A PORTRAIT OF A TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADER: AN ANALYSIS OF TEXT AND IMAGE ON

BARRACKOBAMA.COM

(POTRET SEORANG PEMIMPIN TRANSFORMASIONAL: SEBUAH ANALISA TEKS DAN GAMBAR

PADA WEBSITE BARRACKBOBAMA.COM)

Oleh David E. Gliem dan James A. Janack

(http://acjournal.org/holdings/vol10/03_Fall/articles/Gliem&Janack.php)

Esai ini merupakan hasil pengamatan atas website kampanye Barrack Obama (www.
BarrackObama.com), yang kini menjadi Presiden Amerika Serikat, dari September 2007 hingga
Juli 2008. Di sini disorot bagaimana website tersebut mendefinisikan Barrack Obama sebagai
pemimpin transformasionalonal melalui strategi asosiasi dengan John F. Kennedy dan Martin
Luther King, baik secara tekstual maupun visual. Esai ini juga tidak berusaha membuat
metodologi analisa website yang komprehensif tapi lebih pada mengkritisi sebuah hubungan
kunci dalam ruang retorika di website, yaitu hubungan antara teks dan foto.

Secara garis besar, penulis membagi tulisannya dalam tiga bagian penting. Pertama, pengantar
tentang website dan deskripsi singkat website Barrack Obama. Kedua, konsep keterkaitan yang
saling mendukung antara teks dan gambar dalam membangun sebuah website. Ketiga, analisa
dan kesimpulan.

Pada bagian pengantar, penulis menyatakan bahwa meskipun televisi masih mendominasi
kegiatan kampanye, World Wide Web makin mengemuka dan diperhitungkan. Dewasa ini,
website-website kampanye dirancang dan dikelola secara professional, menyajikan informasi
tekstual dan visual secara jernih, terorganisir, dan logis.

Website Barrack Obama dirancang sedemikian rupa. Kali pertama masuk, pengunjung disambut
dengan sebuah banner di bagian atas (top/header) halaman website: bagian kiri terdapat
gambar Obama, di tengahnya kutipan ucapan Obama, dan di bagian kanan terdapat bidang

a paper by hikmah ubaidillah aziz, 2009

untuk email updates. Di bawah header terdapat menu navigasi utama yang terdiri atas menu-
menu serta sub-submenu berikut:

 Learn:
o Meet the Candidate
o Meet the Obamas
o In the News
o Know the Facts
o Result Center
 Issues: berisi tautan (link) ke pernyataan atas masalah-masalah seperti Hak Sipil,
Ekonomi, Pendidikan, dan lain-lain
 Media:
o Barrack TV
o Photos: disusun dalam album On the Trail, Barrack Obama, Michelle Obama, dan
The Obamas
o Downloads
o Mobile
 Action: berisi tautan-tautan ke pendaftaran sukarelawan, donasi, partisipasi dalam milis,
dan daftar untuk mengikuti voting
 People: berisi sub-submenu tentang demografi kelompok-kelompok masyarakat
tertentu seperti submenu Asian Americans, African Americans, Veterans, dan
sebagainya.
 States: berisi berita dan informasi pusat kampanye negara
 Blog: mengarahkan ke fitur yang memungkinkan pengunjung memposting artikel ,
pandangan, dan komentarnya
 Store: mengarahkan pengunjung ke bagian penjualan (secara online) merchandise
kampanye

Gliem dan Janack selanjutnya menyatakan, teks dan foto melakukan tugas retoris dengan
memanfaatkan kondisi subyek dan konten mereka. Kondisi subyek (subject matter) adalah apa

a paper by hikmah ubaidillah aziz, 2009

yang digambarkan sebuah gambar secara kasat mata sementara konten adalah apa yang
diceritakan sebuah gambar, makna yang dikandung subyek. Pada fotografi, konten muncul
melalui keterkaitan yang kompleks antara subyek fotografi, metafor dan simbolisme, serta
asosiasi dengan teks-teks (verbal dan tulisan) dan gambar-gambar kontemporer dan historis
lainnya. Konten sebuah foto bergantung pada tingkat melek budaya dan visual orang yang
mengamati atau melihat. Pembedaaan antara kondisi subyek dan konten dalam hal ini sama
dengan pembedaan antara makna konotatif dan denotatif dalam teks tertulis dan verbal.

Pembicara bisa memengaruhi makna konotatif melalui apa yang disebut Kenneth Burke sebagai
saringan-saringan terministik (terministic screens), di mana sebuah terminologi bukan hanya
merupakan refleksi dari suatu realitas, ia juga sebuah seleksi dan defleksi
(penjauhan/pengelakan) realitas. Dalam pidato pada 2 Okt 2002, Obama, misalnya,
menggunakan terminologi “invasi Irak” bukan “pembebasan Irak”. Terminologi ini menjadi
contoh pemilihan atas realitas tertentu dari konflik tersebut. Dalam elaborasinya tentang
saringan-saringan terministik, Burke menjelaskan konsep tersebut di bidang fotografi.

“Saya ingat beberapa potret yang pernah saya lihat. Potret yang berbeda atas subyek yang
sama. Pembedaan dibuat dengan filter-filter warna yang berbeda…”

Jadi, potret adalah representasi realita yang dikonstruksi.

Selain filter, elemen komposional lainnya bisa dimanipulasi untuk membangun konten sebuah
gambar. Yang paling fundamental adalah framing. Framing adalah pengaturan/pembatasan
pandangan/penglihatan yang dipilih dalam sebuah bidang visual yang lebih luas. Selain
membuat sesuatu menjadi pusat perhatian, framing juga menciptakan hubungan yang tidak
ada sebelumnya antara obyek atau gambar yang dihadirkan.

Di sini dihadirkan contoh potret Obama yang

tengah menyapa seorang prajurit, sementara di
latarnya dua orang prajurit tengah berbincang.
Ruang visual di foto ini diatur sedemikian rupa
agar perhatian pemirsa terfokus pada interaksi

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antara dua orang. Ruang atas, bawah, kiri, dan kanan foto ini di-crop secara radikal ,
meniadakan konteks (foto) yang sebenarnya lebih luas. Melalui framing, foto ini juga mencipta
hubungan psikologis dan fisik antara Obama dan sang prajurit.

Pemikiran Burke tentang saringan-saringan terministik juga bisa dihubungkan dengan

penggunaan sudut pandang mata yang melihat. Sudut pandang bekerja selaras dengan
perspektif, ilusi kedalaman sebuah gambar, atau sebaliknya. Mata yang melihat bisa
ditempatkan di atas subyek hingga ia melihat ke bawah, bisa juga ditempatkan di bawah hingga
ia harus melihat (menengadah) ke atas. Sudut pandang seseorang bisa disimpangkan ataupun
dibuat apa adanya (natural), dibuat jauh ataupun dekat dengan subjek. Sudut pandang dan
perspektif bisa menciptakan sebuah rasa kedekatan atau bahkan jarak fisik dan psikologis ,
memunculkan hubungan hirarkis, dan menyajikan dunia sebagai sesuatu yang stabil dan normal
atau sebaliknya, dan bahkan abstrak. Sudut pandang yang normal dan stabil bisa membawa
kesan gambar sebagai sesuatu yang transparan dan inosen “apa yang Anda lihat itulah yang
Anda dapat”. Sementara sudut pandang yang tidak natural bisa membawa makna sebaliknya
“lebih dari yang terlihat.”

Pada foto Obama dan prajurit di atas, sudut pandang dibuat natural. Mata yang melihat
ditempatkan dekat dengan subyek dan karenanya membawa kesan hubungan kedekatan
dengan subyek. Semua teknik ini, seperti yang dikatakan Burke, ditujukan untuk mengarahkan
perhatian mata yang melihat.

Secara tekstual, sudut pandang dan perspektif dimansfestasikan dalam bentuk konstruksi
kalimat secara gramatikal. Penulis dan pembicara membangun kalimat dengan menggunakan
subyek orang pertama, kedua, dan ketiga. Dalam kasus website Obama, konstruksi orang
pertama mendominasi transkrip pidato, salah satunya dalam pidato pada rapat besar di Iowa
ketika Obama menyatakan “Saya akan menjadi presiden yang sukses membuat layanan
kesehatan terjangkau… dan saya akan menjadi presiden yang mengakhiri perang dengan Irak”.
Sebaliknya, konstruksi orang ketiga menghiasi pernyataan atas isu, biografi, dan perbandingan
jumlah pemilih (di bawah menu “People”), seperti “Obama aakan menyediakan pelatihan
kerja… Obama telah memperjuangkan hak-hak sipil dan keadilan dalam sistem pengadilan

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criminal selama karirnya “ (di bawah bahasan “Civil Rights”). Konstruksi orang pertama
cenderung mengarahkan perhatian pemirsa kepada kekuatan pembicara, sementara konstruksi
orang ketiga menciptakan jarak antara penulis dan subyek yang memunculkan kesan
obyektifitas yang lebih besar.

Berbeda halnya dengan persektif waktu dalam penggambaran dan eksploitasi “kairos (momen
yang krusial dan menentukan)” pada teks. Perspektif ini membawa kesadaran akan pentingnya
momen historis tertentu. Merujuk pernyataan Szarkowski tentang elemen waktu dalam
fotografi “dalam sejarah gambar, sebuah potret hanya melukiskan periode waktu ketika foto
tersebut dibuat”. Dengan menghentikan potongan-potongan kecil waktu , sebuah potret
membekukan dunia yang tampak ke dalam pola-pola garis dan bentuk. Kemampuan foto untuk
mengabadikan apa yang disebut Cartier-Bresson sebagai “momen yang menentukan”
mengingatkan kita pada pentingnya pengaturan waktu/tempo dalam proses retorika. Inilah
yang biasa dikenal dengan “kairos”. Momen yang menentukan (kairotic moment) paling penting
dalam aksi retoris karena momen ini paling bisa menghasilkan perbedaan dan paling
berpengaruh. Karenanya, identifikasi momen yang menentukan menjadi titik tumpu aksi-aksi
retoris.

Terakhir, teks dan gambar bekerja secara intertekstual. Dalam buku Rhetoric Online¸Barbara
Warnick menyatakan bahwa “intertektualitas terjadi manakala satu teks dalam satu tulisan
terhubung dengan teks lain, dengan cara tertentu, dalam matriks sosial dan tekstual”. Teks dan
gambar tidak hanya saling berhubungan dan saling melengkapi jika berada dalam satu website,
tapi mereka juga bisa terhubung dengan teks dan gambar yang berada di luar ruang retorika
website.

Pada bagian terakhir, Gliem dan Janack menyajikan analisa atas website BarrackObama.com.
Menurut mereka, salah satu fungsi penting dari website kampanye adalah untuk
mendefinisikan kandidat. Dalam analisis tentang kampanye online, Bruce Bimber dan Richard
Davis menyatakan bahwa “ memahami presentasi diri para kandidat menjadi hal yang kritis
karena pemilu Amerika sangatlah terpusat pada kandidat (candidate-centric)… Artinya
bagaimana para kandidat mempresentasikan diri mereka sebagai individu kepada para pemirsa

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menjadi bagian yang penting dari kampanye, baik di dunia media lama maupun baru”. Peran
inilah yang dilakukan dengan baik oleh foto dan teks dalam website kampanye milik Obama.
Dari analisa pidato dan foto-foto pada website Obama dapat disimpulkan bahwa visual dan teks
bekerja selaras dan saling melengkapi untuk membangun citra Obama sebagai seorang
pemimpin transformasional dengan cara mengasosiasikannya dengan pemimpin-pemimpin
transformasional lain di masa lalu, seperti Martin Luther King, Jr. dan John F. Kennedy.
Bukanlah hal yang mengejutkan jika seorang kandidat presiden berusaha membangun sebuah
citra.

Selanjutnya, penulis memberi beberapa definisi pemimpin transformasional. Di antaranya dari

Noel M. Tichy dan Mary Anne Devanna bahwa pemimpin transformasional adalah “orang yang
mengenali kebutuhan akan revitalisasi, mencipta visi baru, dan menginstistusionalisasikan
perubahan”.

Pada website Obama, salah satu yang dilihat pengunjung adalah banner di bagian atas setiap
halaman web di mana tertulis “I’m asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about
real change in Washington… I’m asking you to believe in yours” . Ungkapan ini berawal dari
iklan televisi komersil berdurasi 60 detik yang mengudara pertama kali di Iowa pada 19
September 2007. Frase ini mengingatkan orang pada ucapan John F. Kennedy “Ask not what
your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”. Dalam kasus ini, saringan
terministik menciptakan asosiasi antara Obama dan Kennedy sebagai pemimpin
transformasional dan ikon Partai Demokrat. Sejak awal dan secara konsisten, pengunjung
dihadapkan pada hal yang mengingatkan mereka akan retorika John F. Kennedy. Kathleen Hall
Jamieson mencatat bahwa presiden dan kandidat presiden kerap “meredifinisi pernyataan-
pernyataan penting dalam warisan retoris untuk merangkum kebutuhan-kebutuhan pada
zamannya”. Dalam kasus Obama, ia menggunakan ungkapan terkenal Kennedy (untuk
berkorban demi negara) ke dalam slogan yang mengartikulasi misinya untuk merubah budaya
politik di negara tersebut.

