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| White House photos show a controlled president – but he is great with kids | White House photos show a controlled president – but he is great with kids |
| (4 months later) | |
| Part of the power of the presidency is never taking a bad picture. The president always is performing important business, which photographs well. The backdrops are often monumental. Usually everyone's dressed up. | Part of the power of the presidency is never taking a bad picture. The president always is performing important business, which photographs well. The backdrops are often monumental. Usually everyone's dressed up. |
| Most importantly of all, presidential photographers are very good at making their man look good. Observe the batch of new photos the White House uploaded to its Flickr stream Thursday. See the president greeting a soldier. See him weighing a decision. See him charming a kid. See him with his beautiful wife. He looks great. | Most importantly of all, presidential photographers are very good at making their man look good. Observe the batch of new photos the White House uploaded to its Flickr stream Thursday. See the president greeting a soldier. See him weighing a decision. See him charming a kid. See him with his beautiful wife. He looks great. |
| It wasn't always this way. Photographers failed to capture the beauty of Herbert Hoover's wife, who was named Lou Henry. There are official photographs of FDR that are patently bad – amateurish enough to be on Facebook – in which the president appears to be drunk, and his driver appears to be terrified. In others you can barely see the president. | It wasn't always this way. Photographers failed to capture the beauty of Herbert Hoover's wife, who was named Lou Henry. There are official photographs of FDR that are patently bad – amateurish enough to be on Facebook – in which the president appears to be drunk, and his driver appears to be terrified. In others you can barely see the president. |
| In addition to his duties covering President Harry Truman, the photographer Abbie Rowe documented the major renovation of the White House in the early 1950s. The work included repairs where presidential daughter Margaret Truman's piano broke through the floor of her sitting room in 1948. | In addition to his duties covering President Harry Truman, the photographer Abbie Rowe documented the major renovation of the White House in the early 1950s. The work included repairs where presidential daughter Margaret Truman's piano broke through the floor of her sitting room in 1948. |
| Since then, the presidential photo stream has lost its interesting coarseness. Now all is grace and charm. The cumulative power of so many touching photographs has led some to observe that the official White House photographer, Pete Souza, is doing a great deal of fantastic propaganda work for Barack Obama. Critics say the White House is too controlling of the image of this president, that it never lets outside eyes look in. | Since then, the presidential photo stream has lost its interesting coarseness. Now all is grace and charm. The cumulative power of so many touching photographs has led some to observe that the official White House photographer, Pete Souza, is doing a great deal of fantastic propaganda work for Barack Obama. Critics say the White House is too controlling of the image of this president, that it never lets outside eyes look in. |
| Critics said the same thing about the George W Bush White House. In fact the presidential image has always been closely controlled, going back to the photographer Mathew Brady touching up photographs of Lincoln, as Susan Kismaric, author of American Politicians: Photographs from 1843 to 1993, told the New York Times 10 years ago. | Critics said the same thing about the George W Bush White House. In fact the presidential image has always been closely controlled, going back to the photographer Mathew Brady touching up photographs of Lincoln, as Susan Kismaric, author of American Politicians: Photographs from 1843 to 1993, told the New York Times 10 years ago. |
| Obama does have an important new tool with which to burnish his image: that Flickr stream. The White House has uploaded 4,530 photographs to Flickr. Each is typically viewed tens of thousands of times at least. The photos are easy for people to share and for news organizations to download and publish (see?). | Obama does have an important new tool with which to burnish his image: that Flickr stream. The White House has uploaded 4,530 photographs to Flickr. Each is typically viewed tens of thousands of times at least. The photos are easy for people to share and for news organizations to download and publish (see?). |
| Flickr and other sharing sites allow the president's image managers to make a famously detached president appear warm and approachable. The photos suggest that the emotionally diffident politician leads a life behind the curtain that is punctuated by moments of empathy and humor (there's also a fair amount of athletics). It's a narrow and highly curated view of the president, and the skeptical angels of our nature urge us not to dwell on these images when we appraise Barack Obama's leadership. | Flickr and other sharing sites allow the president's image managers to make a famously detached president appear warm and approachable. The photos suggest that the emotionally diffident politician leads a life behind the curtain that is punctuated by moments of empathy and humor (there's also a fair amount of athletics). It's a narrow and highly curated view of the president, and the skeptical angels of our nature urge us not to dwell on these images when we appraise Barack Obama's leadership. |
| But, truly, he does seem to be great with kids. | But, truly, he does seem to be great with kids. |
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