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Should the DNC Buy Obama a New Pair of Shoes?
Hot on the $150,000 heels of Sarah Palin is this reminder of our guy's thrift:
Callie Shell on her photo:
"Senator Obama was doing press interviews by telephone in a holding room between events. Sometime later as he was getting ready to begin his event, he asked me if I was photographing his shoes. When I said yes, he told me that he had already had them resoled once since he entered the race a year earlier. Providence, R.I., 3/1/2008."
update: the Adlai Stevenson photoby William M. Gallagher 1952 (Pulitzer Prize, 1953)
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Barack, that damned elitist!
October 22, 2008 11:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
GREAT pick up! Thank you! This belongs on the front page of every newspaper in America! What a HUGE statement. Yet another reason to be proud of our choice.Rec'd and I'm putting it up on the community post...
October 22, 2008 1:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, didn't some midcentury presidential candidate get attention for his worn shoes? I want to say it was Adlai Stephenson, but I'm not sure.
October 22, 2008 1:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yep, Adlai Stephenson. I jsut saw that photo again today in regards to this one. Bad precedent, though, as he didn't win.
October 22, 2008 1:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Especially bad precedent since they're both from Illinois.
But then, McCain's no Ike.
October 22, 2008 4:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think it was LBJ actually.
October 22, 2008 5:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
It was definitely Adlai Stevenson.
October 22, 2008 6:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
It was Adlai Stevenson and it was a very famous picture of him putting his feet up on a suitcase waiting for a train and he had put newspaper to cover a hole in the sole of his shoe. Probably the most famous picture he ever took.
October 22, 2008 7:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
It was definitely Adlai Stevenson in his 1956 campaign. I still have my pewter Shoe with a hole lapel button I received as a Stevenson volunteer.
October 22, 2008 7:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've added this photo above.
October 22, 2008 8:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
I remember my parents' Stevenson lapel pin.
Adlai didn't have these poll numbers, or these opponents.
October 22, 2008 9:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Next thing you know, the McCain campaign will claim Obama doesn't support America's shoemakers.
Cobbler elves making robo-calls? ... Oy.
October 22, 2008 2:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Typical guy. Just hates buying shoes. I've been wearing the same three pair of dress shoes for years. Athletic shoes do manage to get replaced somehow.
October 22, 2008 3:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Me, too. Viva Zapatas!
October 22, 2008 3:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Viva Zapatas, indeed. Rec'd it for the chuckle *and* the picture. Thanks.
October 22, 2008 5:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
When you are walking as much as he is, the last thing you want to do is break in a new pair. Ouch, new dress shoes hurt. I am sure those are his favorite comfy ones. He probably keep getting them resoled until the uppers fall apart.
October 22, 2008 7:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
I loved this pic! I generally just read the blogs and never comment but this made me register just so that I could say how happy it made me!
To me, his worn-out shoes symbolize how hard he's working for us!
Rec'd!
October 22, 2008 4:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks! And welcome to the fray!
October 22, 2008 4:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
All right, look at my shoes,
Not quite the walkin' blues.
Don't fight, too much to lose.
Can't fight the runnin' blues.
October 22, 2008 5:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Spot on, jzap! Spot on!
Great photo of a great future President! Let's follow his lead and continue the march in our individual communities...
October 22, 2008 5:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
A similar photo won a Pulitzer Prize -
As someone else mentioned, a similar photo taken of Adlai Stevenson (who ran for president in 1952) cost him the election. I'm not saying that's the case here, but that photo of Stevenson won a pulitzer prize and is considered one of the best political photos of all time (google "Adlai Stevenson shoe")
This photo of Barack looks a bit staged.
October 22, 2008 5:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great photo and story!
Someone has GOT to make a campaign ad out of this! The man re-soles his shoes for crying out loud, while McCain wears $520 loafers to meet with the Dalai Lama!
Forget John Edwards' $400 haircut-- McCain spends $14,256 on makeup services for two months! And Palin gets a $150,000 clothes budget paid for by the GOP!
Yep, they're just average Joes!
Please, please, please someone make a YouTube video compiling these facts. I don't have the skills or talent, but I know someone out there does!
October 22, 2008 5:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
The photo definitely feels staged (book on the table is Audacity of Hope) but it's a wonderful campaign ad!
1st comment hit it on the head.
October 22, 2008 5:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's what happens when you're working a full 18 hour day.
There's a rerun of the interview with the Obama's last summer on Access Hollywood where they discuss their shopping (mostly Gap). Barack hates shopping. Watching this warmed my heart.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/22/the-obamas-discuss-dressi_n_137009.html
October 22, 2008 6:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here's why Obama needs to be president:
We had the greatest young man a few blocks away who ran the nicest shoe repair shop. He did wonderful work. Everyone loved him as a person. Even people from the other side of the city came to him.
He got cancer. Had no health insurance. He sold everything to pay for a bone marrow transplant. Even his furniture. Everything.
He did survive the transplant. He's alive. But he lost his business.
If he still had his business, I would personally pick up Barack's shoes and return them after being resoled.
There's a reason we need health care for everyone!
October 23, 2008 1:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sunday's New York Times Magazine (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/magazine/19obama-t.html?ref=magazine) had a picture of Obama getting on an airplane. He's carrying his own bag.
October 23, 2008 4:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
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October 23, 2008 8:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
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January 10, 2009 10:38 AM | Reply | Permalink