Kemiripan gaya antara kedua ungkapan tersebut tidak hanya secara berupa rujukan
intertekstual. Sebelumnya asosiasi ini telah diperkuat oleh peranan Ted Sorensen, penasihat

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dan penulis pidato JFK, di awal kampanye. Ted dan Caroline Kennedy sendiri menguatkan citra
ini dengan melukiskan Obama sebagai “pewaris yang pantas” untuk JFK.

Potret-potret di website juga mengasosiasikan

Obama dengan mitos Kennedy. Contohnya,
banyak foto mengingatkan Obama sebagai
pribadi yang memiliki karakter yang sama
dengan Kennedy. Sebuah foto menampilkan
sosoknya yang masih muda dan pemikir (foto 2)
dan foto lainnya menampakkan Obama sebagai
figure yang cerdas dan berpendidikan (foto 3),
mungkin ini sebuah usaha untuk mengatasi kritik akan ketiadaan pengalaman, sama seperti
yang terjadi pada Kennedy dalam perjalanannya menjadi presiden.

Ada juga foto-foto dalam album “The

Obamas” (Keluarga Obama) (foto 4) yang
menampilkan foto-foto Barrack, Michelle,
dan kedua putri mereka yang
mengingatkan pengunjung pada foto
terkenal Keluarga Kennedy yang
dipublikasikan dalam Life, Ladies’ Home
Journal, McCall’s, Redbook dan Vogue.
Dalam banyak foto, Michelle digambarkan bagai Jackie Kennedy muda.

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Kennedy bukan satu-satunya ikon pergerakan progresif tahun 60-an yang dimunculkan oleh
website Obama, tapi juga Martin Luther King Jr. Salah satu strategi yang lebih jelas adalah pada
beberapa pidato Obama yang dicantumkan di website di mana terlihat gambaran intertekstual
dengan pidato terkenal MLK yang berjudul “I Have a Dream”. Ungkapan bersejarah King, yaitu
“the fierce urgency of now” merupakan saringan terministik dalam pidato Obama untuk
menjelaskan keputusannya mencalonkan diri sebagai presiden. Dalam pernyataan di South
Caroline pada 3 November 2007, Obama berkata “I am running because of what Dr. King called
“the fierce urgency of now’. I am running because I do believe there’s such a thing as being too
late. And that hour is almost here” . Dalam stilistik yang halus, cara-cara pidato-pidato Obama
juga meniru pidato King yang terkenal tersebut khususnya dengan penggunaan anafora.
Anafora adalah pengulangan kata atau kalimat yang sama di permulaan kalimat atau paragraf.
Misalnya pada pidatonya di Des Moines, LA, pada 27 Desember 2007, Obama menyatakan “at
this defining moment, we cannot wait for universal health care. We cannot wait to fix our
schools. We cannot wait for good jobs…”Di lain pihak, penekanan Obama atas “the fierce
urgency of now” dan pengulangan kata “we cannot wait” menegaskan identifikasi momen yang
menentukan (kairotic moment).

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Pengacuan intertekstual kepada MLK, Jr meluas hingga ke foto-foto hingga kesadaran orang
yang melihat akan pentingnya waktu dan hubungan Obama dengan hal tersebut makin
meningkat. Dalam album “Obamas” terdapat foto-foto Barrack dan Michelle bergerak di depan
kerumunan penonton. Foto-foto ini diambil dengan kecepatan shutter yang lambat di mana
Barrack dan Michelle menjadi obyek foto yang paling terang dan jelas sementara ruang-ruang
di sekitar keduanya terlihat blur. Ada dua kemungkinan interpretasi atas foto ini. Pertama, foto
tersebut menempatkan Barrack dan Michelle sebagai penyebab disrupsi visual sekeliling
mereka, sebagai agen perubahan. Interpretasi ini selaras dengan definisi Tichy dan Devanna
tentang pemimpin transformasional sebagai seseorang yang “menginstitusionalisasikan
perubahan” . Kedua, keduanya dianggap sebagai unsur stabilitas dalam lingkungan yang tak
stabil. Mereka merepresentasikan visi yang jelas dan baru dan jalan bagi negeri yang kehilangan
fokusnya. Foto lainnya menggambarkan Obama sebagai pemimpin transformasional dengan
menggunakan hujan badai yang berlalu dan pelangi sebagai metafora bagi perubahan dan
harapan. Dihidupkannya fenomena alam dalam foto ini terkait dengan pembaruan sosial dan
politik.

Seperti halnya MLK yang dikenal sebagai orator ulung, Obama pun digambarkan demikian.
Dalam beberapa foto Obama dilukiskan sebagai seorang orator handal dan berpengaruh.

Penggunaan terang dan gelap sebagai simbol dan metafora juga ditemukan pada foto-foto do
website ini. Misalnya foto pelangi yang menantang langit yang gelap melatari poster kampanye

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Obama dengan tulisan “HOPE” di depannya. Pada foto lain, terang atau cahaya dijadikan simbol
pencerahan. Contohnya, foto Obama di atas panggung, di mana berkas cahaya terang
melingkupi Obama sementara area di sebelah kirinya gelap.

Penggunaan simbol dan metafora gelap dan terang juga ditemukan pada pidato-pidato MLK
dan Obama. Dalam orasi “I Have a Dream”-nya yang terkenal, MLK menyatakan “Now is the
tme to rise form the dark to and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial
justice.” Sementara Obama dalam orasi di Raleigh, North Carilone pada 6 Mei 2008, Obama
menyatakan “It is light of opportunity that led my father across an ocean… hope can find its
way back to the darkest of corners…” Demikianlah, foto dan pidato berjalan selaras untuk
menciptakan sebuah hubungan antara Obama dan MLK.

***

Bagaimana halnya dengan website kampanye presiden di Indonesia? Ada 3 website kandidat
presiden, tapi pembanding yang paling baik adalah website sbypresidenku.com karena selain
SBY adalah pemenang pilpres, website ini paling populer (Pikiran Rakyat, 2 Juni 2009) dan
paling representatif untuk dibandingkan dengan website Obama.

Secara teknis dan kasat mata, kita bisa membandingkan kedua website tersebut melalui tabel di
bawah ini:

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Item Barrackobama.com SBYpresidenku.com
Warna dominan Biru Biru
Warna lain Merah dan putih Merah dan putih
Ikon web Lingkaran merah, putih, Lingkaran merah, putih,
dan biru dan biru
Warna top menu Putih dengan hiasan Merah
bendera warna merah dan
putih
Link ke menu home pada top Menggunakan Menggunakan ikon/gambar
menu ikon/gambar
Header Kiri: gambar Obama Kiri dan tengah (menyatu
Tengah: kutipan Obama dalam satu gambar)
Kanan: Email update mengandung: logo dan
gambar SBY dengan latar
bendera merah putih
Kanan: Login/Register dan
Pencapaian SBY 2004-2009
(animasi-moving pictures)
Menu
1. Pemunculan submenu Ada Tidak ada
pada top menu
2. Menu Wapres Tidak ada Ada
3. Transkrip pidato Ada Ada
 Konstruksi Orang pertama Orang pertama
 Konteks Kampanye calon presiden Sebagai presiden
4. Blog dan Forum Ada Ada
Diskusi
5. Store/Merchandise Ada Tidak ada
6. Foto Ada dalam menu khusus Ada tapi tidak dalam menu
(Media) khusus-digabungkan
dengan menu SBY dan
Berita
Pada biografi, pernyataan Biografi

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 7. Kontruksi orang terhadap isu, dan
ketiga konstituen

Pertama, website SBY seperti halnya Obama didominasi warna biru, warna partai mereka.
Warna merah putih hanya terlihat pada “top menu” website SBY, sedikit lebih banyak
dibanding merah putih pada website Obama yang hanya menjadi pemanis “top menu”.

Entah kemiripan ini hanya kebetulan atau memang website SBY mencontoh tampilan website
Obama dengan harapan mengikuti jejak keberhasilan Obama, karena kemiripan itu juga muncul
pada logo atau ikon website yang berbentuk lingkaran dengan warna merah, dan putih.
Penggunaan navigasi kanan, alih-alih kiri yang banyak ditemui pada web di Indonesia, juga sama
dengan konsep pada website Barrack Obama. Ini menimbulkan pertanyaan lain: mungkinkah
SBY diasosiasikan dengan dan dicitrakan bak Obama sebagai pemimpin transformasional
Indonesia?

Kedua, dari sisi menu dan fitur, penyajian

pada website SBY tak selengkap, sekaya,
dan terstruktur dengan baik seperti halnya
website Obama. Website SBY bisa
dikatakan sangat sederhana dan bisa
dikatakan tidak terstruktur dengan baik.
Dan lagi, deretan link dan fitur di bagian
kanan website (seperti tampak pada
gambar) membuat bingung pengunjung.
Dengan kata lain, navigasi website ini
kurang komunikatif. Semestinya sub-
submenu tersebut langsung diposisikan di
di bawah menu-menu utama pada top
menu. Peletakan navigasi pada posisi ini terkesan seperti mengisi kekosongan saja tanpa
memerhatikan kepraktisan fungsi dan estetikanya. Pengunjung harus men-scroll hingga jauh ke

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bawah untuk melihat seluruh isi halaman website hingga penggunaan ruang kiri, kanan, dan
tengah terlihat tidak seimbang.

Dalam kasus fitur “Liputan Anda”, misalnya, terkesan sebagai bagian yang lepas dan berdiri
sendiri, padahal setelah ditelusuri ternyata merupakan submenu dari “Berita”.

Yang fatal adalah penamaan menu “Berita” yang di dalamnya mengandung submenu bernama
“Berita” juga selain “foto dan video” serta “liputan Anda”. Mendengar namanya, orang tidak
mengasosiasikan menu ini dengan kumpulan album foto. Orang tidak berpikir untuk mencari
kumpulan foto dan video di menu bernama “Berita”. Semestinya, lebih baik menamakan menu
ini sebagai “Media” di mana terdapat submenu “berita” “album foto” dan “liputan anda”.

Ketiga, yang paling penting, adalah di website ini SBY tidak diasosiasikan dengan pemimpin
Indonesia manapun. Secara tekstual maupun visual, gambaran seperti itu tidak tampak. Tapi,
dengan segala setting di website yang mirip dengan website Obama, SBY sepertinya ingin
ditampakkan bagai Obama.

Jika pada website Obama banyak permainan pada foto untuk menggambarkan dia sebagai
pemimpin transformasional dan berasosiasi dengan pemimpin terkemuka dari masa lalu, pada
website SBY permainan foto itu tidak tampak. Foto yang ada di sini adalah foto dengan kesan
natural saja “what you see what you get”. Tidak ada foto dengan muatan simbol yang
menyertakan fenomena alam atau aplikasi gelap terang seperti yang ada pada website Obama.

Slogan dan ungkapan SBY juga tidak bisa dibandingkan dengan Obama. Ungkapan SBY pada
halaman awal website “Mari kita lanjutkan perjuangan untuk hari esok yang lebih baik” tidak
diasosiasikan dengan ungkapan pemimpin manapun, berbeda dengan Obama yang mengikuti
gaya JFK ataupun MLK, Jr. Tidak ada penggunaan anafora, metafora, atau kairotic moment
pada teks ataupun gambar.

Pidato-pidato SBY yang dihadirkan di sini adalah pidato sebagai presiden, bukan kandidat
presiden. Selain itu teks foto dan foto sendiri tidak memberi makna yang mendalam, bahkan
terkesan tanpa makna, seperti foto dengan caption “naik motor” atau “SBY di KBRI Australia”
atau “Smile” atau “Jenderal SBY”. Foto-foto SBY tak lebih dari kumpulan foto tanpa maksud

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yang jelas, dengan ukuran foto yang terkadang terlalu kecil untuk dilihat mata. Dengan kata
lain, foto dan teks foto pada website ini tidak bermuatan visi dan misi SBY.

Bila pada website Obama terpampang jelas visi, misi, program, dan pendapat Obama tentang
sebuah isu dan bandingannya dengan kandidat lain, tidak demikian halnya dengan website SBY.
Mungkin ini bentuk ketidaktanggapan tim sukses SBY atau memang rakyat Indonesia dianggap
tidak membutuhkan semua itu karena mereka hanya terpaku pada tokoh bukan pada
obyektifitas misi dan program-programnya.

a paper by hikmah ubaidillah aziz, 2009

A Portrait of a Transformational Leader: An
Analysis of Text and Image on
BarackObama.com
David E. Gliem & James A. Janack

Abstract

Today's campaign websites are professionally designed and managed and present both textual
and visual information in a clear, organized, and coherent manner. Though information unfolds
in a non-linear as opposed to a linear way, texts and images are prudently coordinated to advance
a well-crafted persona of the candidate. Like most campaign websites, Barack Obama's 2008
presidential campaign website constructs a particular image of the candidate. This essay will
show that BarackObama.com defines Obama as a transformational leader through both textual
and visual strategies of association with John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. For this
essay BarackObama.com was studied during the period from September 2007 to July 2008.
During this period the campaign made minor modifications to the website's content, design and
functionality. The modifications made to the website expanded its capabilities and content but
did not alter its underlying rhetorical strategy.

