A new poster depicting President Obama as a version of Heath Ledger's Joker character in The Dark Knight has appeared in Los Angeles, according to rightwing sources. Blog posters to such online sites as American Thinker and Tammy Bruce are predictably in the throes of political orgasm.

The poster, which bears a very superficial resemblance to Shepard Fairey's famous Obama Hope illustration, has been pasted on freeway supports and other public surfaces. It has a bit of everything to appeal to the drunk tank of California conservatism: Obama is in white face, his mouth (like Ledger's Joker's) has been grotesquely slit wide open and the word "Socialism" appears below his face. The only thing missing is a noose.

The safe money says the first thing out of the mouths of Fox News bobble-heads is, "Can't liberals take a joke?"

Why does the US fear/hate socialism so much?

I'd bet that the majority of the US has no idea what socialism is.

because of a pseudo-rational internal directive to protect the possibility of being rich at the expense of the reality of being poor

This is the face of American socialism:



He's dead, now, but the threat was/is obvious.

KEEP YO'R SOC'LISM OUTTA MY MEDICARE!

i don't have an emotional response to this poster one way or the other.

lol, what a snooty designer comment.

"i could do better guys".

I feel like liberals were much more talented as political ankle-biters for the previous administration, what with the Republicans For Voldimort bumperstickers and so forth. So, you know, I guess we had some of this coming?

and how was the Joker a socialist?

yeah, he just wanted to see the world burn

I suppose that makes Art Alexakis a bigger proponent of collectivism than Zack de la Rocha.

i wasn't speaking as a designer (the photo itself is actually pretty well done).

You pointed out the racist undertones. I don't see it. The only political message i can sort of get out of it would be based on the fact that the Joker spent the whole movie doing "social experiments" that lead to chaos, and they think Obama and is doing the same.

But mostly what i see is Obama dressed as the Joker, and that doesn't bother me or intrigue me.

I came up with that theory because the thread asked me to think about it, but the first ten times I saw it I didn't register as something people would have a conversation about.

I've noticed the further into the Obama administration we get, the more people seem to be willing to spew full-on vitriol in his direction. It honestly seems like the racist underpinning of anti-Obama sentiment has increased 10-fold over the past few months, which I find both disturbing and disheartening.

I'm fine with people taking issue with the man's policies or performance, but everything just really seems increasingly hate-filled, and just has a very ugly feel to it.

And I'm not really referring to this Joker poster, but the thread topic got me to post what I've been thinking in recent weeks. Over the weekend, I took the boys to a local ice cream parlor where kids are allowed to write on the walls, and in huge letters one kid had written "I HATE OBAMA!!!" while I saw "Nobama" written in another spot on the wall. These are KIDS, for crying out loud. It really freaks me out to see kids getting politically brainwashed, regardless whether it's from the left or the right.

Its actually pretty cool looking.

Is it that different from the criticism of other recent presidents, though? I hear the same level of hatred towards Obama that I heard towards Clinton from republicans in the mid-90's and on the flip-side, dems aren't generally very forgiving of republican presidents. To me this is all par for the course when one side doesn't get their way in the election.

I think there is certainly a strong current of racism underpinning the Obama hate, but I don't see this add as being overtly racist. And while it is a bit over the top, I agree it kinda looks cool. And, if I was anti Obama, I'd dig it. I mean, had someone done Bush up like that and maybe written GOD or Modern Christian under it, I'd have enjoyed it.

yeah that was my point. So far, unless we start seeing burning crosses and shit, it's par for the course, I guess. Meanwhile, shit gets done, things get fixed, life goes on.

too bad he doesnt really look this this. Congress would stop fucking around so much and just pass the shit.

I've been seeing a lot of pics of Obama photoshopped into a brownshirt uniform, on account of him having the "same healthcare plan as Hitler" (thanks, LaRouchePAC).

This is even more confusing. Someone should just put Obama's head on every movie villain of the last couple of years: the guy who kidnapped Bruce Willis' daughter in Live Free or Die Hard, the guy swordfighting with Johnny Depp atop a schooner's mast, and the miscarriage from Marley & Me.

good point, i was trying to think how the left attacked bush beyond the political realm, and Christianity was a big part of it. Though to be fair Bush is a fake Christian.

I think infomania is the main reason people like myself and FT "think" that the hate is much worse this time around. During Clinton's first term, the internet wasn't widely available and even during the 2nd term, it still wasn't widely used as it is now. The US (conservatives and their blowhard morons) vs. THEM (Dems and their pussy, anti-capitalist ideals) is just much more accessible now and it's spread like a virus via easy access to opinions that bolster your own, nevermind how ignorant they are.

I can't get more than 30 seconds into that tv interiew with the lawyer chick for the Birthers. I mean, they found the actual birth cert that was used to fake the "Obama was born in Kenya" one that they were all SURE proved their case, and yet they still cling to ... something... it is really, really depressing, and I would maybe be blissfully ignorant of how many of these hair-eating dolts exist out there but for the innernets.