O look! Another O logo! Update: Ripoff of Flying A? Update: Maybe REO?
posted at 9:10 am on August 16, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
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The Barack Obama campaign learned one lesson from its Vero Possumus fiasco, and apparently only one lesson: Latin is elitist. They still haven’t figured out that drawing fancy logos for a candidate reminds people of high-school elections. Here’s the latest reason from Team Obama that we’re supposed to feel confident in The One’s ability to lead a nation:
Greg Sargent at TPM reports that the campaign will roll this out today:
According to an Obama aide, the new effort dovetails with a renewed push by the Obama team in Pennsylvania to poke fun at John McCain’s recent claim that he would rather hear the roar of “50,000 Harleys” than the cheering of 200,000 Berliners.
As the Obama camp was quick to point out, McCain opposed legislation that would have forced the U.S. government to buy American-made motorcycles.
This allegation is, to be fair, true, but somewhat pointless. Quick question: why would the US government need to buy motorcycles in the first place? And for what little need it has for such vehicles, why should the US government lock itself into a single-source supply? No other significant mass-production producer of motorcycles exists in the US. I can see excluding certain imports based on the behavior of the source nations, but to cut off British, German, and Japanese sources simply out of protectionism doesn’t make economic or diplomatic sense — especially when American companies compete for government contracts abroad.
So, in response, we get yet another silly logo from Team Obama, telling people to Buy American, but using the Obama logo in place of the American flag. It’s targeted to those folks that Barack Obama believes cling bitterly to their religion and guns, and hoping that he can exploit that bitterness for a few more votes among small-town voters. This looks a lot more like Buy Obama than Buy American, and unfortunately, fewer and fewer people are buying Mr. Logo any more.
Update: Did Obama rip off this logo from the famous Flying A gasoline logo? You decide:
Update II: Heard it from a friend, who … heard it from a friend, who … heard it from another Obama got it from here:
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Still looks like a hole.
tarpon on August 16, 2008 at 9:11 AM
Apparently Mr. Obama is a fan of Pokemon. I thought he was unveiling an ad campaign for NOA.
btw. Obama, in which State is arugula grown?
BKennedy on August 16, 2008 at 9:14 AM
I thought BO was pro-choice…?
jgapinoy on August 16, 2008 at 9:15 AM
Best bike ever: 1986 Yamaha Radian 600.
jgapinoy on August 16, 2008 at 9:15 AM
I’m reminded of the old joke among bikers: You should never buy a motorcycle, because American bikes fall apart all the time, British bikes fall apart all at once, Italian bikes are never all together in the first place, and Japanese bikes aren’t real motorcycles. Also, as everyone knows, “H-D” really stands for “Hound Dog” — because they both love riding around in the back of pickup trucks and leave puddles where they ain’t supposed to.
Mike H on August 16, 2008 at 9:17 AM
Obama was hoping to develop something like For his Strike Force
DaveC on August 16, 2008 at 9:24 AM
Nice locomotive.
JiangxiDad on August 16, 2008 at 9:26 AM
LOL!
My ‘86 Yamaha was as reliable as any bike out there. I wish I hadn’t sold it. Especially since the kid I sold it to totaled it a few months later.
jgapinoy on August 16, 2008 at 9:26 AM
Buy American?
None of us will have enough money left to buy anything, once Barry O pushes through all his promised tax increases to pay for his all “social justice” programs.
AZCoyote on August 16, 2008 at 9:27 AM
Bite your tongue. Have you ever seen a Bultaco Metrella. It is absolutely gorgeous.
In Yamaha’s lineup, I would have to go with a 1972 SX650.
Honda’s 1969 CB750K sandcast. Harley’s 1959 Sporty. There are so many great bikes out there!
badpenguin on August 16, 2008 at 9:27 AM
Obama is the wind beneath my wings.
reaganaut on August 16, 2008 at 9:28 AM
Another trial balloon that’ll last a day or two before being consigned to the dustbin.
