Treasury Secretary), already thinking they looked overly one-sided, when the story of the deal hit the NYT on-line, led by the pic above.

War Of Perception

I'm sure the Reuters photographer, shooting this picture near Baquba in mid-December, was just looking to create a little interest. What he actually delivers, however, is a reminder of just how thoroughly this war is a matter of perception.

In this particular frame -- featuring soldiers from the 52nd Infantry, 4th Brigade alongside Iraqi police -- the situation, as composed, appears mostly pacified.  Today's reality, however, is that the Sunni pacification strategy is starting to fray.  Not only are the mostly Sunni Awakening Councils taking increased punishment from less compliant insurgents, but these "occupation-friendly" forces are growing increasingly disillusioned with the Iraqi government for refusing to fold them into the state-run security apparatus.

The NYT link below lays things out the clouding picture fairly clearly -- even if it's not showing up in the larger window.

Attacks Imperil U.S.-Backed Militias in Iraq (NYT)

(image: Bob Strong/Reuters.  Al Hamer, near Baquba December 14, 2007. via YahooNews)

Painted Construction Markings

Last week, I had the pleasure of hanging out a bit with photographers Spencer Platt, David Butow, and BNN contributer Nina Berman.  As winners in last year's World Press Photo competition, the three were participating in a two-day program at USC's Annenberg School in conjunction with the WP exhibition.

Spencer was the "Photo of the Year" winner, and Nina earned first place in the portrait category for her "Marine Wedding" image -- which I posted after the announcement, and which we discussed extensively here at The BAG.  It's David's shot, however -- the second place winner in the "Daily Life" category, behind Spencer's -- that I've spent a good bit of time looking at, and am pleased to finally share with you.

My meeting David though, besides being a pleasure, also offered a healthy reminder about the subjectivity of social and political imagery.

To set the table, you have to understand that most people who see this photo -- including the World Press judges -- are also provided the following description:

Pedestrians cross a section of Wall Street covered in painted construction markings, near the New York Stock Exchange, shortly before the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attack on the city's World Trade Center. The former WTC site and parts of lower Manhattan were still in the rebuilding process following the attack.

Because my knowledge of the picture has been so interwoven with the description, I wouldn't know how to separate the two.  That being said -- and I've seen the same interpretation made by a few other visually and politically oriented people I know -- whenever I look at this photo, those construction markings remind me of Arabic.

Now, I don't know if I saw it that way on first look, or it was prompted by the description.  Either way, I now tend to take those street markings; combine them with the guy in the foreground in the turban (although likely Sikh, not Muslim);  add in the Semitic-looking guy pulling the bag while crossing the street; combine that with the known proximity to the WTC site and the anniversary, and I get a powerful sense of those attacks having left a psychic fingerprint on the city, creating an emotional floor under the otherwise everyday comings and goings.

So, what was really illuminating was the opportunity to share this association with David Butow.  After giving him the quick sketch, however, despite the smile and his obvious interest, he related that nobody had ever offered this take about Arabic writing before.

Your Turn: Rites Of Passage (Nina Berman's Marine Wedding (BAGnewsNotes)
2007 World Press Photo of the Year - Spencer Platt/Southern Lebanon (World Press)
Photojournalists honored at Annenberg reception (Daily Trojan)
World Press Photo exhibit opens at USC Annenberg
DavidButow.com

(image: © David Butow/Redux.  New York, August 1, 2006)

Making It Through Without Stopping

(click for full sizes)

Yesterday, in my haste to address the breach of the wall in Ramallah, I posted the top photo, above.  I accompanied it with a comment from a well meaning reader likening the scene to the fall of the Berlin wall.

Well, not long into the comment thread, it was pointed out -- with complete justification -- that this analogy, relative to the immediate Israeli/Palestinian situation, was as much uncomplicated as it was random.  On reflection, I could see how my impulsivity (and attraction to the analogy) had been motivated by the sudden release of pressure following Israel's five-day total blockade of Gaza.

From that point, taking the opportunity to look further, what stood out was the documentation of a rare collective moment.  No, the world didn't change, or anything even close.  But for an afternoon, at least, a mass group of Gazians were able to suddenly pass freely -- to escape, to run the checkpoint -- without repercussion.

What the image also caused, in my case, was to remind me of a shot I saw about two weeks ago.  Fixed in my mind was a scene from January 10th involving George Bush's visit to the West Bank.  That morning, because of heavy fog, "43" was forced to forsake his helicopter and travel by ground, via motorcade.  Although the press was highly tamped down throughout Dubya's entire Middle East trip, the NYT managed to publish the photo above -- taken by a photographer for European Press Photo Agency -- of the motorcade passing unhindered through an Israeli checkpoint.

