ALBUQUERQUE - Barack Obama’s presidential campaign is retiring a presidential seal that made its debut at a Chicago event last week.
“It was a one-time seal for a one-time use,” Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. The seal, which resembled the official presidential seal, had a picture of a bald eagle on it. A phrase inscribed above it read “Vero Possumus,” a Latin expression that roughly translates to the campaign’s slogan, “Yes, we can.”
The seal helped complete a presidential-looking setting as Obama sat at the head of a U-shaped table with Democratic governors in a stately hall of a Chicago museum. In addition to the seal on the podium, blue curtains adorned the backdrop along with a row of flags.
Our earlier blog post on the Obama seal posted on Friday prompted mixed reviews from readers. Some liked the seal and thought the Latin expression was clever. Others thought it conveyed a penchant for image over substance.
Marc Ambinder of the Atlantic.com said there were second thoughts about the blog at Obama’s campaign headquarters.
“The worry for Obama’s image managers is that it gives the press a pretext to call Obama arrogant, an example for them to add to a list of arrogant moments, and a way to distract them from what Obama is saying,” Ambinder wrote in his blog.
Photo credit: Reuters/Carlos Barria (Obama delivers speech)
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Oh Cindy, Cindy… calm down will you? You throw around insults like they’re going out of fashion and yet can’t stand it when the other side does the same thing. Railing against arrogance now are we? Wow - I’m really laughing at that one. Give me a presidential candidate who doesn’t possess a degree of arrogance and I’ll give you someone who doesn’t possess the toughness to be president. They’re all arrogant, Cindy. That’s how they’ve made it that far!
- Posted by Mark OFor those who think this sort of thing is small - if he is THAT arrogant during a campaign…can you imagine what he will do as President? The guy isn’t in the right place in his life to be at that level. Maybe if he does what he was hired to do to begin with rather than let that pretty much go by the wayside, he would get more respect. I’m not going to throw the Muslim card in - that is getting old and we all know the truth on that - but if and his kool aid drinking numb skull bobbleheads think he’s the agent for change - PUHLEEZE!! And anytime I ask someone I know who is voting for him (which is hard to find here) about his “change” - they start insulting republicans and McCain…just makes me laugh. I have found many people who WERE voting for this self-appointed guru to the weak and now that ARE NOT voting for him so he is starting to lose his “lustre”. There never was lustre for this voter…only hot air, smoke and mirrors.
- Posted by cindySo Obama is “arrogant” because some stupid “image expert” comes up with a riduculous seal. Its really no different than the infamous green background they put behind McCain. I do find the use of the word “arrogant” interesting. Back in the day, a Black man who was better educated than his critics was called “uppity”. But if you guys want to go with arrogant, its all good. Your expanded vocabularies show that “No Child Left Behind” works for someone.
- Posted by JJBoy there sure is a lot of anti-Obama astro-turfing here. How many people actually responded to this story, six? And together they martialed three distinct opinions.
- Posted by blinkerKind of thing you expect from a leader in a BANANA REPUBLIC, not America.
- Posted by GuKI can’t believe all the nonsense over this. We have thousands of people flooded out of their homes, millions living in poverty and starvation right here in this fine country, and you are channeling your outrage at a set decoration??? You need to step back and think about where to channel all this energy. At any rate, this seal was probably the brainchild of young staffers who found the concept clever. I’m sure I’d rather Senator Obama focus on developing his energy policy and economic policy rather than micromanaging logo development.
- Posted by LindsayHey davo,
Yeah, gas was $1.46 a gallon when Bush took office and over the next six years until January 2007, it increased to $2.16 a gallon, a 48% increase - pretty big. In the last year and a half since Pelosi and crew took over Congress, in has increased to $4.10 a gallon, a 90% increase!! You’ll blame Bush, Halliburton, the war, etc. as you libs always do without actually being able to explain why, and you’ll continue to ignore the fact that the speculators responsible for the price increases are buying and selling futures contracts specifically on anticipated conditions. When lefties like you take office, that means they expect lower supplies and even higher punitive taxes. This is what drives the price up. So, thank you and your socialist pals for your moral superiority on stopping a non-existent threat to a couple fish for nearly doubling the cost of my commute.
- Posted by Matt“I was going to vote for Obama until I read this article. This is an absolute outrage. It is hard to fathom that a presidential candidate would knowingly stand in front of a blue curtain. And to think that there was a picture of a bald eagle on the podium too. I just get creepy chills thinking about it.”
- Posted by For Real?
I’m doubting anyone who was going to vote for someone would change their minds based on this article. This sounds a little crazy to me. You get chills? Really? Perhaps this is one of those staffed McCain bloggers that people are talking about.
- Posted by jbdsmI think Obama was planning to use that seal all the way to the White House. The change of the words on the seal were to please Louis Farrahkan who has been critical of “E Pluribus Unum” (”Out of many, one”). Obama didn’t mispeak when he said 57 states. The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) is an international organization with a permanent delegation to the United Nations. It groups 57 Islamic member states, from the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, Caucasus, Balkan, Southeast Asia, South Asia and South America.
- Posted by MaryDeclaration of Independence… Do you remember the meaning..
The meaning of a people Separated by difference. But united by one thing.. A demand for change, A demand OF the American People. A demand that MEN AND WOMEN have fought and DIED for of ALL RACES AND RELIGION.
When will you Stop Bickering over Race, Religion, Sexual Orientation and Country of You’re Ancestors!
Were ALL Americans, One Created EQUAL and Separated by NONE.
A seal, A Campaign Joke!? HAH! its been done since the 1800 Hundreds… Did you forget that are own 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, Used Similar Designs During his Campaign?