JammieWearingFool on August 16, 2008 at 9:30 AM
That Ogo has a distinct goatse resemblance. They really, really, really need to abandon this approach to their propaganda.
RushBaby on August 16, 2008 at 9:30 AM
OK, I probably have unusual preferences. I don’t care for rockets–I wanted something that would run forever, get great gas mileage, & was fun either in the city or freeway.
jgapinoy on August 16, 2008 at 9:31 AM
My first thought was Van Halen, but I see that too.
Tanya on August 16, 2008 at 9:33 AM
“Buy American”? I’d love to buy American if the Democrats in Congress (Obama, cough, cough) would lower the corporate taxes that are driving companies to other countries.
Send_Me on August 16, 2008 at 9:33 AM
I think this is how the song went, right?
“On a scale from one to ten, you’re a zero…”
jgapinoy on August 16, 2008 at 9:33 AM
Yeah. That thing has a deliberately retro sort of design, like something you’d see on a gas pump in Oklahoma during the dust bowl.
They can’t help themselves, can they? They can’t understand why it backfires every time they stoop to condescend to those ungrateful bitter clingers in the heartland.
S. Weasel on August 16, 2008 at 9:35 AM
Looking casually at the logo (as most voters will), “Buy American…Vote Obama” it looks like Team Obama is trying to claim that John McCain is a foreigner.
capricorn on August 16, 2008 at 9:37 AM
Is that wings in the middle of the logo?
Is Obama stealing an Airline logo,
or,
a hum,
gawd forgive me,but is that a new womens product,
like wrapped in Obama wings,or sumpin like dat!eww!!
Haha.
canopfor on August 16, 2008 at 9:38 AM
Also, how does this “Buy American” logo square with Obama’s “citizen of the world” motif he spoke about in Berlin? What would those 200,000 Germans think when he demurs to buying their motorcycles?
capricorn on August 16, 2008 at 9:40 AM
jgapinoy on August 16, 2008 at 9:33 AM
On a scale from one to ten, you’re a zero
Your bumper stickers show sphincter rings
Invesco Field can’t hold your ego
You break the wind beneath my wings
fluffy on August 16, 2008 at 9:40 AM
Yeah, those were my first thoughts, too. Barack Obama trying to position himself as somehow more American than John McCain. Give me a break.
Just another can of worms Barack shouldn’t be seen even attempting to try and open.
amkun on August 16, 2008 at 9:41 AM
Shouldn’t there be a tire pressure gauge
straight down the middle of said logo!
canopfor on August 16, 2008 at 9:43 AM
Hm. I fixed it! Can users post photos? Apparently not.
Click, please.
S. Weasel on August 16, 2008 at 9:44 AM
Are we sure this isn’t an ad for the Oxygen Network? Or Overstock.com?
It’s so beautiful…. hypnotic….
Knuckledragger on August 16, 2008 at 9:44 AM
They really aren’t ready for the big leagues yet, are they?
Let me be quick to point out that Obama only opposes legislation in such a way that he could later support it, while leaving his options open to later oppose it once more and vice versa.
reaganaut on August 16, 2008 at 9:46 AM
I think its an album cover,was Obama
in a band,before politics,maybe he
was playing tunes with Clypso Luie!
canopfor on August 16, 2008 at 9:52 AM
Yep, it just reminds people that Barack’s father was a Kenyan communist, while McCain’s father was an admiral in the U.S. Navy.
AZCoyote on August 16, 2008 at 9:55 AM
the new logo makes all the difference..
surely he’s a viable candidate now…
DaveC on August 16, 2008 at 9:56 AM
You know what this will be perfect for? The CD of Obama’s speeches you’ll be required to purchase after he’s inaugurated. Also, the DVD of the inauguration.
Kafir on August 16, 2008 at 9:58 AM
I think its an album cover
reaganaut on August 16, 2008 at 9:58 AM
Another O ring!
drjohn on August 16, 2008 at 10:04 AM
Keep staring at all the Obama logos. You’re getting sleepy, very, very sleepy…….You will pull the lever for the “One”, and after you do, you will remember nothing. You’re getting very,very sleepy………………
adamsmith on August 16, 2008 at 10:07 AM
Very good!
jgapinoy on August 16, 2008 at 10:08 AM
Still looks like a zero.
