Wednesday, December 27, 2006
News / News Bites Barack Obama's Christmas card
Posted by Michael Miner on 12.27.06 at 10:25 AM
John Kass has a theory about Barack Obama and why everyone likes him. "It's as if writers are helplessly channeling the brilliant Obama/Daley media crisis manager David Axelrod, who is using secret powers to enter their minds from afar," writes the Tribune columist.
That could be. I have another theory. Axelrod used to manage the late senator Paul Simon's campaigns. I think Axelrod has sent Obama Simon's Christmas card list. I used to get a card every year from the Simons, whom I didn't know. This year for the first time I got a card -- a "Happy Holidays" card -- from the Obamas, whom I don't know.
But their card is a little different. Unless memory fails, Senator Simon didn't send out cards featuring a family portrait by celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz. Or if he did, he kept the photo credit to himself. Whereas the Obamas' card says "Photo by: Annie Leibovitz" on the back, right above "Authorized and paid for by Obama 2010, Inc." (On Daily Kos right now there's a discussion about how it measures up to the portraits on Christmas cards from John Edwards and the Clintons.) The photo appears to be an outtake from this shoot for Men's Vogue, which raised some eyebrows when it accompanied a profile by Jacob Weisberg earlier this year.
It's one thing to get called out for a tricky little real estate deal with Tony Rezko--at some point Obama was obliged to show he's a true man of his state and knows his shenanigans as well as the next pol. But a Christmas card by Annie Leibovitz? I wondered if I wasn't actually looking at a rather crafty dirty trick perpetrated by political enemies conniving to paint him as something of a snob. Surely Obama himself would never announce to every constituent he sends a holiday card to that he's too good for the hard-working yeoman photographers of Illinois.
Or ıs he runnıng as the junior senator from Vogue? (Who, incidentally, figures to run strong in the neighboring state of Vanity Fair?)
Comments (19)
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In all seriousness, there are reasons to like the idea of a presidential candidate with good taste in art.
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Please, Mike, you are starting to sound like Kass himself, trying hard to be be lowlier than thou. Does the idea of an Annie Leibovitz photo offend you or the more common people who need you to tell them what they think?
Looks downright thrifty to me. The guy uses the picture paid for by Vogue. Where is the problem?
Barack Obama is an empty suit with dubious ties to a convicted fundraiser. He won't do anything to save the poor unlike Hillary Clinton who's been fighting for civil rights the last 30 years. Go Hillary!
Hillary fights for civil rights. Even when she fires the White House travel office so she can put her Arkansas friends on the payroll. (What's he talking about?) Even while she takes $100,000 as a Wall Street bribe and gives back $1000 and says she learned how to do that in the Wall Street Journal. (No! He's lying!) None are so blind as those who will not see.
Mike - I believe the term you're searching for is "limousine liberal." Obama is a fraud. Kinky Friedman for Pope.
Just because it was shot for Vogue doesn't mean he got the photo for free. I would guess his campaign had to buy the rights to use it.
Maybe AL donated it as long as there was a photo credit. She doesn't need the $, she probably gets asked to shoot political images all the time--I'm guessing somehow this might have been a political choice. Maybe. But either way, I can't seem to get that worked up about him using an America's-Most-Famous-Photog photo, quite, although I can see what it smells like in worst case interpretation. The tackiest part to me seems to be the connection between Christmas & re-election. If his election campaign owns the photo...he coulda used a diff one. Is this a common thing for politicians to do?
Hey, if I had a leftover Annie Leibovitz photo of me and my family, I'd use it on Christmas cards, too.
p.s. Okay, I finally got over to Kos to check out the other Christmas cards, and now I'm really fine with Obama's choice of photo. The others are downright bad and amateurish, as if there's some virtue--some reverse-snobbery merit--in having a crappy snap-shot-like photo. (Why is E. Edwards not even looking at the camera?) That actually seems somewhat disingenuous to me now next to Liebowitz's image, which is quite beautiful. I think it's probably more honest of him to use it and to not play some dowdy political game. Having said that, I *do* (meant to mention this before) think that the body language the Obama card demonstrates is pretty revealing. I wonder who's the star of the family, toward which all the spokes return?
I got the card and didn't even notice the Leibovitz credit. Shows you how observant I am. Anyways, questions like this (i.e., focused on sideshow non-issues) are going to become a regular occurrence for Obama, so he better get ready to deal with them. The Favorite son / front-runner title comes with brightly colored target.
Obama (With Apologies to Paul Anka) I’m too young so I’ve been told Still I’m aiming for the fold. I don’t care just what they say All my plumage I’ll display. Fliers designed to appeal To all voters I’ll reveal. “Oh, please vote for me, Obama.†Jaded people tend to smirk Still it’s dumb advice to shirk Sending things which bear my name. Xmas cards could lead to fame And if Leibovitz’s is best Then 08 will be the test. “Oh, please vote for me, Obama.â€
I think what Obama suffers is from a Charismatic leadership. His speeches are inspiring to say the truth. But after his presidency sadly enough he has lost his charm a bit since he wasn't really quick enough to reply on major world issues.
