Barack Obama: TIME's Player Of The Year

BAGnewsNotes

December 18, 2008

Maybe I'm just being cynical, but this cover -- in an attempt to be catchy -- seems to play on the Machiavellian idea that a clever and charismatic left-wing Obama (when was the last time TIME fronted a peace sign?) exploited a couple key issues, turned himself into a pop icon, then parlayed the Presidency out of it.

Reading the Shepard Fairey Obama pop art cover left-to-right, I see an upward-looking guy who mostly took opposition to the Iraq War (occupying about the top quarter of the illustration) and a more talk about alternative energy, wrapped those issues in a patriotic package, and then leveraged the early support of the peace movement (lower right) to curry favor -- in light of the public's profoundly low regard for Washington -- to score enormous cash from the teeming hordes (see crowds right of dollar sign ... and lower left, too?).

(I love the repeat of the Fairey poster between Obama's collar and chin, by the way. Gives a subliminal feeling of narcissism. And then, right next door, it's a little creepy how the Capitol seems to be piercing him in the chin.)

What this shallow, almost envious illustration seems to bypass, however, is how Obama really won the presidency, which -- beyond all the packaging, and the fans, and the war issue -- was his demonstration of judgment (on issues as diverse as talking to foreign leaders; being more assertive regarding Pakistan; and not finessing the scale of the economic meltdown) as well as his calm and steadiness under fire.

How are you reading this?

Update: A little slow on the uptake, I just figured out Fairey himself did the cover. It not only reinforces the TIME Obama-envy and the play to a younger demographic, it also emphasizes how Fairey played TIME. Fairey, well know for being subversive, is making his own bundle off the notoriety -- another reason for the poster-within-the-poster and the big dollar sign. Go Shepard!

(illustration: Shepard Fairey. Cover, TIME's Person of the Year issue. Dec. 29, 2008)

Copyright 2008 BAGnewsNotes