I noticed last year when Obama gave a speech there was always a small group of people sitting behind him. He still does that now as president for some speeches.
Is this very common or is it just Obama that does it? Is this done just to make the crowd look bigger or does it just make for a better background then whatever happens to be behind the speaker.
Pictures of past Presidents speaking with people sitting or standing behind him on stage (not counting VP+Speaker of the House during a SOTU):
Kennedy
Nixon
Carter
Reagan
Bill Clinton
GW Bush
and for good measure:
Hilary Clinton
Nancy Pelosi
At many events, there isn’t just one speaker, and there’s another person to introduce the speakers. Plus, if it’s a political event, even if they aren’t speaking, you want the governor, the mayor, and other important local people up on the platform.
Sometimes they just throw random “just folks” type people (or some group everyone likes, like firefighters or soliders) up on the stage, to show they’re in touch with the common man. This is different then having other speakers or luminaries up on the stage. The picture garygnu linked to of Hillary is an example of this, I think, she seems to have a bunch of random campaign workers up on stage with her so the cameras will see them while they’re filming her. To me, this always comes across as kind of tacky, since using people as obvious props seems kind of over-the-top, but presumably it works.
Not sure where this started, Bush II certainly did it, and I imagine it goes back considerably longer (though I imagine there wasn’t much point before television, so probably not too far back).
I don’t mean important people or family, I mean regular people who sit behind Obama.
He’s in our area today and the local VIPs are in the front row, not behind him.
Yeah, that guy to the right of her especially. Might as well just be a big piece of wood.
Yes, that’s normal. They all do it. Republicans usually try to find the two or three minorities in the crowd and put them back there.
People wearing uniforms – firefighters, cops, military – are always good for any politician.
A Republican can find 2 or 3 minorities at their speech? 
What’s really tacky is that the photographer for the linked picture may have been at the back of the crowd. When I volunteered for political campaigns in the late 1980s, it was standard whenever the candidate was going to make a speech to call for all of the volunteers to crowd around the candidate to make it look like the rally was well attended. Oftentimes, it wasn’t.
That’s what I was thinking! 
