Coincident with the launch of the Obama administration, one thing I'm hoping for is a greater progressive ownership in and of the "visual public sphere."

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The two images above were taken by the accomplished photojournalist, Alan Chin, who was covering the event (or more accurately, "covering the coverage," or the spin, or the spectacle of the event) for the progressive blog, BAGnewsNotes. To get this more populist impression, Chin had merely to pivot 180 degrees away from "what he was supposed to be photographing" -- something most newswire photographers, conditioned by corporate media and special-interests, wouldn't dare think to do.

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Here is another example of a progressive visual read.

Back in September, the NYT published a widely-read story about Sarah Palin's treatment of friends and foes when she was mayor of Wasilla. The photo leading the article, supplied by her own family, showed Palin flanked by the 1998 Wasilla city council two years into her mayoral tenure. If you scrolled down, however, the article offered a second photo, also supplied by the Palin family when she was still a Wasilla councilwoman. (Although undated, she was a city council member from '92 - '96.) The photo -- one of those published by The Times you are invited to click to enlarge -- is also one of those easy-to-pass-by, a standard sitting-at-your-desk shot in front of a name plate.

If you actually enlarge it and look closely, what you can suddenly make out quite clearly is what Palin chose to be photographed attending to -- a newsletter with a photo of a guy in a suit, the page headlined with the title: "Con-Con Call." (A "con-con" call is a call for a constitutional convention, intended to either revise or completely rewrite the constitution of a state or the federal government.)

The article in question was part of the March 1995 issue of The New American, a publication of the John Birch society. It features a photo of Utah's Governor Leavitt, as Leavitt was spearheading a legislative attempt in Utah to approve an constitutional convention in favor of a federal balanced budget amendment.

Upon the visual discovery, David Neiwert, the Managing Editor of FDL examined the photo from the standpoint of the Palin's attendance at Alaskan Independence Party gatherings; the couple's befriending of AIP leadership; and Todd's membership in the organization. Given the John Birch Society's sympathy for militias and Todd's overlapping notion of the government as "illegitimate," Neiwert saw ample possibility the Palins had more than a casual interest in the Birch society and its political philosophy.

The association to the JBS was further strengthened after Palin anonymously quoted the right wing reactionary Westbrook Pegler in her RNC acceptance speech. Pegler was primarily known for his attacks on government power, and his specific hatred for Roosevelt who he characterized as a dictator. Pegler himself was a writer for the JBS publication, American Opinion, before being kicked out of the society in 1964 for his anti-semitic views.

After traveling to Alaska in early October and interviewing key Palin associates in Wasilla about the governor's past, Neiwert became even more convinced the publication didn't just cross her desk by accident.

For my part, it first illustrates how an army of young people worked so hard for Obama that, when it came to the end, they were virtually sleeping standing up. From a more political point of view, however, what this classic t-shirt also conveys in graphic terms -- in contrast to Sarah Palin's repeated contention that Obama appeared out of the woodwork just yesterday -- is that he started serving at the state level ten years before she did.

(updated 8:28 pm PST)

(image 1 - 3: ©Alan Chin. New Hampshire. January 5, 2007 Used by permission. image 4: Heath family via AP via nyt.com. image 5 ©Alan Chin. November 4th, 2008. Chicago, IL. Used by permission.)