This whole thing (hole thing?) is just creepy. I’m getting a Chinese cultural revolution vibe from this.
Mojave Mark on August 16, 2008 at 10:11 AM
You’ve all got it wrong. This logo is not aimed at us bitter clingers. This is aimed at the super rich libs out there, letting them know that Uuuuuuhbama is for sale.
thekingtut on August 16, 2008 at 10:19 AM
I was thinking the same thing. Mostly, I was thinking if McCain put this out, we’d be hearing about his Xenophobic smears against Obama.
MayBee on August 16, 2008 at 10:20 AM
With that logo, he just lost the Walmart and Dollar Store vote…
rbb on August 16, 2008 at 10:22 AM
It’s also somewhat similar to Harley’s 100th anniversary badge from 2003.
Plus, from TPM:
Sargent then does his partisan journo duty by adding, “It’s yet another sign of the Obama camp’s efforts to turn the attacks on his patriotism on their head by arguing that McCain is the one who’s anti-American-worker.” Sargent doesn’t say who is attacking Obama’s patriotism, of course… but you have to throw that in to cover for the fact that Obama’s aide is questioning McCain’s patriotism.
Karl on August 16, 2008 at 10:24 AM
Yeah butt the dedicated O-Holes will love it. For their own special reasons no doubt.
From a design standpoint I have to ask: What year is it over there in Obamaland? First they’ve got the Soviet-style Glorious Leader posters straight out of Stalin’s 1930s heyday, now this obvious aping of New Deal Giant Government Program logos - what’s next, his wealthy white latte-sipping supporters setting up a makeshift Hooverville at the corner of Wall & Broad? (To visit at lunchtime only, of course. With battery-powered coolers full of boutique Chèvre, locavore fiddleheads and vintage Mersault to wash down the slumming.)
Is evoking the great depression supposed to help this empty suit? Are his followers stupid enough to think that today’s economy somehow resembles 1932’s?
S. Weasel for the WIN!
Gilda on August 16, 2008 at 10:32 AM
It looks like a free CD in a plain white window envelope.
meci on August 16, 2008 at 10:39 AM
OMG! LOL! Best one yet! You go fluffy!
Neocon Peg on August 16, 2008 at 10:42 AM
1) “Buy American… except for oil.”
2) “Obama - trying really hard to look like an American.”
3) I just don’t see the whole “McCain’s not a REAL American” thing working out for Barry Soetero here.
4) It’s always instructive to think of what the press would do “if the other candidate said it,” as MayBee pointed out. The press wouldn’t just react negatively, they’d have a fit.
Merovign on August 16, 2008 at 10:42 AM
Barack Obama = Made in America!
(50% US parts, programmed in Indonesia, meets all European specs)
Kevin71 on August 16, 2008 at 10:48 AM
When one has little substance they must concentrate on marketing and creating an illusion of substance.
Obama is packaged.
carbon_footprint on August 16, 2008 at 10:48 AM
You folks just don’t get BO do you? I get BO as do countless others around the globe. Just take the Europeans for instance. They get BO far more then we in the states do could ever hope to. Just let yourself go and embrace the oneness of nature and you will get BO. It’s that simple and easier then you think. The essence of BO will spread across the world and you, yes you, will look back with sadness that you didn’t get BO when you could have. I implore you to embrace the essence of BO now. Do it for the future of all earth dwellers. Do it for the children.
jmarcure on August 16, 2008 at 11:01 AM
O - just go away already!
tickleddragon on August 16, 2008 at 11:06 AM
Empty package, empty symbol. It’s all the same with the big O!.
JimK on August 16, 2008 at 11:08 AM
It is supposed to be like a Harley symbol?
ArmyAunt on August 16, 2008 at 11:11 AM
I think so. Harley, ish, with a big dose of Works Progress Administration, National Recovery Administration type overtones.
