Obamanating, Dance, Power

It was often remarked how unusual the 2008 Presidential campaign was in the United States for the simple fact that the candidates not only made sure to make the rounds of the news talk shows, but they also made the rounds of daytime talk shows and late night television. All of this amounted to, in fact, self-mockery in many cases, often, as int he case of Obama, to give a better sense of the like-every-body-else-ness of a man who holds degrees from some of the top schools in the nation, with excellent grades no less. In this installment of my investigation of the kinesthetic conjuring around/through Obama, I will look at the impersonator. For those late night appearances could be read as self-impersonation, but they were definitely moments that allowed for a "thicker" study of Obama's kinestethic palette.

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Barack Obama Pt. 1

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a late breaking appearance, Obama clearly has figured out how to do snarky and still look cool

We can think about Obama "markin'" himself in the vernacular (imitating with a slight bit of dramatas to draw attention to an otherwise indistinguishable affect upon which the actor relies to convey meaning) and also in the denotation of "mark," and "to mark," in all its meanings in the dictionary. Really. From the online Merriam Webster for "mark/noun":
1: a boundary land
2 a (1): a conspicuous object serving as a guide for travelers (2): something (as a line, notch, or fixed object) designed to record position b: one of the bits of leather or colored bunting placed on a sounding line at intervals c: target d: the starting line or position in a track event e (1): goal , object (2): an object of attack, ridicule, or abuse ; specifically : a victim or prospective victim of a swindle (3): the point under discussion (4): condition of being correct or accurate mark> f: a standard of performance, quality, or condition : norm mark lately>
3 a (1): sign , indication mark of his esteem> (2): an impression (as a scratch, scar, or stain) made on something (3): a distinguishing trait or quality : characteristic marks of an educated person> b: a symbol used for identification or indication of ownership c: a cross made in place of a signature d (1): trademark (2)capitalized —used with a numeral to designate a particular model of a weapon or machine <Mark II> e: a written or printed symbol (as a comma or colon) f: postmark g: a symbol used to represent a teacher's estimate of a student's work or conduct ; especially : grade h: a figure registering a point or level reached or achieved mark in the first period of play> ; especially : record
4 a: attention , notice mark> b: importance , distinction mark> c: a lasting or strong impression d: an assessment of merits : rating marks for honesty>

Okay, maybe Obama is not a postmark, but he did use the song "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" by Stevie Wonder, so then again...The point I hope I have made here is that delivering a particular corpo-reality for a specific time slot, audience, and network, is no small feat. What Obama was successful in doing is creating a string of impersonations that gave the effect of proximity to the viewer following him; especially if that viewer were not a television viewer, but rather a clipwatcher on YouTube.








Some of the videos I have posted in this series of Barack Obama are cataloged on his channel on YouTube. This is significant. These "microplays" and "instant dances" were available 24/7 as on-demand instant replay, unfolding an unusual character, one that certainly never makes it to the curtain call as a clear hero: the mulatto man. Where the tragedy of a female torn between her two races is a much gone-over story layered over celebrity products like Dorothy Dandridge, Lorraine Hansberry, and Mariah Carey (yes I know that only Mariah is a real one..for more on that read Melissa Blanco's dissertation, Ochuness...), you would be hard pressed to think about a story or movie from the US where the main character "mixed race" and a man. Jean Toomer's Cane, perhaps, and then certain sequences from Roots. Leave comments if you have others. All this to point out that Obama's kinestheic awareness does not cohere around a stereotype.

That might be overstatement.

But for now, I'll leave it there and we can look at ways that others took Obama's forays into self-impersonation and made their own.