Dont Judge a book by its Cover, Dont Judge a man By his face, Judge a Mans Promise BY HIS CREED!
- Posted by MNovickThe seal was a gesture to the “change” crowd that wants something for nothing.
Cheesey ideas appeal to folks who don’t care that Obama has sold out to special interests like ConAgra, Archer Daniels Midland & the ethanol from corn lobby. Obama loves agribusiness corn for cars. Obama is for global warming from burning ethanol but against clean nuclear power like the Japanese.
- Posted by patObama believes that bad attention is better than no attention. He is a limelight seeker. He will be a worthless President if elected.
He has plenty of “diversions” to throw in front of the public so no one looks at his hair brained policies and votes.
He wants to TAX every dollar earned to put into SSI funds.
- Posted by patObama will remove the current cap set at $97,000 and tax at 12% every dollar earned above that. What an incentive to hide earnings or go to the off the books economy.
I don’t see what the deal is, whatsoever. The seal was intended to help complete a presidential looking setting at the Chicago event, and that is exactly what it did. Now, there is backlash for it. That’s an unfair damned if you do- damned if you don’t set of criteria there. As Obama tries to craft a message with imagery that he is capable of handling the presidency, there is criticism that he is too arrogant. And yet, if he went without trying to make that claim, this very news article would instead be about a poll showing many think that he’s too inexperienced for presidency.
Many of these reactions are scarcely believable and sound like a charade. If use of imagery and symbolism is a voting issue in place of stances on policies, there is something seriously wrong with the way things work. Thankfully, I can’t say I know a single person in real life that would be offended by such a trivial thing and weigh it above their actual stances on real issues.
- Posted by J. N.Vero Possumus, Reintroduces “Yes We Can” as a self evident truth of “e pluribus unm” (out of many, one). It was a good touch and sent everyone back to reread their 5th grade history books which is good thing.
- Posted by FareedBad move. Bad, bad move! Still support him, but bad, bad, bad move.
- Posted by allforchangeNObama NObama NObamanure.
Such superiority, he wrote about being superior in his books also.
CHANGE???? We don’t need change we need FIXING we need an OVERHAUL
back to Basics…back to OLD WAYS.
We don’t need no friggin change. We need FIXING.
What we need is a Congress that is Part Time with real lives and real
jobs that meet for FREE for a very short time to work on the few bills
that need to be enacted, SERIOUS REAL BILLS. Life doesn’t change that
much that we need new laws all the time. We are not smarter than the
founding fathers. We need real people with life experience NOT
LIFETIME FULL TIME Politicians and Political families.
We need to FIX Washington NOT Change Washington.
I have a SOLUTION that will work and put the POWER back with the
PEOPLE:
We need something like Operation Chaos to continue and this is how it
will work.
Democrats not Happy with Obama WRITE-IN Hillary.
Republicans Not Happy with McCain WRITE-IN Romney.
This will split both parties votes which is fair and may the BEST
person win. This WILL WORK let’s PROMOTE IT and get the VOTE back to
the People and away from the MEDIA and 527’s.
Republicans WRITE-IN ROMNEY.
Democrats WRITE-IN HILLARY.
- Posted by Reality CheckBefore everything, I am a politically (and otherwise, too) independent person! As to the blown-out-proportion attacks I, respectfully, ask my fello Americans:
- Posted by BekakuAre we expecting to find and elect an infallible, a kind of American Pope as our President or we accept that presidential candidates are a humane beings, and may (and do) make irritating mistakes. What is more, their coworkers do, too. Why is it not a big deal that a McCain staff member almost invites a terrorist attack to help McCain chances? Why is it not a big deal (for those who want the head of Mr. Obamas for every mistakes, real or not) that Mr. McCain wraps himself almost always in American flags, wears a cap reminding mysteriously that of the Commander in Chief, shines among soldiers in Iraq while carefully “choreographing out” of the picture the heavily-armed protecting units, and parades with veterans, policemen, and fire fighters?
Those we who happen not to wear uniform(s) in their life ARE AT LEAST EQUALLY PATRIOTIC, (may be even more) HONEST, PRODUCTIVE, and CONTRIBUTING MEMBERS OF OUR SOCIETY … MANY OF US WITH COMPARABLE IF NOT BETTER LEADERSHIP QUALITIES. Let us not fetishize people in uniform, nor let us those who run for political office use people in uniform as Troyan horse to gain undeserved advantage.
“Vero Possumus,” a Latin expression roughly translating to the campaign’s slogan, “Yes, we can” - Sounds like affirmative action again - when unqualified people gain entrance to enter school or work based on skin color vs ability and performance.
- Posted by New YorkerI was going to vote for Obama until I read this article. This is an absolute outrage. It is hard to fathom that a presidential candidate would knowingly stand in front of a blue curtain. And to think that there was a picture of a bald eagle on the podium too. I just get creepy chills thinking about it.
- Posted by For Real?It feels great to hear people call Obama arrogant, high-minded and a host of other names usually leveled against white males of power and connections. Maybe America is changing when I remember being called “kid” and “boy”, which was a term often used against even professional black males.
- Posted by Dyke Vondale DavisThe Senator is merely caught-up in the glow of the spotlights after so many decades of darkness. He’s like other newly powerful black men who are in a learning curve and will transform his public image much the same as all newly powerful men in his generation.
It shows also, that there are plenty of people out there who will ensure that Obama “stays in his place” and not take for granted those that will be wishing for the ole days: when whites were “Missah” and “Massah”.
I am gleeful in anticipation when he does something really “presidential” like not pardon the current President of War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity!