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Thursday, January 31, 2019

Shade: A Tale of Two Presidents


By Pete Souza
Little, Brown     2018
238 pages     Nonfiction

In December, the Gallup organization asked Americans to name a living man and woman whom they admired most. Barack and Michelle Obama topped the survey; Barack for the 11th time and Michelle for the first time. Here is the article in Vogue.  In the current political climate, I imagine this is no surprise.

Pete Souza, the official White House photographer during the Obama years has parlayed his experience into several books that have come out in the years since Obama left office. His newest book Shade compares speeches and tweets of the current president, Donald J. Trump, with pictures and text from the previous president, Barack Obama. The book is a compilation of Instagram postings Souza did over the past two years—documenting all the things that have bothered him.

Some news outlets said that Souza was throwing shade. Frankly, I had to look up what it meant to “throw shade." Webster defines it as “subtle, sneering expression of contempt for or disgust with someone—sometimes verbal, and sometimes not.” And yes, indeed, Souza is throwing shade at the current presidency--brilliantly in the way he does best, with photographs.

Souza says that he took over 2 million photographs over the 8 years of the Obama presidency, so he has more than enough pictures to match anything that President Trump might say or do. One of my favorite pairings is the speech Trump made at a Boy Scout Jamboree where he just praised himself. A lot of the speech is on the Trump side of the page, while on the Obama side of the page, there is a picture of a young African American Cub Scout shaking hands with President Obama, obviously awestruck.

Actually, reading the book made me quite sad, and it is obvious the Souza was filled with sadness as he compiled the book. Of course I am prejudiced. I felt that Obama was a kind, compassionate man who put the people of this country first.

Some of my kids used to live in the neighborhood in Chicago where the Obamas lived. One evening, shortly after he was elected, I went to get supper at a neighborhood Chinese carryout. Displayed proudly on the wall was a picture of Obama with his arm around the owner—who was looking tremendously proud. Right then, I knew this would be a presidency for the ages.

People need to read Shade to get a glimmer of what we have lost. A compassionate man who will be remembered as a great president.

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