Barack Obama is now in a new era: it was “Yes We Can” during the campaign, but now he’s President and the predominant theme isn’t what might be but what he is now — and whether he can deliver. To Democrats and some other voters, it’s still “Yes We Can,” while to Republicans it’s “No You Won’t” — and to some on Wall Street it’s “I Hope We Can — But Boy Do I Have My Doubts.”
Meanwhile, historians will be pondering the question of exactly what kind of power this Senator from Illinois harnessed during campaign 2008 that got so many people across the political spectrum so excited and propelled him over the biggest names in the Democratic and Republican parties into the Oval office. Yes We Can: Barack Obama’s History-Making Presidential Campaign is an incredible must-read-must-own for political scientists, aspiring and existing photojournalists, and Americans of all political persuasions. And it captures and documents unusual moment in our nation’s political history with a simple, basic concept:
This personal comprehensive record of Obama’s presidential campaign contains more than 200 color photographs by Award-winning photojournalist Scout Tufankjian who followed candidate on an “unforgettable journey” — a journey the photographer was not originally going to make for more than a few weeks. But when she saw the crowd reaction, she sensed this was something special she clamored to stay to the end.
This is above all a photo book. Tufankjian focuses on photos the reactions of those who see Obama, and Obama himself, often in unguarded moments. The book’s actual text is truly minimal, mostly dealing with the increasing adoration of crowds and the sense that there was something special going on with how people reacted to Obama. There are also large quotes from Obama’s speeches — but not policy quotes or quotes blasting Republicans… quotes dealing with the ideas of of hope and how government can help lift up people.
Partisan Democrats may be disappointed: this book is NOT a list of Obama’s agenda or an attack piece on Republicans or those who voted for Senator John McCain. Partisan Republicans itching for a fight will be disappointed: this is NOT a book that disses McCain or his running mate Sarah Palin and it can’t be dismissed as a book containing a laundry list of Obama’s campaign promises. It barely mentions the Republican campaign (it notes that Palin turned out to be a problem for McCain and that McCain’s campaign was not going well and that’s about it).
Rather, it’s a book that photo-documents crowds’ gathering sense that something Obama offered something they yearned for not just in a leader, but in their country.
The spectacular photos are what you’d expect from an award-winning photographer who worked for Newsweek. True: photographers can and DO manipulate lens settings and camera positions to make editorial comments, but this is the real deal. Which is why Tufankjian begged to stay on the assignment, She saw something she didn’t just not expect but something for which she had been completely unprepared:
The first time I photographed Barack Obama. I knew who he was and was interested in him, but I had plans for that weekend — plans that did not involve driving five hours to New Hampshire to photograph what I assumed would be a deadly dull event.
But when Kelly Price, my editor at Polaris Images, told me the German newsmagazine Stern would pay me to make that five hour drive, I canceled my plans, climbed into my Camry, and drove up to Portsmouth. It was probably the best decision I ever made.
To some extent, my predictions had been accurate. The book signing was a photographer’s nightmare. The building was huge, dark, cavernous, and impossible to find. I showed up late and in a panic. Looking around, I was convinced that there was no way I was going to be able to make a decent picture in that room.
When Obama walked into the room, my aesthetic issues with the room became immediately irrelevant. The crowd was transfixed. Hell, some of the other news photographers were transfixed. And this was New Hampshire! New Hampshire photographers are not impressed by politicians. Ever. Immediately after the event was over, even before filing my pictures, I called Kelly and told her that I was going to cover the Obama presidential campaign. I did not offer her a choice. The fact that he wasn’t technically running yet was immaterial. I knew that this was going to be important and I wanted to be there.
Now the question was: will Yes We Can 5 or 10 or 20 years from now be considered a book historians will look at because it documented a politician who touched something special in people and changed history? Will these photos be seen by future school kids?
Or will it be remaindered and sold for .01 cents on Amazon Marketplace as a book about a politician who looked good and was a blank slate for many voters but turned out to not know how to govern or was just another image-adept pol? Will these pictures be seen documentation of a campaign that played the ultimate sales job joke on voters?
It’s too early to tell (early indications are that Obama is trying to run the White House the same way with his multi-media outreach and talks with Americans) — but Yes We Can is a remarkable document that in its simple, non-abrasive, non-screaming, nearly non-partisan way documents a special moment in American history that was unusual in a nation that has become increasingly bored and skeptical of politician.
Should you guy Yes We Can? Yes you should.
On a scale of one to 10, TMV gives it a 10.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.