By this point in Obama's presidency, it's pretty clear to most people (except the most lizard-brained) that the racist/gang attack is a straw man. But if that's the case, then why do it?
Continue ReadingWhat makes the photos of Obama's visit to the Great Buddha statue in Kamakura so arresting on the last day of his Asia trip is the dramatic contrast between the symbolism of the statue and the all-out post-midterm hell awaiting him back in D.C.
Continue ReadingBeyond the analogy of America as a car stuck in a ditch, the harsh photo represents Obama as the guy who was in the car when it got totaled.
Continue ReadingBagReaders weigh in on Barry Blitt's new New Yorker Obama - Boehner Oval Office fist bump cover. (...Or, is it the Blitt Obama fist bump do over?)
Continue ReadingThe measure of the post-midterm trip is the ability to successfully change the subject.
Continue ReadingToday's "day after mid-terms" wallpaper symbolizes a perfect collusion between an all-too-generic interpretation (guy takes hit, guy chastened) and the conservative one (President reeling from policy slap-down from the American people). The only thing is, both readings are wrong.
Continue ReadingThe scene of this man kneeling in front of Obama's limo is suggestive of the awesome gap between the have and increasingly-despairing have nots in this country ... a problem, during this election, we heard next-to-nothing about.
Continue ReadingAfter all the drama and battling, the mid-terms boiled down to this NYT composition leading today's front page.
Continue ReadingWith one day to go before this critical mid-term election, who could think of a greater threat both to these mid-term elections and to this deep thinking President than reason and intellect?
Continue ReadingMaybe what the shot captures is a classic Dem characteristic: smelling the fear.
Continue ReadingSaying that "Change Is Coming … Again," and then offering us Boehner as Obama made over, the message is that the "change" America experienced in 2008 involved little more than a Washington change of face.
Continue ReadingWhat with Obama turning on the juice to turn out the mid-term vote, campaign narrative or not, it looks like his team is looking for every and any bit of wattage right now.
Continue ReadingKeep an eye out right now for an "Obama as hapless" meme. Media -- and the GOP, or course -- are always looking for any suggestion of weakness.
Continue ReadingWith the Tea Party's standard bearers looking more and more radical and wild-eyed, this photo of the President, calm and grounded outside the Oval Office, is all the more impactful for the lack of drama or pizzaz.
Continue ReadingIf many writers have already provided Mr. D'Souza's bizarre pseudo-intellectual racist attack a thoughtful slapdown, my concern is the visual language.
Continue ReadingConsidering the date of this winning "Magazine Cover of the Year" award, it seems the message has only grown stronger.
Continue ReadingSure, it's only one picture, but in embracing this woman with cancer, Obama actually and finally interjects some heart into an issue that is, after all, a matter of life-and-death.
Continue ReadingIf Mike Allen thinks Woodward's book is a net positive for Obama, the cover surely isn't. Call it "team of rival-ry."
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