U.S. President Barack Obama talks with Michelle McIntyre-Brewer of Maryland before awarding her a medal during a ceremony honoring recipients of the 2011 Citizens Medal in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on October 20, 2011. ROGER L. WOLLENBERG/UPI/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: upiphotostwo116151
We came across a few pictures of Obama recently – he was making some really awkward faces. To the point that we felt uncomfortable FOR him. But it got us thinking. Were there awkward pictures of the other candidates from the 2012 US Presidential election?
I imagine one of the harder aspects for the candidates is dealing with the press coverage. On the one hand, you want to have your name out there everywhere and all the time so that voters get to know you and remember your name when they get to the voting booth. But on the other hand, I imagine there are just some times when you wish the photographers weren’t around to capture that particular moment. Whether it was a funny face, an uncomfortable slip, a regrettable wayward look, or a moment of reckless abandon that they wish they could take back, each candidate has a photo or two that I’m sure they’d like to stay hidden.
But we wanted to share a few with you that we found on our new 2012 US Presidential election photo website (it has only political photos so you can easily find the right photo of the candidate that you need – whether it’s a serious photo or an awkward one). Hopefully they won’t change your opinion of any of the current candidates. This blog post isn’t meant as a political statement, it’s all in good fun. Although I now realize that Obama is just an awkward human being. We had way too many awkward pictures of him, sure there’s always photographers around, but does he always have to make a weird face around children?
So let us know, which picture is most awkward? Some are only awkward if taken out of context … and perhaps some are only awkward to me. But each one of these pictures made me laugh, so I hope they’ll make you laugh too.
Barack Obama holds up Daryn Bailey Binns, 5 months old, while greeting voters along a rope line inside the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center, where minutes before he had delivered a campaign speech to an audience of 3,500 people. He is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency of the United States. The event happened during a final week of campaigning before the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary election. Chris Fitzgerald/CandidatePhotos/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: cpphotos000089
A photo dated 09 July 2009 and made available on 10 July 2009 showing US President Barack Obama (C) and French President Nicolas Sarkozy as Mayara Rodrigues Tavares (L), a Brazilian 17-year-old Junior 8 delegate, passes by during the G8 Summit in L'Aquila, Italy. The three-day G8 summit, which involves the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the US, took place at a police school in L'Aquila from 08 to 10 July 2009. MAURIZIO BAMBATTI/EPA/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: epaphotostwo334627
US President Barack Obama awards Joseph Medicine Crow the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, on 12 August 2009. US President Barack Obama has won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, it was announced in Oslo, 09 October 2009. The Nobel Committee said he was awarded it for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples". MATTHEW CAVANAUGH/EPA/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: epaphotosthree928852
US President Barack Obama chats with students as he tours a classroom in the Yeadon Regional Head Start Center November 8, 2011 in Yeadon, Pennsylvania. MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: afplivefour141824
Representative Ron E. Paul R-TX listens to the witness at the House of Representative Financial Services Committee on the International Finance System. The hearing was held in Washington, DC on June 20, 2007. Dennis Brack/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: bsphotos035002
Ames, Iowa: August 13, 2011 Presidential candidate Ron Paul reacts to applause while taking a stage at Hilton Coliseum. He delivered an address at the Ames Straw Poll. He took second place in the poll. It happened at Iowa State University. Chris Fitzgerald / Candidate Photos/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: cpphotos003076
OK, that one isn’t really awkward. But when I saw it I immediately thought of zombies.
Ames, Iowa: August 13, 2011 Presidential candidate Herman Cain reacts to applause while taking a stage at Hilton Coliseum. He delivered an address at the Ames Straw Poll. He took fifth place in the poll. It happened at Iowa State University. Chris Fitzgerald / Candidate Photos/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: cpphotos003079
Again, maybe not awkward in context. But I thought macarena.
Texas Governor Rick Perry has some fun with a six-shooter filled with blanks as NASCAR driver Colin Braun looks on at an event in downtown Fort Worth to kickoff a weekend of NASCAR racing at the Texas Motor Speedway, Thursday, April 15, 2010. RODGER MALLISON/MCT/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: krtphotoslive416086
Republican presidential hopeful, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney delivers a speech to supporters at the Warren residence in West Des Moines, Iowa, USA, 01 December 2007. MICHAL CZERWONKA/EPA/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: epaphotosthree528474
“I can see your halo, halo, halo …” ?
U.S. Republican presidential candidate and Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN) calls out her order with Tommy Rice (R), the order caller at the Beacon Drive-In restaurant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, August 16, 2011. PATRICK COLLARD/RTR/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: rtrlfour733383
Oct. 18, 2011 - Pasadena, California, U.S. - Minnesota Congresswoman and Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann laughs during a TEAPAC town hall series at the Green Hotel in Pasadena, Calif., on Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2011. Keith Birmingham/ZUMA Press/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: zumasportswesttwo171391
Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum speaks at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition's Presidential Forum at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, Iowa October 22, 2011. Republicans Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann took veiled swipes at surging presidential rival Herman Cain on Saturday as six of the party's White House hopefuls courted social conservatives at an Iowa forum. BRIAN FRANK/RTR/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: rtrlfour863781
Gov. Jon Huntsman (Utah) officially nominates Republican Vice Presidential Nominee Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on the last day of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, on September 4, 2008. ROGER L. WOLLENBERG/UPI/Newscom. Find it on Newscom: upiphotos880378
You may be interested in some of these other politically-minded blog posts from FocalPoint:
How to Use Newscom’s 2012 US Presidential Election Site
Candidate Profile: Pictures of Rick Santorum
Candidate Profile: Photos of Rick Perry
Tags: 2012 presidential election, awkward photos, candidate, obama