Keywords

visual rhetoric, Internet, Barack Obama, political communication

Though television is still the dominant medium for campaign discourse, the World Wide Web is
becoming more prominent.  Indeed, the sophistication of the Internet grew exponentially since
the early 1990s and political campaigns exploited many of its rapidly evolving capabilities.  The
use of the Internet for political purposes has changed dramatically since the Clinton campaign
first launched a rudimentary, text-based website during the 1992 presidential election (Bimber
and Davis 23).  For example, "TechPresident," an online group blog, stated that for the week of
June 28, 2008, Barack Obama's website drew 883,980 hits ("Compete").  And a July 12 article in
the National Post reported that "Mr. Obama has smashed all records for presidential fund raising,
bringing in $287 US-million during the campaign, partly because of his success in using the
Internet to bring in contributions from small donors" (Parsons).  Undoubtedly, today's political
campaign websites are multifaceted, multifunctional, and richly multimediated and draw large
numbers of visitors interested in seeing and learning more about a candidate, donating funds,
volunteering, and even offering advice and opinions through blogs and chat rooms.

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Today's campaign websites are professionally designed and managed and present both textual
and visual information in a clear, organized, and coherent manner.  Though information unfolds
in a non-linear as opposed to a linear way, texts and images are prudently coordinated to advance
a well-crafted persona of the candidate.  Like most campaign websites, Barack Obama's 2008
presidential campaign website constructs a particular image of the candidate.  This essay will
show that BarackObama.com defines Obama as a transformational leader through both textual
and visual strategies of association with John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.

For this essay BarackObama.com was studied during the period from September 2007 to July
2008.  During this period the campaign made minor modifications to the website's content,
design and functionality.  The modifications made to the website expanded its capabilities and
content but did not alter its underlying rhetorical strategy.

Description of BarackObama.com

A visitor to the main site is greeted by a banner at the top with an image of Obama on the left, an
Obama quotation in the middle, and, to the right, a field to sign up for email updates.  Below this
header is the primary navigational menu with the links: Learn, Issues, Media, Action, People,
States, Blog, and Store.  The texts and photographs, the focus of this study, can be found in the
primary navigational menu.  Under the Learn menu are the submenus: Meet the Candidate, Meet
the Obamas, In the News, Know the facts, and Results Center. The Issues menu provides links to
particular position statements on issues such as: Civil Rights, Disabilities, Economy, Education,
etc.  Under the Media menu are the submenus: BarackTV, Photos, Downloads, and Mobile.  The
photographs are organized by album: On the Trail, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, and The
Obamas.  Visitors can see the photographs using a slide show viewer to scroll through each
album.  The Action menu contains links to sign up to volunteer, donate, join an email list, and
register to vote.  The People menu has submenus that direct visitors to appeals devoted to
different demographic groups (e.g. Asian Americans, African Americans, Veterans, etc.).  The
States menu has news and information for state campaign headquarters.  The Blog link leads
visitors to postings of news articles and viewer responses and comments.  Finally, the Store link
leads to an online retail section where visitors can purchase campaign merchandise.

Parallel Strategies in Text and Image

Texts and images on websites do not exist or function rhetorically in isolation.  In their recent
book on iconic photographs, Robert Hariman and John Louis Lucaites have noted that the World
Wide Web, among other media, leaves little "doubt that social actors are more and more likely to
be thinking, feeling, and acting on the basis of what they have seen rather than only heard or
read.  Of course, these modalities are not so neatly separated in practice, so there is good reason
to move beyond the question of which mode is dominant and consider more complicated
relationships" (5).  Given the number and types of modes and relationships made possible on a
website, this essay does not propose to provide a methodology for a comprehensive analysis of
websites, rather it critiques one key relationship within the rhetorical space of the website, that
between texts and photographs.  This section will identify four rhetorical qualities in both
photography and texts and discuss how they operate in a similar persuasive fashion.  This

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interdisciplinary comparative methodology will then form the basis of an analysis of the use of
texts and photographs on BarackObama.com.

Both texts and photographs operate rhetorically by means of their subject matter and content. 
Subject matter is what an image literally depicts.  Content is what an image is about, the
meaning that lies below the surface of subject.  Content arises in a photograph through the
complex interrelationships between its subject, composition, metaphor and symbolism, and
association with other historical and contemporary texts (verbal and written) and images.  As
with all artifacts, the content of a photograph is dependent upon the visual and cultural literacy of
the observer.  This distinction between subject matter and content in imagery is similar to the
difference between denotative meaning and connotative meaning in verbal and written texts. 
Subject matter is like denotative meaning in that it offers a relatively straightforward sense.  The
denotative meaning is the armature of the text, the foundation upon which the connotative
elements of the text are built.  The connotative meaning of a text functions like content in
imagery.  It is shaped by the denotative meaning, but is further informed by the cultural, social,
and historical associations that have accumulated in the viewer/listener.

Speakers can influence connotative meaning through the selection of what Kenneth Burke called
terministic screens.  As Burke explained, "even if any given terminology is a reflection of reality,
by its very nature as a terminology it must be a selection of reality; and to this extent it must
function also as a deflection of reality (45)."  Terministic screens are at work any time one
expresses oneself linguistically.  In his speech on October 2, 2002, Obama's reference to the
"invasion of Iraq," (as opposed to the "liberation of Iraq") offers a clear example of selecting a
very particular reality of that conflict ("Remarks of Illinois State Sen.").  Interestingly enough, in
Burke's elaboration on terministic screens, he explained the concept in terms of photography.  He
wrote, "I have in mind some photographs I once saw.  They were different photographs of the
same objects, the difference being that they were made with different color filters.  Here
something so 'factual' as a photograph revealed notable distinctions in texture, and even in form,
depending upon which color filter was used for the documentary description of the event being
recorded" (45).

Burke's calling into question the "factuality" of the photograph is critical because, as John
Szarkowski wrote, "more convincingly than any other kind of picture, a photograph evokes the
tangible presence of reality.  Its most fundamental use and its broadest acceptance has been as a
substitute for the subject itself -- simpler, more permanent, more clearly visible version of the
plain fact" (12).  Because of the direct and implicit relationship between a photograph and its
referent, what Roland Barthes called photography's "analogic" character, photography can act as
a compelling substitute for real experience.  However, it is important to remember that
photographs are constructed representations of reality.  One must be on guard against the perfidy
of these kinds of images.

In addition to filters, as Burke described above, other compositional elements can be

manipulated to develop content in an image.  The most fundamental to photography is framing. 
Simply put, framing is bracketing a selected view from within a larger visual field.  Framing
implies that whatever is contained within the boundaries of the photograph is somehow special
or deserving of attention.  Framing also creates relationships between the objects or figures

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represented that had not existed before.  For instance, among the photographs on
BarackObama.com are a few that feature Obama and another person isolated from within a
crowd.  One such image shows Obama and a soldier (Figure 1).

Figure 1 (photograph #11 from the Photos webpage on BarackObama.com; archived September
7, 2007)

Here the visual field is severely delimited in order to focus the viewer's attention on the
interaction between the two men.  With the top, bottom, left and right spaces radically cropped
out of view, the larger context of the scene is deemphasized.  One only gets a sense of this larger
space in the blurred images of two soldiers in the middle ground and the fragment of a soldier's
left shoulder along the right edge.  At the center of the photograph one sees Obama's extended
left arm resting on the soldier's right shoulder.  The implied lines of their gazes reinforce this
physical unity.  By compressing the space and concentrating on the two men, the physical and
psychological relationships between Obama and the solider are magnified by means of the
frame.  Thus, a seemingly random event is isolated and given profound emphasis by framing the
scene in this way.

One can also relate Burke's notion of the terministic screen to the use of point of view, which is
the observer's orientation with regard to the subject of the photograph.  Point of view works in
concert with perspective, the illusion of depth or, by contrast, flatness of an image.  The viewer
can be placed above the subject, looking down, or below, looking up.  One's point of view can be

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skewed or natural, up close or far from the subject.  Point of view and perspective can create a
sense of psychological and physical intimacy or distance, establish hierarchical relationships, and
present the world as stable and normal or unstable and surreal, even abstracted.  A stable or
normal point of view, one that mirrors the way one usually relates to the world, can convey a
sense of the image as innocent and transparent, that "what you see is what you get."  A skewed,
artfully contrived or unnatural point of view might suggest the opposite to a viewer, that there is
"more than what meets the eye."  In the aforementioned photograph of Obama and the soldier,
the point of view is a natural one.  The viewer is placed near to and at eye-level with the subject
and is, therefore, brought into an intimate relationship with the subject.  All of these techniques
work, as Burke wrote of terministic screens, to direct the attention and shape the range of a
viewer's observations (50).

Textually, point of view and perspective are manifest in the grammatical construction of
sentences.  Authors and speakers construct sentences with first-person, second-person, or third-
person subjects.  In the case of the Obama website, first-person construction predominates in the
transcripts of the speeches.  For example, on the night of his victory in the Iowa caucuses Obama
declared "I'll be a President who finally makes health care affordable.... I'll be a President who
ends the tax breaks for companies that ship our jobs overseas.... And I'll be a President who ends
this war in Iraq" ("Remarks of Sen. Barack Obama: Iowa Caucus Night").  In contrast to the
predominance of first-person construction in his speeches, other texts on the website, such as the
biographies, the position statements on issues, and the constituency appeals (under the "People"
menu) offer third-person construction of sentences: "Obama will ban racial profiling by federal
law enforcement agencies.... Obama will provide job training.... Obama has worked to promote
civil rights and fairness in the criminal justice system throughout his career" ("Civil Rights"). 
Whereas first-person construction tends to direct the attention of the audience to the power of the
rhetor, third-person construction rhetorically creates distance between the author and the subject,
potentially promoting a greater sense of objectivity.

Where point of view and perspective in images and person in texts promote a sense of physical
and/or psychological proximity or distance between the viewer/reader and the subject, the
perception of time in imagery and the exploitation of kairos in texts bring about an awareness of
the significance of a particular historical moment.  On the element of time in photography,
Szarkowski wrote that "[u]niquely in the history of pictures, a photograph describes only that
period of time in which it was made." (n.p.).  By immobilizing thin slices of time, a photograph
freezes the visible world into patterns of lines and shapes.  These forms, which are fixed in time
and space within the defined limits of the frame, work in concert with the subject matter to create
and magnify relationships and engender meaning and content previously concealed within the
flux of movement.  The ability of photographs to exalt what photographer Cartier-Bresson called
"the decisive moment" calls to mind the significance of timing in the rhetorical process.  This is
commonly referred to as kairos.  The kairotic moment is the most significant in the rhetorical act,
it is the moment at which discourse can make the most difference or have the most influence. 
Certainly, the identification of the kairotic moment is the fulcrum upon which the rhetorical act
rests.

Lastly, both texts and images operate intertextually.  In her book, Rhetoric Online, Barbara
Warnick noted that "[i]ntertextuality occurs when one text is in some way connected in a work to

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other texts in the social and textual matrix" (95).  Not only do texts and images within a website
interrelate to complement each other, but they can also connect to texts and images outside the
rhetorical space of the website.

BarackObama.com: An Analysis

One important function of a campaign website is to define the candidate.  As Bruce Bimber and
Richard Davis explained in their analysis of online campaigning, "understanding these candidate
presentations of self becomes particularly critical since American elections have become so
highly candidate-centric....  This means that how candidates present themselves as individuals to
their audiences is a vitally important part of campaigning, in the worlds of both new and old
media" (73).  The photographs and the texts on the Obama campaign site do the work of self-
definition.  One conclusion that can be drawn from an analysis of the speeches and the
photographs is that the visuals, married with texts, complement each other to create an image of
Obama as a transformational leader by associating him with other transformational leaders of the
past, such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and John F. Kennedy.  It is no surprise that a presidential
candidate would attempt to construct such an image.  Nevertheless, what this section of the essay
hopes to do is offer an illustration of a methodology for analyzing how visual imagery and
textual discourse work together within a defined rhetorical space to construct a persuasive
message.