Caption much better suited for this graphical approach:
Relive the Great Depression
Vote for Barack Obama
Gilda on August 16, 2008 at 11:16 AM
The first thing I thought of was FDR’s quasi-fascist NRA eagle. (Readers of Jonah Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism will know it well.)
Exurban Jon on August 16, 2008 at 11:19 AM
Why are the propeller blades screwing in opposite directions?
The blades will not propel the aircraft forward — it will just sit in one place, with the airscrew turning madly.
unclesmrgol on August 16, 2008 at 11:19 AM
Buy American?
But not American oil, drilling for it would be wrong.
Radish on August 16, 2008 at 11:20 AM
HMMM, looks like a CD or DVD to me. Maybe it’s got that “Obama, Obama, Obama” abomination of a song on it. With video.
mjk on August 16, 2008 at 11:20 AM
I’d like to buy some American oil and gas.
Stephen Macklin on August 16, 2008 at 11:28 AM
The campaign will make an interesting case history some day. I would bet his handlers are graduates of colleges that teach the theory that all Americans are stupid and led by the nose by their bigotry and by mass media. Thus, you see an entire campaign based on a low opinion of the voters delivered by slogans and logos.
As can be seen by the polls, Americans are savvier than they think.
PattyJ on August 16, 2008 at 11:38 AM
Uh-oh. Those little white lines outlined by red look like fingers…..
He’s done it again.
wise_man on August 16, 2008 at 11:39 AM
heh. Oh, and it reminds me of the Mark Penn advice to Hillary. Perhaps not such a slick move, or an attempt to answer the question with silly subliminal messaging?
funky chicken on August 16, 2008 at 11:49 AM
ha
funky chicken on August 16, 2008 at 11:51 AM
Not bad :)
Send_Me on August 16, 2008 at 11:54 AM
Looks like a rip-off of my flight attendant wings, not the most manly look out there.
Tony737 on August 16, 2008 at 12:01 PM
Looks like they ripped off some other logo - I’d like to see the original.
CP on August 16, 2008 at 12:02 PM
Lemme see. Democrats have:
1) Raised the minimum wage to a ridiculously high level, affecting a lot of manufacturing jobs.
2) Refused to allow additional drilling for oil off the coastline and in ANWR
3) Have created an unnecessary energy crisis based on the hysterical belief in an unproven phenomenon, driving up manufacturing and distribution costs.
4) Seek to “carbon output”, which will shut down plants that do not follow their whims due, once again, to an imagined emergency.
5) Have pushed for an increase in corporate taxes, further hurting manufacturers and virtually all business.
Did I get that right?
Now we should buy American? How? If the Demos had their way, we would all live in a manufacturing free - business free - carbon neutral paradise with $10 gallon gasoline for those ruffians who insist on driving their dated automobiles.
Please.
ChePibe on August 16, 2008 at 12:07 PM
Will The One still allow me to vote “no thank you?”
funky chicken on August 16, 2008 at 12:15 PM
I just saw the logo! I have really been struggling this election as a conservative. I am not a McCain fan and I think Barry is a joke but I must tell you that after seeing this logo I have changed my mind and have decided that this cuts it! Based on this logo I have to vote for Obama! His positions no longer matter to me! I’m voting for Obama because of this logo! I’m in, hook line and sinker! Yup! No more bitter clinger for me…
sabbott on August 16, 2008 at 12:18 PM
That one is more goatse than the last.
manfriend on August 16, 2008 at 12:20 PM
I don’t think it’s unfortunate at all. It gives me Hope.
bridgetown on August 16, 2008 at 12:22 PM
You know, if Obama were the Republican and McCain the Democrat, the message boards would be abuzz with the “obvious” implication that this is a dig at McCain for not being “made in America,” being born in the Panama Canal Zone. Interesting how no one’s even thinking about that here. Heck, if the logo were McCain’s, they be talking about how those evil Republicans view Obama as not a “real American,” due to childhood in Indonesia, rumored African birth, funny-sounding name, or whatever else they could cook up.
