Obama's Inauguration as a Goldmine for Photo Marketers

Regarding Philip Kennicott's April 30 Style article, "Obama, Through the Soft Lens of (Recent) History":

The main point of Kennicott's story was to challenge the Smithsonian for what he thought was prematurely exhibiting photos of President Obama's inauguration (drawn from "Barack Obama: The Official Inaugural Book").

Maybe "the Smithsonian should have put a little more distance between its prestige and the popularity of President Obama." After all, the Smithsonian hadn't "mounted an exhibit like this, for a sitting president, in recent memory, if ever," and wasn't doing so because the occasion was historic but because Obama is a "superstar."

I wonder whether your intrepid reporter got a chance to review his employer's quickie, a rather flattering book, "The Inauguration of Barack Obama: A Photographic Journal," put out on the heels of Obama's inauguration. The only space The Post put between that event and its own hardcover book was the distance to the bank.

I also don't recall seeing a Post book about any other inauguration in recent memory, if ever.

-- David Hume Kennerly

Santa Monica, Calif.

The writer is the producer of the official Barack Obama inaugural book and album project.