There are numerous definitions of transformational leadership.  Among the better known are
those by Bernard M. Bass and Bruce J Avolio, and  Noel M. Tichy and Mary Anne Devanna. 
According to Bass and Avolio, transformational leaders "behave in ways to achieve superior
results by... being role models for their followers, by... motivat[ing] and inspir[ing] those around
them by providing meaning and challenge to their followers' work..., by stimulat[ing] their
followers' efforts to be innovative and creative by questioning assumptions, reframing problems,
and approaching old situations in new ways[,]" and lastly by "pay[ing] special attention to each
individual's needs for achievement and growth by acting as coach or mentor" (3).  Tichy and
Devanna have defined transformational leaders as "individuals out to create new approaches and
imagine new areas to explore; they relate to people in more intuitive and empathetic ways, seek
risk where opportunity and reward are high, and project ideas into images to excite people"
(1990, xiii).  In an earlier work Tichy and Devanna described a transformational leader as one
who recognizes the need for revitalization, creates a new vision, and institutionalizes change
(1986, 29).  Janet V. Denhardt and Kelly B. Campbell have argued that transformational
leadership in the public sector ought to consider not only the accomplishment of change, but also
questions of "self-interest versus public interest, the nature and role of citizenship, and the
realization of democratic ideals" (569).

Among the most well known transformational political leaders are John F. Kennedy and Martin
Luther King, Jr.  Tichy and Devanna cite JFK's role in the space race as exemplifying his
transformational leadership (1986, 156).  David McGuire's and Kate Hutchings' study of MLK,
Jr. offered a portrait of the civil rights icon as a transformational leader through an application of
Bass' and Avolio's four characteristics, mentioned above.

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One of the first things a visitor to BarackObama.com will see is a banner at the top of the page. 
(The banner remains at the top of every page of the website.)  The banner reads, "I'm asking you
to believe.  Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington...  I'm asking you to
believe in yours."  This phrase originated from a 60-second television commercial that first aired
in Iowa on September 19, 2007 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=IpKcHSdd0MA&feature=email).  In this phrase, one is likely to hear the echo of John F.
Kennedy's famous admonition from his inaugural address, "Ask not what your country can do for
you, ask what you can do for your country."  In this case, the terministic screen creates an
association between Obama and Kennedy, a transformational leader and an icon of the
Democratic Party.  Initially and consistently, the website's visitors are faced with an allusion to
the rhetoric of John F. Kennedy.  Kathleen Hall Jamieson has noted that presidents and
presidential candidates often "redefine grounding premises in the rhetorical legacy to encompass
contemporary needs" (97).  In this case, Obama has reworked Kennedy's famous call for
sacrifice into a slogan that articulates his campaign's stated mission to alter the political culture
in the country.

The stylistic similarity between these two quotations is not the only intertextual reference to JFK
that the Obama campaign makes.  This association has been reinforced by the prominent role
played by Ted Sorensen, JFK's speechwriter and advisor, early in the campaign (Feals;
McCormick; Obama, "Remarks of Senator Barack Obama: A New Beginning;" Sorensen). 
Similarly, the campaign staged a high-profile event at which Ted Kennedy and Caroline
Kennedy endorsed Obama and described him as a "worthy heir" to JFK (Espo; Obama,
"Remarks for Senator Barack Obama: Kennedy Endorsement Event").

The photographs on the website also make associations between Obama and the Kennedy
mythos.  For instance, many of the photographs celebrate Obama as embodying the same
characteristics as John F. Kennedy.  These images capture his youthful vigor, thoughtfulness
(Figure 2), intelligence and education (Figure 3),perhaps in an attempt to combat criticism of his
lack of experience, the same kinds of attacks levied at JFK during his run for the presidency. 
One finds related photographs in the "The Obamas" album (Figure 4).

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Figure 2 (from the "Barack Obama" album; archived July 17, 2008)

Figure 3 (photograph #6 from the Photos webpage on BarackObama.com; archived September 7,

2007)

Here a visitor sees candid photos of Barack, Michelle and their two daughters that call to mind
the famous pictures of the Kennedy family published in Life, Ladies' Home Journal, McCall's,

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Redbook, and Vogue (Shaw).  In many of these photos, Michelle is pictured looking like, in dress
and hairstyle, a young Jackie Kennedy, likely evoking Camelot in the mind of the viewer

(Figure 5).  The use of black and white for some of these photographs gives them a historiated
quality, further reinforcing the link to the iconic family photos of the Kennedy clan.

Kennedy is not the only icon of the 1960s progressive movement that the Obama website
evokes.  The site makes both textual and visual allusions to Martin Luther King, Jr., another
transformational leader, both overtly and more subtly (McGuire and Hutchings).  One of the
more overt strategies is the intertextual allusion in some of the speeches posted on the website to
King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech.  The memorable phrase from King's speech, "the fierce
urgency of now," is the terministic screen presented in Obama's speech to explain his decision to
run for the presidency.  Obama stated in South Carolina on November 3, 2007, "I am running
because of what Dr. King called 'the fierce urgency of now.'  I am running because I do believe
there's such a thing as being too late.  And that hour is almost here" ("Remarks of Senator Barack
Obama: A Change We Can Believe In").  Obama's speeches also made a more subtle stylistic
reference to King's famous speech, specifically the presence of anaphora.  Anaphora, the
repetition of the same word or words at the beginnings of successive sentences or paragraphs, is
the signature scheme in "I Have a Dream," and Obama's speeches also made frequent use of this
figure.  For example, in Des Moines, IA on December 27, 2007, Obama claimed that "at this
defining moment, we cannot wait any longer for universal health care.  We cannot wait to fix our
schools.  We cannot wait for good jobs, and living wages, and pensions we can count on.  We
cannot wait to halt global warming, and we cannot wait to end this war in Iraq" ("Remarks of
Senator Barack Obama: Our Moment Is Now").  In addition to creating a stylistic association
with King, Obama's emphasis on "the fierce urgency of now," and his repeated insistence that
"we cannot wait" make explicit the identification of the kairotic moment.  Furthermore, the use
of anaphora has its complement in the photographs.  Here a visual cadence is created by the use
of repeated compositions, such as the closely cropped photographs featuring Obama and another
person who represents a particular constituency (Figures 1, 6, 7, 8, 9).

Intertextual references to MLK, Jr. extend to the photographs and heighten the viewer's
awareness of time and Obama's relation to it.  In the "The Obamas" album are photographs of
Barack and Michelle in motion in front of a crowd of onlookers.  The photos are taken with a
slow shutter speed so that though Barack and Michelle are mostly in focus the objects and spaces
around and behind the couple are blurred. (Figures 10, 11).  Given the transformational leader
leitmotif of the website, two possible interpretations come to mind.  First, the images may posit
Barack and Michelle as the cause of the visual disruption around them, as agents of change.  This
interpretation relates to Tichy and Devanna's definition of a transformational leader as someone
who "institutionalizes change."  Alternatively, one might view the couple as an element of
stability in an unstable environment.  They represent a new, clear vision and course for a country
that has lost its focus.  Another photograph suggests Obama as a transformative force by using a
passing rainstorm and a rainbow as a metaphor for change and hope (Figure 12).  Art scholars
call this kind of symbolic landscape a paysage moralize, or moralizing landscape.  Here the
rejuvenating powers of natural phenomena are related to political and social renewal (one might
also read intertextual connections to Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition in the use of the rainbow
here).