Maybe Republicans need to learn how to play the always-looking-for-subtext paranoid hysteric a bit better.
calbear on August 16, 2008 at 12:28 PM
O I C, U R 1 2
CynicalOptimist on August 16, 2008 at 12:38 PM
It looks like the big hole via which the Obamajugend and Obamakinder will be fu++ed.
This will be the most telling election, ever. The West is at a precarious pivot.
America, the world is watching you very carefully.
Also, not all of us are anti-American, nor sissies, but you must still lead. Don’t let the Russians psyche you out. They can’t win a hot war, but they can win a psychological one, while you shop and play “Hope and Change”.
Schadenfreude on August 16, 2008 at 12:52 PM
More propaganda - that’s all they have. They are better at it than Chavez and the Castro brothers.
Schadenfreude on August 16, 2008 at 1:03 PM
— Y’O'da
cthulhu on August 16, 2008 at 1:08 PM
So they’re creating an Obama-Harley logo because McCain said something about Harleys?
http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/harley-davidson-tank-logos-18.jpg
http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/1998-harley-davidson-xl-1200c-sportster-5.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/100/282819103_2d3a7211ec.jpg?v=0
econavenger on August 16, 2008 at 1:09 PM
I got’s some bad news for Obonzo.
Not only to I BUY American, I also VOTE American.
franksalterego on August 16, 2008 at 1:12 PM
FYI, My 2003 Honda Sabre has more American made parts in it than the Harley. (Cost about 2/3 the almost identical looking Fat Boy too)
bikermailman on August 16, 2008 at 1:34 PM
There’s a definite recurring theme with his logo’s
…The center of attention is always a big fat ZERO
SilverStar830 on August 16, 2008 at 1:35 PM
nuff said:
“The admission that Obama’s mentor was Frank Marshall Davis, an identified CPUSA member, can only add to growing public concern about Obama’s relationship with a Communist pawn of Moscow who was the subject of security investigations by the FBI and various congressional committees which examined Soviet activities in the U.S.”
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/4490
elduende on August 16, 2008 at 1:35 PM
Gilda, you are great, in commentary and in art.
Entelechy on August 16, 2008 at 1:37 PM
Will the USA be flying a new flag on 1-20-09? I can see it now. The O’s and Stripes. With 57 little o’s just for Obama. Humility is a endearing trait. Obama has none.
chief on August 16, 2008 at 1:50 PM
Great, now Obama’s ripping off the old Flying A Gasoline logo, and I would assume the designers who did this aren’t trying to subliminally make people over the age of 45 who remember the old logo think that Barack is a Flying A…
jon1979 on August 16, 2008 at 1:50 PM
I don’t know much about motorcycles, except this joke…
Q: What’s the difference between a Harley and a vacuum cleaner?
A: The position of the dirtbag.
And if you ride a Harley, or know someone that does, and got offended…GROW UP! It’s a JOKE.
ynot4tony2 on August 16, 2008 at 1:58 PM
I hope he uses the logo in Ohio. It reminds me of the Ohio State Patrol (also known as flying tire salesmen) logo. Sure to win him brownie points in the state.
Buy American. Vote Barack Obama? Huh.
Had Obama become Barry H. Dunham instead of Barack Hussien Obama, he would have a much better chance of winning. His name does say alot about who he is, and it aint screamin’ “Buy American.”
Theworldisnotenough on August 16, 2008 at 1:59 PM
What will the Europeans and The World think?
The Obamarons can’t have the cake and eat it too. Berlin is not forgotten. Neither is elitism and nuance.
Bonjour is not interchangeable with “Howdy cowboy”.
Entelechy on August 16, 2008 at 2:17 PM
Are those the wings of the angel that will bear him up when he ascends?
- The Cat
MirCat on August 16, 2008 at 2:19 PM
Excellent!
