Last modified: 2021-01-02 by rick wyatt
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![]() image by Ron Lahav, 26 November 2008 |
![]() vertical flag image by Pete Loeser, 21 August 2013 |
Here is a belated contribution to the recent Presidential election frenzy in the US. This is a Barack Obama 'Yes We Can' flag.
Ron Lahav, 26 November 2008
It is rare when an American campaign slogan becomes a worldwide phenomena, but Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign slogan of "Yes We Can" seems to have transcended international boundaries and become just that. Naturally, there are flags associated with it.
The Slogan was first introduced into the American political scene in "Senator" Barack Obama's remarks after he won the Democratic presidential primary in South Carolina, the slogan has since then spread far and wide. Originally used by the Scottish National Party's campaign in the United Kingdom General Election in 1997, it was re-purposed by Obama with his
words "...and where we are met with cynicism and doubt and fear by those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of the American people in three simple words - yes, we can."
It should be pointed out here that for years the slogan has been used by the character of "Bob the Builder" in the popular British children's animated television show, which in turn, we might even speculate that this influenced its use in the Obama family.
Whatever the origins of the slogan, it has now been adopted by the United Farm Workers and is well known amongst Latinos in its Spanish form Si se puede. In the 2014 Indian General elections, Chief Minister Narendra Modi used the chants of "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" and "Vande Mataram" to start off his Bharatiya Janata Party's campaign."
Pete Loeser, 21 August 2013
image by Rick Wyatt, 26 November 2008
We call that the USA - Yes We Can flag. Here's also the Obama - Yes We Can which is available as a vertical flag only.
Rick Wyatt, 26 November 2008
It was a slogan for the one candidate, Barack Obama. When the win became evident, supporters switched from chanting "yes we can" to "yes we did". My point is that there are more than one. Already there are two groups of items with the slogan on them. To distinguish between the two, we call one USA-ywc (USA/stripes) and the other Obama-ywc because it has his picture on it.
Rick Wyatt, 26 November 2008
Any number of novelty flags are for sale online to support nearly all of the
candidates (including many that have already withdrawn from the race), only two
campaigns have produced flags that are actively being used by their supporters
at rallies as shown in broadcast and print media - the Bernie Sanders campaign
on the Democratic side and the Donald Trump campaign on the Republican side.
Randy Young,
13 March 2016
image by Randy Young, 13 March 2016
The Bernie Sanders campaign flag can be seen in photographs online at
http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo and
https://www.bostonglobe.com/news...story.html. The flag features the
campaign logo centered on a white field. The logo consists of the name "Bernie"
in light blue letters, underlined by waving light blue, white, and red lines.
Below the underlined name is the year "2016" in light blue with a light blue
line to either side.
Randy Young, 13 March 2016
There should be two additional waving lines - blue at the top hoist, emerging
from the hoist edge and red at the bottom fly, which is not completely visible,
but is probably emerging from the fly edge (if the logo is meant to be
symmetrical).
Tomislav Todorovic, 14 March 2016
images by Randy Young, 13 March 2016
The Donald Trump campaign has two main flags that can be most often seen, and
the two are inversed colors of each other. The first flag features the campaign
logo centered on a white field within a thin red orle, and can be seen online at
http://www.gannett-cdn.com. The name "TRUMP" is centered in bold, dark blue,
capital letters, with the slogan "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" in smaller dark
blue capital letters beneath the name. Above and below the words are four dark
blue stars in a row. The inverse color version of this flag - with the dark blue
and white parts of the flag reversed - is also commonly seen, such as at
http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/vendor-sets-up-a-campaign-flag-for-donald-trump-president-news-photo/513092272
and
http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/vendor-holds-a-donald-trump-president-and-chief-executive-news-photo/503501098.
The dark blue version of the flag also appears to have some variants, including
one without the red orle and one where the orle has been reduced to just two
horizontal red lines - one at the top and one at the bottom.
Randy Young, 13 March 2016
image by Randy Young, 21 October 2016
This variant has five stars twice.
Randy Young, 21 October 2016
To date, I have found no evidence of a flag representing the Hillary
Clinton campaign, though some are posted for sale on various websites. I
have not yet found any photographic evidence of flags at a Clinton rally
other than American and state flags.
Looking at photographs of
Libertarian rallies for Gary Johnson, the most common flags are American and
Gadsden flags, and I have yet to find any photographic evidence of specific
flags representing the Johnson campaign.
Likewise, I have not found
photographic evidence of specific flags representing the Jill Stein campaign
of the Green Party. Thanks to some terrific research from our own Tomislav
Todorovic, however, we do have the flag of the Green Party of the United
States. The flag, which can be seen online at
http://www.theday.com/article/20141014/NWS12/141019891, consists of a
white field with light green bars at the top and bottom, each approximately
one-sixth the height of the flag. Centered in the white portion of the field
is the Green Party logo, which features the name of the party in dark green
letters with a dark green star above the name toward the hoist and toward
the fly. Centered above the name is a flower-like image showing the Earth in
the petals of the flower, all in multiple shades of green.
Randy Young,
21 October 2016