Campaign ’10 Mood Music

A Twitter follower tweeted me this picture he took of Senator Schumer at a rally yesterday at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. In ’06, complex was sold to a developer who intended to convert it to luxury housing. While the plan fell apart, residents are still fearful about the future of the complex and are pressuring Schumer to help insure it stays affordable.

The picture, though, seems to go beyond the immediate issue to address the larger public mood heading into the election season. (The tweeter — also the photographer — made a point to say how angry the audience was.) I read it as the Senator — as part as the Washington establishment as anyone, and apparently showing some slippage in the polls lately — not just facing a tide, but having a bit of trouble (assist to that great ear flap) distinguishing himself in this season’s sea of the nameless, faceless, cold and frustrated.

And then, what I also see — unless it’s just a pure coincidence of the angle — is how these political animals are drawn to the camera at all times.

(photo: B Donnelly/farm5.static.flickr.com)