Mallard T. Drake on August 16, 2008 at 2:21 PM
that was certainly what Barry’s possum presidential seal resembled
Mallard T. Drake on August 16, 2008 at 2:23 PM
Excuse me, but isn’t a “flying O” an obscene gesture???
…or is this something only my generation understands?
landlines on August 16, 2008 at 2:25 PM
Know what I think you’re upset about, Morrissey? I think you’re upset that somebody in the Obama camp actually has a bit of imagination and a sense of humor… two things that are sorely lacking in the McCain camp.
This is not your year, pal.
Len on August 16, 2008 at 2:27 PM
On the thread update, it stands for flying ace.
Sure, it’s the Obamarons’ version of “baisse mon/ma cul” (kiss my derrière, depending upon your gender).
Whom are they kidding? No sane American believes their all-of-a-sudden “buy American”.
They’re so transparent that kiddies are indignant. They must really think that we are all naive sheep.
Insults and decency are indignant too.
Entelechy on August 16, 2008 at 2:33 PM
I will remind you of this, later.
Entelechy on August 16, 2008 at 2:35 PM
I suspect most motorcycles purchased by the American government are for the military. As NATO requires fuel standardization and that standard is diesel/jet fuel, Harleys are out. Kawasaki is to my knowledge the only manufacturer to design and build such a vehicle and the US military is the exclusive buyer as production can’t hope to meet their needs as well as the anticipated public demand for a powerful on/off road motorcycle that gets 100mpg.
So we can count this as another idiotic Obama anti-military move.
Maquis on August 16, 2008 at 2:36 PM
Hey, Len, I love a good laugh. Vero Possumus, my friend!
Ed Morrissey on August 16, 2008 at 2:37 PM
GOP: PROUDLY MADE IN THE USA ‘08!
maverick muse
Of course Obama would pirate any good idea. Oddly, though predictably, Obama does NOT support any US business interests! Even the “unions” that Obama supports are Marxist in every way.
You realize, of course, that Obama is advertising “Buy American” to foreign and global interests as he sells US down the river.
maverick muse on August 16, 2008 at 2:40 PM
Hard to type ‘cuz I’m laughing at the mental image of Obama riding a Harley.
I work in the sign industry, and logo design is more than just picking a font and a few colors. When images are contained in some kind of frame (like nearly all the Japanese carmakers) it suggests discipline, even authoritarianism. (Good for a bank, security company, etc, bad for a teen-oriented clothing retailer) For example, the concentric circles in most gov’t logos and seals. It implies the opposite of “outside the box.” Most of Obama’s logos have a small graphic element that isn’t constrained by some kind of “O” but the same principle applies. Think of Michelle’s “Barack will make you work” quote.
Additionally, it’s pretty much graphic poison to have a void in the visual center of a logo (very slightly above the true center) but this keeps appearing in his campaign. Not sure what that means, if anything. It’s just generally avoided.
innominatus on August 16, 2008 at 2:45 PM
It’s a rip-off of the letter ‘O’!!! Killlll hiimmmmmm!!!
Actually, this doesn’t look like a rip-off of anything. It’s just another Obamatard logo.
DaveS on August 16, 2008 at 2:46 PM
This from a 38-year-old man whose myspace page has a link to TNA Wrestling.
Bwahahaha!
***
RE: the new O logo:
It sucks, but you gotta remember everything about his campaign skews young. Logos and other iconography are among the defining creative elements of youth today. LOGOS ARE HUGE.
I know that seems ridiculous but if you look at the Obama campaign like the X-games or Warped Tour or some other youth culture rite-of-passage it almost makes sense.
He will be the first POTUS to win off of the backs of kids. His popularity among the kids is off the charts. And believe or not, I think some of them will actually vote this time.
The text message Veep announcement was a shrewd ploy in that they now have millions cell phone numbers to text with marching orders.
The Race Card on August 16, 2008 at 2:52 PM
It means three things:
1. They’re showing it to you, bent over.
2. We can shove into it whatever we want.
3. They can screw us, any which way.
Entelechy on August 16, 2008 at 2:54 PM
Comment pages: [1] 2 »