The Iconic Obama, 2007–2009: Essays on Media Representations of the Candidate and New President Edited by Nicholas A. Yanes and Derrais Carter (review)

Since Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential victory, media pundits, social commentators and academics have eagerly weighed in on the significance of our first black president. Obama’s political victories, rhetorical strategies, racial identity, and often shifting stances on important contemporary issues have been the subject of numerous books and essays. The Iconic Obama, 2007–2009: Essays on Media Representations of the Candidate and New President contributes to this growing body of what we might call Obama studies. The president’s complex personal history and sophisticated media representations, both those he has sought to manage and those he has been subject to, demand rigorous forms of interdisciplinary analysis.

The editors of this collection have gathered essays from a broad range of specialists which elucidate how, as they explain, “Barack Obama’s campaign and transition into the American presidency created a space in which activists, politicians, fans, and artists converged, using Obama’s image to represent their respective ideologies” (1). Contributors explore the various ways in which Obama’s image has been utilized for a wide range of political ends, affirming one of the most important aspects of our president’s media legacy: his remarkable malleability. This point is emphasized in the collection’s first section, which focuses on Obama as a brand and summarizes his impressive rise. While much of this account retreads familiar territory, the five other sections offer fresh insights into Obama’s image in popular culture, both in the United States and abroad. Essays on television, film, rap music, comic books, and digital social networks explore how Obama’s meteoric rise both influenced and was influenced by a wide range of media representations.

Many of these contributions offer surprising claims that challenge popular assumptions about how Obama rose to victory. For example, Justin S. Vaughn’s “Character-in Chief: Barack Obama and His Pop Culture Predecessors” analyzes how depictions of African American presidents in films and television series did not simplistically lay the groundwork for public comfort with a black Commander in Chief. In addition to a fascinating account of screen depictions of black occupants of the Oval Office, Vaughn argues that the use of a black president in science fiction films only affirms such a seemingly apocalyptic and fantastical possibility. The final section of the collection, “International Responses: Obama’s Popularity Goes Global,” includes essays that examine Obama’s reception in Japan, Turkey, and France. These accounts demonstrate how Obama’s image operates in a globalized context that is transforming America’s reception abroad.

While many of the essays read as overly edited with their dutiful introductions, conclusions, and excessive section headings, the collection as a whole makes a welcome contribution to our understanding of what Obama means in the public and popular imaginary. Our president’s legacy is far from over and this book will provide an important point of departure for future investigations of Obama’s evolving image.