obama pete souza

All of us in the Obama Administration tried to do things legally, ethically and morally, and this president just does the opposite. Trump's Covid test — and taxes — prove the danger of insisting you always know best, Trump 'October surprise' efforts show how desperate he is to relitigate 2016. Though he says he disagreed with Reagan on some of his policies – in particular, he says in the film, Reagan’s reluctance to act on the HIV/Aids epidemic – both Obama and Reagan shared common characteristics befitting the office’s power. They’re not staged. The decency and the respect that both President Obama and President Reagan brought to the office is what is sorely missing. President Barack Obama and Pete Souza in 2016. or eight years, as the official White House photographer for Barack Obama. His photos are the basis for the new Focus Features and MSNBC Films documentary, "The Way I See It.". We are all sitting at home with no end in sight in no small part due to the incompetence and disdain for American health and safety. Ultimately, I felt I was in good hands with the team that was making this film. My hope was that this film would give people a unique look at what the office of the presidency should be like. With him was Melania, Jared Kushner, Hope Hicks and a handful of others. He was a photographer with The Chicago Tribune, stationed at the Washington, D.C., bureau from 1998 to 2007; during this period he also followed the rise of then-Senator Obama to the presidency. Watch "The Way I See It," a new documentary co-presented by Focus Features and MSNBC Films, on MSNBC tonight at 10:00 p.m. Being one of the older members of the staff, I had watched the country go through many challenging times. His increasingly erratic MAGA rallies show why. Obama often used the phrase “zig zag” to describe the ups and downs of our country’s existence. Souza’s particular brand of shade – he says in the film he didn’t know the term when he started – contrasts stately Obama imagery with Trump’s generally deranged tweets. Trump's sinking in the polls. For eight years, as the official White House photographer for Barack Obama, Pete Souza acted as a fly on the wall. First, I wasn’t really that well known outside the building (yes, that’s changed a bit in the past few years). For eight years, the White House photographer was a fly-on-the-wall as the president and his team made consequential, world-altering decisions about bailing out the auto industry or raiding Osama Bin Laden’s compound. “They were “respectful, moral”, he said. Variety and the Flying V logos are trademarks of Variety Media, LLC. They’re reality show photos. Many Americans were angry. I was trying to wrap my head around whether I wanted to lose more of my anonymity. It’s against the law for him to have his convention at the White House. Cody wasn’t there but his young assistant — a writer in her own right — was seated at her desk. Souza was working for the Chicago Tribune when he first photographed Obama as a junior senator from Illinois – “a freshman senator with this kind of presence”, he says in the film, with two young daughters, ages six and three. So it’s perhaps surprising that in the years since Obama left office, the once-reticent Souza’s words, in the form of Instagram captions obliquely pointing to a distinct difference in decorum between two presidents, have turned attention from Souza’s camera to the man behind it. Our president lies to us every day about little things (crowd size) and big things (Covid-19). What I saw starting on day one was wrong. Often those photos are accompanied by a caption that criticizes Trump. Photograph: Photo by Lawrence Jackson / The White House F or eight years, as the official White House photographer for Barack Obama, Pete Souza … Obama felt the need to ease tensions in the country, thus his gesture of inviting Trump to the White House so soon after the election. The presidency deserves someone who is competent and honest. In my head, I heard the lyrics of a Bruce Springsteen song, “one step up and two steps back,” as I walked into the West Wing that morning. “I thought it was worth giving up more of my anonymity to get this message out about what the office of the presidency means and the good people who held that office who I worked for,” Souza told the Guardian of his shift into the spotlight, from Instagram to coffee table book to documentary lead. Lawrence Jackson / The White House Wherever President Barack Obama went, Pete Souza was right there with him. They’re not posed. Pete Souza Citizen of earth. I noticed an open door and light across the hall — chief speechwriter Cody Keenan’s office. But I will continue to throw shade until Election Day, because he needs to be fired. Those semi-private, less guarded moments are, the film subtly argues, yet another critical gap missing from the current administration. “They were passionate and empathetic, and the presidency to them was about us, not about them.”. That is wrong. Yet there was an unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach as I sat in my cubby hole office early that morning after the election. Michelle Obama has the great quote where she says the presidency doesn’t change who you are, it reveals who you are. Over months, Souza became a Resistance-era icon of “throwing shade” – the art of conveying contempt through poised, detached suggestion, a term originating from queer culture and made famous by the 1990 ballroom documentary Paris Is Burning. So I feel I have a unique vantage point, having observed two presidents from two different political parties as an insider. Someone who has character and knows ultimately the presidency isn’t about him (or someday her), but about us. This article was amended on 15 October 2020 to correct where Pete Souza was working when he first photographed Barack Obama. He played a similar role as official photographer to the Reagan White House. Trump is a guy who spent a year getting lots of attention saying Barack Obama was not born in the U.S. To paraphrase the late Rep. John Lewis, if you see something wrong, say something, do something. It is possible to have dedicated leaders. The truth hammered home by these pictures, said Porter, was that “until this presidency, we have always presumed and taken for granted that whoever was in the White House would be doing their best. I also thought there were a lot of people that do not follow me on social media and this film can reach people in a more visceral way. It’s mostly the reality show.”. Trump eventually arrived at the White House and met with the Obamas in the Diplomatic Reception Room. “As much as I criticize Trump, I really don’t want to criticize the photography office, because I don’t know the circumstances that they’re facing,” Souza said, though he noted that of the thousands of official images made available by the Trump White House, “there’s very few, if any, that I would characterize as ‘behind-the-scenes’ pictures. The assassination of John Kennedy in 1963, the civil rights riots in the 1960s, the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy in 1968, the resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974 and the 9/11 attacks, to name a few. It’s an outright violation of the Hatch Act and everybody knows it, but we’re numb to it. Peter Joseph Souza (born December 31, 1954) is an American photojournalist, the former Chief Official White House Photographer for U.S. President Barack Obama and the former director of the White House Photography Office. “It’ll be OK,” I repeated. That’s how he became a candidate for president by lying and telling falsehoods all the time. In the Oval Office, Obama showed Trump the private study and private dining room that are part of the Oval suite. “The pictures and images that Pete made really put such a fine point on the contrast to what we have today.”. Thank you for capturing these moments! Wherever President Barack Obama went, Pete Souza was right there with him. A veteran photojournalist, Souza was previously the official White House photographer for President Ronald Reagan. President Barack Obama reflects during a budget meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Jan. 29, 2009. I worked for arguably the most iconic Republican president of my generation (yes, I worked as an official photographer for Reagan) and for arguably the most iconic Democratic president of my generation. However they saw fit, they’d be keeping the American people at the top of mind. Since Obama left the White House, Souza has had a second-act as a social media sensation. Documentary The Way I See It recalls the Obama years with warm nostalgia through the lens of former White House photographer and unlikely Instagram star Pete Souza, Last modified on Thu 15 Oct 2020 19.06 BST. 'We've made too much progress to slow down': tracking John Lewis's long fight. By October 2018, Souza leaned into his pithy persona with a full collection of comparisons, Throwing Shade: A Tale of Two Presidents. We have a president who only thinks about himself and not all of us. President Barack Obama waves as he acknowledges applause before he delivers the State of the Union address at the Capitol on Jan. 20, 2015. being outvoted by close to 3 million votes. © Copyright 2020 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC. That scene repeated itself throughout the day. Pete Souza breaks down what working for Reagan and Obama taught him about Trump’s “disastrous” presidency. “Let’s break the law, nobody cares.” I sat through so many ethics briefings to make sure we were crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s, and to see it thrown out the window is really hard for me to watch and it’s hard for a lot of my colleagues to watch. The majority of the country was still in disbelief that Trump had been elected, despite being outvoted by close to 3 million votes. “This film is not ‘President Obama was perfect,’ that’s not the point of it,” she said. “You’re famous,” Trump said back to me. And that’s just not the case now. Souza’s career and time as a member of the opposition are chronicled in Dawn Porter’s new documentary “The Way I See It,” which had a theatrical run this fall and will debut on MSNBC on Oct. 16. Many people are aware that I began throwing shade at Trump and his administration in the early days after his inauguration. I reached out to give her a hug, and the tears flowed onto my suit jacket. That was the one reservation I had about participating in this project. inviting Trump to the White House so soon after the election. A chance connection soon launched him, still in his late 20s, into the White House photography office for Ronald Reagan, where he served until 1989 before returning back to photojournalism in Chicago. I reached out to shake his hand and said, “Congratulations, sir.” I was following the president’s lead to be respectful. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along with members of the national security team, receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room on May 1, 2011. When Trump tweeted “WITCH HUNT” in February 2018, for example, Souza posted a picture Obama greeting young trick-or-treaters at the White House – “A different kind of witch hunt (Halloween 2010).” In May 2018, Souza posted an image of Obama warmly greeting military veterans, “back when our President was respected around the world and not unhinged by the rule of law”. But watching the reality show nature of his presidency the last four years, maybe it makes perfect sense. As difficult as those times were, our country did eventually recover from all of them. President Barack Obama delivers remarks at a grassroots campaign event at Walkerton Tavern and Gardens in Glen Allen, Va., on Jul. Slyly observant, always in the room where it happened, Souza captured nearly two million images of a president upholding the gravity of the office, hundreds of which course through The Way I See It, a new documentary directed by Dawn Porter, who recently made John Lewis: Good Trouble. We’ve lost that with the current administration and we’ve become numbed to the constant lies. Think about what kind of a person we want in the top leadership post in our country, and that’s somebody with character and empathy and compassion.

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