Campaign Visuals In the Age of Facebook

I wanted to mention my new piece at American Photo, an interview with photographer Stephen Ferry.

Specifically, it's an analysis of an image Stephen shot just before the New Hampshire primary, and a look at how recent campaign coverage can be seen to reflect a "Facebook aesthetic."

If Ferry is more well known for his civil war coverage in Columbia, the part of his bio that stands out for me is the time he spent as White House photographer for Ronald Reagan.  More than anything though, Stephen has a deft ability to culturally and politically read a photograph.  I hope to bring more of his analysis to The BAG in the near future.

Campaign Visuals In the Age of Facebook (American Photo/State of the Art)
Stephen Ferry website

(image: © Stephen Ferry/Redux.  January 7, 2008.  Rochester, New Hampshire.  Used by permission)

A Banner Year For Corporate Debate Sponsors?

Back in October, following the Democratic debate at Drexel University, I was doing my usual run through the pictures when I landed on a page at the Huffington Post "Off The Bus" project.

The entry featured a "behind the scenes" video by a young, indy media group called GroundReport.  As the young reporter, Rachel Sterne, moved from campaign and media operations outside the Main Building Auditorium to the debate setting inside, something caught my eye.

Behind Ms. Sterne, on the far wall of the media's filing room, I noticed a banner for Walmart.  What then attracted my notice -- while Ms. Sterne was interviewing Carl Cameron, the Chief Political Correspondent for FOX -- was a large banner over his shoulder for $18 billion drug giant, Astra Zeneca.

At the time, I did a screen grab of the pharmaceutical banner, but sort of forgot about it.

What rekindled my interest, however, was the buzz on Monday over the coal industry's sponsorship of at least three CNN debates.  If you missed it, the coal industry has created a front group called Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC) which has a $35 million ad budget in states with primaries and caucuses to snow the public on the idea of "clean coal."

What is most disturbing, however, is the fact that, in those three debates -- including the one Monday night in South Carolina, as well as the CNN/YouTube debates in Nevada and Florida -- not one question was asked about global warming.

Your Turn: The Week In Carolina (or: Always The Cheerleader)

I was wondering what you saw in this image.

It seems like a play on the rather searing contradiction surfacing in South Carolina this week between Bill Clinton's two identities -- the affectionate one as "America's first black president," and the second as Hillary's (problematic) attack dog.

(I'll save my own thoughts for the discussion thread.)

Update 1/23/08:  I just added on to the title.  Hope that doesn't lend too much skew.  I explain in the thread....

image from: In S. Carolina, It’s Obama vs. Clinton. That’s Bill Clinton.  (NYT)

(image: Tami Chappell/Reuters.  Atlanta.  January 21, 2007.  nytimes.com. caption:  Bill Clinton, at a King holiday observance in Atlanta on Monday, is in a war of words with his wife’s rival Barack Obama.)

King Day Final

If the photo invites a comparison, is Obama more pupil, beneficiary or logical successor?

And because yesterday finished out with the debate (still burning in my ears), I can imagine each camp's caption.  From HRC: "Merely a shadow."  From BHO:  "So, I guess we're missing LBJ."

--
Update 9:20 am PST:

I guess the question, thinking about it overnight, is whether the photographer, then the editor, found the two worthy of comparison, or felt that Obama should be measured (somehow) in relation to King.  In the latter regard, however, it seems the deck is stacked in Obama's favor....

The fact that Obama "steps up" from King (reading left-to-right, which tends to be interpreted as "going forward") is to his advantage.  More so, however -- and this is probably why I was thinking about Obama as a successor (in spite of their different vocations) -- is because of the line formed by King, Obama, and the man at the far right.  This feature gives the picture the sense of "a line of succession," with Obama "next in line." (Being centered like that emphasizes Barack as the man of the hour ... and the "looking off in the distance" quality doesn't hurt, either. )  If one were to "push that angle further," in fact, one might even say (and I mean this more metaphorically of course, not literally) that "the next man in line" would/could be even blacker.

(Of course, the Obama - King comparison is a force-fit, which serves to weaken Obama's charge against Hillary in the King/LBJ dust up, because vocationally and in terms of his aspirations, Obama probably lines up as much with LBJ.)

Dem candidates address King Day rally (MSNBC)
Moyers On Clinton, Obama, King and Johnson: A Bill Moyers Essay (via Cursor.org)
In Memory and Honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (TalkLeft)
Obama and Clinton Tangle at Debate (NYT)

(image: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters.  State capitol. Columbia, South Carolina. January 21, 2008. via YahooNews)