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The urgency of this historical moment and the immediate need for political and social change
identified by Obama is also reflected in photographs that show the candidate from a skewed
perspective and point of view.  Here space, not time, is altered to create a sense of the urgency of
the moment.  For example, one photograph shows Obama in the middle ground standing on a
stage silhouetted against the bright sky (Figure 13).  The sun, its intense light slightly softened by
clouds, can be seen directly to the candidate's right and behind an American flag fluttering in the
foreground.  Here Obama is overtly associated not only with the flag but also with the sun, a
cosmic force of renewal and rebirth, a source of energy, a symbol of enlightenment, goodness
and warmth.  The sun appears to transform the physicality of the flag, a symbol of America, its
rays rendering it nearly transparent.  This dual juxtaposition, Obama with the flag and the sun,
seems to speak to both his patriotism and transformative powers.  In addition, the point of view
is skewed so that the viewer is looking slightly upward with the space tilted awkwardly down
and to the left.  This akimbo point of view is used in other photographs on the website (Figures
14, 15, 16) and are among the more compositionally striking images on the website.  In these
images, the distorted space might be viewed, metaphorically, as a world in need of righting with
Obama as the influence required to bring stability back to the world.  Or one might interpret
Obama as a force of disruption, of transformation, one who is capable of shaking things up and
bringing about a new order.  This interpretation can also be applied to another photograph of the
candidate (Figure 17) captured mid-gesture giving a speech.  Into the static "stay the course"
space of the picture, a dynamic Obama emerges from the bottom right corner of the composition,
a catalyst of disruption and change.  Whether one sees Obama as an element of stability in an
unstable world or as a cause of disturbance in order to bring about change, both point to the same
constructed persona: Obama as a transformative figure.

This embodiment as a force for change was also promulgated by MLK via his unwavering moral
principles and reputation as an orator.  Accepted as one of America's greatest speakers, his
eloquence combined with his fierce expressions and animated gestures communicated to his
audience the significance of the moment.  On BarackObama.com there are a plethora of
photographs that feature Obama as a powerful and compelling orator (Figure 18).  The more
obvious references to MLK in Obama's speeches act as warrants for the photographs of Obama
speechifying, potentially evoking familiar images of King before crowds in the mind of the
viewer.

Light and dark are consistently used symbols and metaphors found within the photographs on the
website.  The aforementioned photograph of Obama on stage with the sun and American flag to
his right is one such example.  Another example already discussed is the photograph of the
rainbow against a darkened sky and behind an archway of Obama campaign posters reading
"HOPE" in the foreground.  Here the rainbow, formally associated with the campaign signs, is a
symbol of light and hope within the darkness of the storm, itself perhaps a metaphor for today's
turbulent times.  In other photographs of Obama, light is used as a symbol of enlightenment.  In
one example, Obama is shown on stage, a bright spotlight illuminates his form against a large
area of blackness to his left (Figure 19).  Another photograph captures the candidate up close in
profile facing to the left, his form nearly filling the entire frame (Figure 20).  His eyes are
downcast as if caught in a state of deep meditation.  A soft light comes from the left and gently
illuminates his face and torso.  Those familiar with art history might associate this kind of image

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with paintings by the Baroque masters Vermeer and Caravaggio, who used light in ordinary and
extraordinary settings to indicate the presence of the divine or to suggest divine inspiration. 

The symbolic and metaphoric use of light and dark can also be found in speeches by both MLK
and Obama, both of whom use image-laden language.  This is not surprising given the
candidate's consistent use of MLK's oratorical stylings (e.g. anaphora) and borrowing of well-
known phrasing.  For instance, MLK famously used light and dark metaphors in his "I Have a
Dream" speech: "Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the
sunlit path of racial justice."  In a speech given May 6, 2008 in Raleigh, North Carolina, Obama
said, "It is the light of opportunity that led my father across an ocean....  It's the simple truth I
learned all those years ago when I worked in the shadows of a shuttered steel mill on the South
Side of Chicago -- that in this country, justice can be won against the greatest of odds; hope can
find its way back to the darkest of corners; and when we are told that we cannot bring about the
change that we seek, we answer with one voice -- yes we can" ("Remarks of Senator Barack
Obama: Primary Night").  Thus, the photographs and the speeches work in concert to create a
link between Obama and MLK, a prototypical transformational leader.

Conclusion

In January 2008, Barack Obama's rivals, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards, criticized him for
comments he made to the Reno Gazette-Journal that sounded like admiration for Ronald
Reagan's leadership skills, if not for his policies.  Though his remarks elicited some controversy
at the time, his apparent admiration was not necessarily at odds with his campaign strategy.  In a
televised debate on January 21, 2008, Obama defended his remarks by stating "what I said is that
Ronald Reagan was a transformative political figure because he was able to get Democrats to
vote against their economic interests to form a majority to push through their agenda, an agenda
that I objected to..." (qtd. in O'Sullivan).  This analysis has shown that Obama's website has
sought to portray Obama as a "transformative political figure" himself, through textual and visual
allusions to the qualities of transformational leadership and to specific transformational political
leaders of the past.

Beyond making an argument about the specific strategies of the Obama campaign, this essay has
also proposed a practical approach by which to interpret a website by performing a close reading
that coordinates the rhetorical strategies of both text and image.  Though in isolation the texts
and images can work to promote Obama as a transformational leader, they can also work
together in a coordinated fashion to contribute to Obama's self-definition.  This essay has not
tried to argue that Obama is, is not, or will be a transformational political figure.  Rather, it
proposes that scholars and voters ought to consider the interaction of text and image on political
websites.  By doing so one can understand the persuasive strategies effected by the images and
texts and potential voters can accept or reject that argument.  Though this study represents a
preliminary investigation into the complexity of web based public discourse, it signals the
importance of using an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the rhetorical space of the
website.

References

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Figure 4 (from "The Obamas" album; archived July 17, 2008)

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Figure 10 (from "The Obamas" album; archived July 17, 2008)

a paper by hikmah ubaidillah aziz, 2009