Deborah Willis - Obama: The Historic Campaign in Photographs

For my mom, Ruth Willis

DW

For my wife, Donna Britt

KM

Obama speaks to a crowd estimated at 75,000 during a rally at Waterfront Park in Portland, Oregon, May 18, 2008. It was one of the largest crowds anyone could remember a presidential candidate ever drawing for a single event. 2008 Getty Images-Justin Sullivan

Photographic series shows Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, onstage during his election night rally at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, at the end of the 2008 Democratic party primaries, June 3, 2008. Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images

Obama walks back to his office on Capitol Hill after a series of votes on the Senate Floor, May 13, 2008. Tim Sloan/AFP/Getty Images

Portraits of candidates and candid shots of their supporters and detractors have traditionally comprised nineteenth-and twentieth-century photography of presidential campaigns. Through the years, political photography has been used for a variety of purposesfrom documenting a candidates appeal by showcasing him or her amidst sizable crowds to highlighting their of-the-people appeal through pictures of them eating at mom-and-pop diners or holding babies. We also come to think of family portraits or childhood photos as ways of humanizing those who aspire to lead the free world. These kinds of images can be found in Obama: The Historic Campaign in Photographs and then some. Yet this collection also shows images of elements unique to Obamas historic campaign: teeming crowds more notably multiracial than any other campaigns in recent memory, the appeal to and inclusion of youth in the candidates successful bid for the Democratic Party nomination, and the candidates use of technology to build support, whether it be a photograph of Obama on a BlackBerry or an image of a campaign staffer who knew particularly well the power of the Internet.

Through 150 photographs, Obama: The Historic Campaign in Photographs highlights the road to Barack Obamas groundbreaking nomination as the first black American to lead the presidential ticket of a major party. The images are politically contextualized by the Washington Post s Kevin Merida, who covered the campaign for the paper. His essay charts Obamas road to the nomination and places his achievement in the historical context of African American political advancement.

Photography has played a significant role in framing Obama, both as an icon and as a subject of curiosity. This unique collection documents the public and private moments of his campaign and includes photographs by professional photojournalists and portrait photographers as well as by volunteers, rallygoers, and young supporters who used their cell phones and video or digital cameras to capture his image. As a photohistorian, I decided to include images from amateur photographers because Obamas ability to connect with people of all ages and classes and their desire to preserve his likeness for posterity is essential to the story of his nomination. Their desire to cheer for him, to listen to his every word, to lionize and accord him respect as if hes already president, is palpable. As is traditional with presidential photography, whether hes being photographed by a professional or an amateur, the images, at times, look almost biblical. This is not a new trend. As indicated in Lonnie G. Bunchs The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden: Presidents inhabit our collective memory in part because of an astonishing array of media. Portraits, photographs, film, television, folk songs, Broadway musicals, advertisements, and souvenirs have all served to celebrate, criticize, satirize, sell, legitimize, exploit, praise, and memorialize the holder of this office.

I researched thousands of imagesfrom picture agencies, individual photographers, and families who attended parties and campaign events. Many have a spirit of optimism and joy. Public interest in this book was encouraging as more and more photographs were given to me. Many people shared stories about the day they saw him or met him; one story was particularly memorable: Elise Jones Martin. Her son, Montez Martin, sent me a note and a photograph taken during Obamas visit to South Carolina and enthusiastically gave me permission to use it in this book; Merida discusses it as well (see Begin Reading).

Rather than chronologically following the campaign from the initial announcement, the photographs are grouped thematically based on the subject, from intimate and personal shots of Barack Obama with his family to pictures of the candidate speaking to large crowds in grand public spaces. The book then moves on to images that show how Barack Obama is perceived as an iconic figure who is suspect, praised, and admired. Others show people using popular and material culture, including symbolic trinkets, mementos, T-shirts, and small gifts, such as JFK campaign buttons, a wristband honoring a deceased soldier, commemorative coins, and an Obama necklace made from pieces of a Scrabble game, to express their trust in the candidate. These collectibles reveal much about changing notions of how a president can or should be remembered, as described in The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden.

Annie Leibovitz catches Obama in a contemplative pose, relaxed but in reflection, during a Mens Vogue photography session.
Barack Obama in his Chicago home office. Annie Leibovitz/Contact Press Images, originally photographed for Mens Vogue

Photographers have documented Obama in various candid poses, from talking to one of his daughters on a cell phone or buying a kaleidoscope for his children in a tourist gift shop to imposing and striking portraits of a leader standing high on a flag-draped platform, a handsome, dapperly dressed man who exudes high moral character or the everyman wearing a white shirt with and without a tie. Photographs of the Obama family waving to crowds or with the Kennedys, the Clintons, Oprah Winfrey, and other celebrities and anonymous families are interspersed throughout the book as well as photographs of political leaders and rivals, religious figures, educators, and young children whose faces and bodies are decorated with the Obama logo. There are also photographs of broadcast news coverage of the debates as well as on-camera images before and after press conferences. These documentary photographs transfer inspirational messages from Obamas campaign to the American Public.

Michelle Obamawife, mother, and executive administratorappears smartly dressed and fashionably aware whether in evening attire or everyday dress. She is shown in this book expressing love and respect with humor and support. Hugging her husband with her arms around his back, she exemplifies beauty, strength, and encouragement in one of the series of fist bump images that reveal a sense of camaraderie between the two. Viewed outside the stereotypes presented in some broadcast and print news stories, Michelle Obamas photographs reveal that she is a highly poised woman who is prepared to take on the duties of First Lady.

Obama: The Historic Campaign in Photographs offers us a moment to pause and consider this campaign, one that instilled a sense of hope, joy, and dignity in unexpected places. The viewer will find ironic and iconic images that will shape the understanding of this landmark political season. The book also helps us understand how image and text are used in presidential campaigns. One revealing slogan shared the podium with Obama at a rally: built to Last.