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President Obama Photo March 23, 2009

Beyond The Rhetoric

In granting Obama his gift as a confident and skillful communicator, especially via the television medium, what the photo clearly emphasizes are the limits of such skill, especially with (the country in trouble and) reporters standing by for "real" news.

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The Great Recession Photo March 21, 2009

Rage Is The Rage

Newsweek, along with much of the media, is consumed right now with the theme of populist rage.

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Let's Party

I guess the first thing that gets me suspicious about these gold parties is the reference to it as a "party."

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Eco Watch Photo

Michelle's Garden

After the insanity of this past week, thank God for Michelle Obama and the emotional ballast she offers this troubled country.

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Business Focus Photo March 20, 2009

Meg, As In Megabucks

Going the horsey route, touting Meg Whitman's wealth and CEO status on the FORTUNE cover against the larger background of the Wall Street meltdown and the political rioting over AIG, seems particular flat-footed.

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President Obama Photo March 19, 2009

Meanwhile, 3000 Miles From Washington

Anyone who could credibly come out of a week like this week with a smile like that is a skilled politician.

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Media Focus Photo

Smelling Blood

I'm attracted to both photos for one reason. There's a overwhelming sense right now, with all the venom and retribution reverberating around Washington, of blood in the water.

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Whaaaaaaaaaah!!!

Barry Blitt's cover illustration on the new New Yorker has a great twist. Not sure I completely understand it, but it still made me lol.

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Business Focus Photo March 18, 2009

(For An Instant) Pink Is The New Green

For my money (heh, heh), Liddy's instinct to reach out to and dignify the Code Pink protesters was an off-note exposing how this guy has been calibrated to an absolutely stratospheric level of damage control.

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Mad Ave's Guide To Wall Street — With Free Snacks

How much is Jet Blue's clever attack on CEO's a clever play by Madison Avenue to co-opt public anger toward Wall Street?

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A Little Warning For AIG

What made "The Rock Obama" sketch the other week on SNL so clever is that, despite his primarily cool demeanor, Obama does in fact get pissed off.

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Business Focus Photo March 17, 2009

Viva!

Probing the backstory surrounding the AIG – Administration bonus war, Josh Marshall offered some visual commentary on AIG executive Gerry Pasciucco based on an outfit the executive assembled for a 40’s Havana- theme society benefit in Fairfield County last June. Pasciucco (third from the right left) is a former...

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Media Focus Photo

Ben From Main Street

As the White House and Congress turn A.I.G. into a "Great Recession" piñata, people are running every which way to avoid the taint of Wall Street. One of the most brilliant examples is this scene from Sunday's 60 Minutes.

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The Great Recession Photo March 16, 2009

Tensions Rising

I'm finding the visual media more comfortable portraying people suffering from the recession as victimized and upset (in a sorrowful way) than aggrieved, stressed and pissed off.

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Media Focus Photo March 15, 2009

CNN RBC SOTU DOA

Former Vice President Dick Cheney appears on CNN's "State of the Union." And, what a halo!

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Business Focus Photo March 14, 2009

Promises From A Distance

I came across this old, but undated AIG ad -- which seems to still leave John Q. Public at water's edge.

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Your Turn: Barbie Celebrates Her Big Five-Oh

I leave it to you how to legend this image (taking off on Eddie Adams' photo of the execution of a Viet Cong prisoner in the middle of a Saigon street) as it marks the mass media celebration of Barbie’s fiftieth birthday.

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Business Focus Photo March 13, 2009

Making Dough

I wonder what the chances are that Jim Cramer will actually clean up his act given that he spent the morning of his Jon Stewart interview making dough with perhaps America's most famous and unrepentant insider-trading convicts.

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