This is a behind-the-scene of Barack Obama's Presidential campaign. It starts with him watching the mid-term election in 2006. He would announce a few months later. This follows the campaign all the way to the night of victory.

This is in the same vein as the great documentary "The War Room (1993)" which followed Bill Clinton's campaign. It is inferior in a couple of ways. It's been done before. It's now more or less a historical document at this point. I would have loved one for W. The other problem is the limited drama.

This one follows more with people further down the food chain. "The War Room" followed James Carville and George Stephanopoulos. They were great characters near the top of the food chain. This one is a lot of (to quote Palin) Hopey Changey thing. It follows organizer Ronnie Cho who is representative of the ground troops. The upper level stuff is never quite so compelling. It feels like we're just outside of the war room. It might also be Obama's calm persona injecting into his campaign or that everybody is tapping away at their Blackberry. This is a nice recount of the campaign. I can't help but wonder if Hilary's campaign has a more compelling behind-the-scenes movie.

This interesting documentary brought the story of Obama's election down to a more personal level. You really get the idea that the people associated with his successful win were all quite young with the exception of a middle-aged David Axelrod.

More of the differences between Hillary Clinton and our 44th Chief Executive should have been shown.

Interesting to see how the mock debates were held in preparation for debating Sen. McCain.

Sarah Palin was depicted in the way that she deserved to be highlighted.

The election of President Obama, while certainly a grass roots effort, was more than that. It occurred due to the failings of the Bush Administration.

However, during the next 3 years, we need more action rather than Change We Can Believe In. After all, Mr. Obama is now the incumbent. If we don't get this, Barack shall join Taft, Hoover, Ford, Carter and G.H.W. Bush as one-term presidents since 1900.

Nice to see that the race issue was played down in this documentary despite the Rev. Wright controversy.

As always, it was the economy again!!!

By the People: the Election of Barack Obama, released in 2009 shortly before the presidential election, falls somewhere in between political propaganda and an amateur film diary. Directed by Amy Rice and Alicia Sams, produced by actor Edward Norton, this HBO documentary presents a one-dimensional view of the 2008 presidential election between Barack Obama and John McCain.

Given that 98% of Hollywood is liberal, it was inevitable that a movie about Barack Obama would be made…but couldn't By the People at least be entertaining or enlightening? Apparently, Rice, Sams, and Norton, et al, didn't think so. With unlimited funds and talent at their disposal, People boils down to a tunnel view of the campaign, and its supporting cast of star-struck campaign workers, mainstream media, and huge crowds of enthusiasts.

At the forefront is Obama, who appears to play to the camera like a star-struck kid, enjoying every moment of the branding that is Mr. O. The "behind-the-scenes" glimpses are just as carefully staged as Candidate Obama's many appearances, staff conferences, and his off-hand comments such as, "I love elections, they're so much fun!". No – really! The film lacks any narrative style – and any narration, for that matter - and the audience is left to plow through almost two hours of wall-to-wall film footage of this sticky-sweet homage to the perfect Liberal candidate. Without showing the reality that goes into every political campaign or exploring Obama's crafted image, By the People comes off as a back-handed tribute to Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will's cinematic design.

A year later and OHLand can't help but wonder if Rice, Sams, and Norton, now well-tempered by time and stark reality, would package their product a bit differently.

Ah, being liberals, probably not.