Visualizing the Rhetorical Presidency: Barack Obama in the Situation Room. Issue 1 (2nd January 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: McFarlane, Megan D.
• Is Part Of: Visual communication quarterly. Volume 23:Issue 1(2016)
• Page Start: 3
• Page End: 13
• Publication Date: 2016-01-02
• Subjects: Visual communication -- Periodicals; 302.23
• DOI: 10.1080/15551393.2015.1105105
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1555-1393

Abstract

Abstract : On the night of May 1, 2011, almost 10 years after the 9/11 attacks, President Obama announced on live television that Osama bin Laden was dead. The next day, the Situation Room photograph was released, revealing a behind-the-scenes glimpse of how tense it was at the White House while the mission was underway. Building on previous scholarship about the rhetorical presidency and visual rhetoric, this essay analyzes how the photograph, combined with the context of Obama's speech the night of the raid, contributes to the increasingly visual aspect of the rhetorical presidency and creates an image of Obama as a strong commander in chief .