BagNews Archives About Staff BagNews is a progressive site dedicated to visual politics and the analysis of news images.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Twitter

@bagnewsnotes »
Advertisement

February 9, 2009

Back In The U.S.A.

By Michael Shaw

Elkhart Obama.jpg

It’s all right there: Back in the bright lights. Back in the arms of the people.

I like this Reuters shot — one of the first on the newswire — of Obama on the road selling his stimulus package. He’s in Elkhart, Indiana, a town stricken by the recession. (Although the photo — mirroring the town hall telecast, or the part I saw streaming on CNN, anyway, where you could only hear citizen’s questions but not see the questioner — doesn’t show the face of any of these good people.)

It’s a classic presidential photo op. But I’m almost as relieved as Obama must be for a break from stultifying, hallowed hall Washington. … and yes, the reminder that politics is supposed to be about the citizenry.

(image: Jim Young/Reuters. U.S. President Barack Obama arrives to take part in a town hall meeting Concord Community High School in Elkhart, Indiana, February 9, 2009. Obama on Monday called for tax breaks for companies that invest in the United States and said he would like to see education funding restored to the economic-stimulus bill.)

« Prev

Next »

  • mcc

    I have to admit I’m a little confused what the purpose of this pro-stimulus campaigning is, coming as it does after an apparent deal that ensures the stimulus’s package. Is it to try to induce another (R) or two to flip when the Senate finally votes? Is the point to bolster the now-safe stimulus package’s approval after several weeks of Republican smears about it dominating cable TV, or give Democratic negotiators more leeway in reconciling the House and Senate versions of the bill? Or is the point just to move Obama back into a visible leadership role after the Republicans caught him apparently off guard the last week or so? What?

  • http://www.victorfitzsimons.net Victor F

    Lens flare is when light refracts off the surface of the camera’s glass, often due to a backlit shot from a wide-angle lens. What I see here is a tinge of green aura coming from these Indianans, perhaps suggesting that a few green jobs will help this stricken area shine again.
    I’m so pissed off at the Republicans for twisting this bill out of shape and I bet President Obama is even more pissed that a few out-of-touch whiners are keeping real relief from getting to real people. Who wouldn’t want to leave town for a while?

  • stevelaudig

    Elkhart is mostly know for manufacturing relocatable homes and the monster Winnebago type vehicles that we can now view as carbon spewing dinosaurs that they always were. it spent 30 years making things that shouldn’t have been made in the first place. Sorrow for those hurt yes. wish them well yes. build the monsters again as part of a “recovery”? What exactly is being recovered?

  • http://blogs.salon.com/0003935/theRanticore Julia Grey

    This barnstorming is intended to put pressure on the conference committee and the Senate when the conference committee reports back. We need to get that state aid back into the bill, and the Senate GOP are making noises that they are willing to block any conference report which includes that aid by calling a point of order (the bill is being considered out of order because we are in a hurry). The point of order, like a cloture motion, needs 60 votes to pass, and the numbers are still shaky, due to Blue Doggishness.

  • http://profile.typepad.com/TeresaNBlaurock Books Alive

    You’re right about wanting to see the questioner – when Rachel Maddow had Questioner no. 2 on the screen during her show last night, I did a double-take. Where did that video come from? Someone in the audience sent it to her? YouTube has a series of the Q&A from Elkhart. This “Fat Cats” segment lasts 6 minutes, partially due to a balky mic. The clips provided by MSNBC for Rachel’s program are few in number and I couldn’t find one that showed this questioner.

  • http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/07/republicans_cut_500000_jobs_out_of_stimulus_packag/ yg

    the consequence of the senate cuts:
    Let’s extend our congratulations to Senators Susan Collins and Ben Nelson for having negotiated a stimulus package that will produce 500,000 fewer jobs than the one passed by the House.

Recent Comments

Popular Topics

More topics »

Popular Entries


Archives

Recent Entries