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.
No comments:
Post a Comment