Obama's fainting ladies

A window on how the media works?

Jun 26, 2025

Dear Church Leaders (and everyone else)

In conjunction with Tuesday’s More media musings… post, I thought it worth sharing this compilation1 of footage from Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2007/2008:

You don’t have to watch for long to see the pattern…

Someone apparently faints (or similar), and Obama is the only person to notice it:

“It looks like someone fainted” (or similar)
“Do we have any EMTs [emergency medical technicians]/paramedics here?”
“You should have eaten/drunk water today” (or similar, often tossing a bottle of water)
“Please give them some room/a chair. They’ll be okay.”
A joke, such as “This happens in my political campaigning all the time”

The compiler of these twelve clips comments:

Obama sure had a lot of people fainting at his rallies in 2007 and 2008. All these people seemingly have a health emergency, but it is never a heart attack, a stroke, a seizure or anything else. They just need some space, water, and for Obama to make a joke. Remember this is footage from an era before smart phones. This may have been happening at every single rally…

And then there’s this one…

…from 2013:

The last 30 seconds or so of the compilation of clips features the woman — Karmel Allison — being interviewed on Piers Morgan Live:2

[Allison] It was an incredible honour to be there… to support the president… as he takes a stand and reinforces the important of the… Act… and how important healthcare is for all of us.
I’m extremely embarrassed that I fainted, but honoured still to have been there, and happy that he caught me…
[Morgan] Do you see yourself as a great example of Obamacare at its finest… as the president himself leant back to save you…?
[Allison] [laughs] It’s a fun metaphor I suppose…

But perhaps we should leave the last words to Obama himself: