An Alternate Obama Image
posted at 7:50 pm on August 3, 2009 by Slublog
Like Allahpundit, I’m not sure I get the point of the “Obama as Joker” poster. My best guess is maybe the artist sees Obama as an agent of chaos, or a thief. Even if I don’t like it, I still admire the skill of the artist. That’s a very nice photoshop job.
Even though the last sentence of that post wasn’t technically an exit question, allow me to post an answer of sorts here:
Click to enlarge
Not as shocking as the JokerObama poster, but I like to think it gets the point across.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Comment pages: « Previous 1 2 3 Next »
I think the reason the poster is catching on is that the Joker was a trickster, a con man (http://tinyurl.com/5u4bmd), and we are now seeing that Obama is too – all his high-sounding rhetoric masked an agenda he purposely kept hidden – an agenda that is very dangerous to America. The parallel between Obama and the Joker is apt and striking.
I noted Obama’s deep deceptiveness last September in a post titled, “When The Means Aren’t Suitable To The Goals – Or, How To Be A Popular Leader Who Does Great Harm” (http://tinyurl.com/msn2yy)
Vik_R on August 4, 2009 at 4:21 AM
That doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Many good capitalists try to make money off liberals AND conservatives. Especially tshirt and bumper sticker sellers.
American Elephant on August 4, 2009 at 4:46 AM
Use the word “DEBT” on the graphic above…at least then it’s a closer satire on the “original.”
Sort of like using “YES WE OWE” on the “Leninist-visionary-Obama” poster.
I LIKE the “joker” poster:
“The joke is on you, America, he’s all about SOCIALISM.”
A necessary clarion call…something neither of the abovementioned “alterations” are.
That’s satire - biting, shocking and merciless.
Lockstein13 on August 4, 2009 at 5:03 AM
You can’t do this with just a change of words
(“HOPE” to “DEBT”…”YES WE CAN” to “YES WE OWE”)
http://www.zazzle.com/joker+obama+gifts
Lockstein13 on August 4, 2009 at 5:24 AM
THAT says it all and quite eloquently, too!
ExpressoBold on August 4, 2009 at 6:05 AM
RE: Obama as the Socialist Joker poster.
As the Joker in the movie the “The Dark Night” was to the extreme in what he did, so is Obama in his quest for a Socialist America.
A re-write of the plot summary of the movie from an Obama the socialist Joker point of view: “Batman is forced to deal with the chaos unleashed by an
anarchistsocialist mastermind known only as theJokerObama, as it drives each of them to their limits”.But who would Batman be in the Obama the socialist Joker movie? The good citizens of the USA?
albill on August 4, 2009 at 6:14 AM
Yeah, well, others are having trouble getting the point, too. Meghan McCain, Peggy Noonan, David Frum . . .
Obama Hope and its numerous variants are beyond tired and so 2008. Another victim of Hope and Change!
Obama Joker is brilliant and gives me hope.
tsj017 on August 4, 2009 at 6:25 AM
IT. IS. JUST. A. PICTURE! But the left is all outraged by it. Who knew their proclaimed love of liberal art had a limit? Obviously it does if the subject the art depicts are contrarty to their political agenda and views. Anyone recall the picture of Condoleza Rice as a bird?
MikeA on August 4, 2009 at 6:32 AM
Thanks for the image site. I’m keeping track of vicious anti-Bush images so I can lob them at lefties in posts when they whine about stuff like “racist” and “only lacking a rope.” Got any more of them?
ExpressoBold on August 4, 2009 at 6:39 AM
Oh for gods sake. What a touchy-feely post. You and Allahpundit need to get a room
It cracks me up how we are trying to psychoanalyze the joker picture and find relevance. Who gives a crap whether it is relevant or not. The only things you should care about:
It seriously diminishes the Ones lightworker mystique
It pisses liberals off to no end
If someone did a picture of an elephant squeezing Obama out of its ass and it resonated, that’s what you go with
Sugarbuzz on August 4, 2009 at 6:53 AM
Love the Joker poster! Far better thn anything else I have seen and captures the sheer destructiveness of his policy initiatives. It’s far from just being “broke” and it’s more about willful creation of mayhem and misery.
clnurnberg on August 4, 2009
Yes! Some people just want to see (America) burn.
SKYFOX on August 4, 2009 at 7:11 AM
The JOKER poster has gone viral. Let’s make it a meme.
The take-off by BillaryMcBush on August 3, 2009 at 9:23 PM is terrific. Hopefully photoshoppers will follow his lead and create many more take-offs on the original poster, as powerful as his. Create a family or genre of “Joker”.
Submissions, anyone?
petefrt on August 4, 2009 at 7:33 AM
Symbols are powerful. That joker depiction of Obama tells the people (at least the ones who saw the movie) that Obama is a dark (no pun intended) character who is looting American freedom. People are screaming they want their country back the same way the people of the fictitious Gotham wanted their city. I say the poster ought to go viral and start appearing on phone polls across America. Obama is not funny. This is no joke. But he is the Heath Ledger portrayed joker. That alternate “Broke” picture doesn’t convey a thing! Start conveying and stop pussyfooting.
kens on August 4, 2009 at 7:35 AM
The proper picture would be Obama on a big uncovered wagon full of pigs and democrat legislators. Also big packages of spending bills passed by this congress. Obama is at the front seat of the wagon with a big whip lashing out at a 20 mule team train of United States Citizens sweating and toiling to pull the weight of BIG GOVERNMENT. The title could be “BROKE SLAVES THAT VOTED FOR HOPE AND CHANGE” or make one up that you like.
Rovin on August 4, 2009 at 7:43 AM
Joker is better because it is a more powerful image.
The “broke” one is not much.
jencab on August 4, 2009 at 7:45 AM
MikeA on August 4, 2009 at 6:32 AM
—-
No, Mike. It’s not just a picture.
There’s a couple ideas intersecting here.
First, that Obama can be mocked. Dave and Conan and SNL haven’t wanted to try anything poking fun at this guy.
Second, that there may be some truth to what we’ve been saying…and they don’t want to handle the truth.
Finally, it’s a nod to a franchise movie seen by a huge percentage of the country, and specifically to the actor who OD’d shortly after the film was made, thus becoming a hero to the hollyweirdoes.
Yes, the Obama-as-Joker poster definitely works.
Mew
acat on August 4, 2009 at 7:52 AM
You guys (AP & Slub) just don’t get it.
The Joker is Perfect for Obama. Why do the Left love Palestinians & Jihadists and hate America & JooooozZ. Because they love blood and chaos. The “Progressives” are a Party of Death.
Your “Broke” poster with the pretty Obama is totally inadequate to express the danger the President is putting us in. He is not just incompetent he is an enemy to our way of life.
Plus, the image is Old Hat and the Heath Ledger Joker is undeniably current. Add to that the fact that the Dark Knight was a metaphor for George Bush and it is beyond perfect.
The
rcl on August 4, 2009 at 7:53 AM
Sugarbuzz on August 4, 2009 at 6:53 AM
—-
There is some value, Sugarbuzz, in being able to hit a target. Allah is, in his own NYC-centric way, trying to analyze what works.
Mew
acat on August 4, 2009 at 7:54 AM
Have you seen the “Barney Frank” version yet? Superb!!!
Lockstein13 on August 4, 2009 at 8:07 AM
Reworking the Obama campaign poster is boring, tired, cliche and unhip. It’s been done a bazillion times already — there’s even a website that does it automatically. Beating a dead horse is a surefire way to NOT get noticed. Ideas, it turns out, mean very little if no one pays any attention to them.
What he just said, +1,000,000.
If you genuinely “do not get” the Jobama poster… then: that’s a demonstrable problem with you, not the poster.
Kent18 on August 4, 2009 at 8:14 AM
My first thought on seeing the LA poster art was “clown” not Joker.
Spider79 on August 4, 2009 at 8:19 AM
Hmm, let me think…
…everything about the man is a joke. His campaign promises, his more revised promises, every word uttered from his mouth is a joke. His honor, integrity, honesty or any other quality you would hope to find in a man that leads our country is a joke. There is nothing about the man that makes him a qualified leader, except for his smile apparently. Even that’s become a joke.
Come on, it’s pretty obvious what it means. He’s up there to have a good time and make a name for himself in the history books in whatever way possible.
ballz2wallz on August 4, 2009 at 8:24 AM
From the previous Joker thread:
The poster fits perfectly … from the Dark Knight:
“Do I really look like a man with a plan, Harvey? I don’t have a plan. The mob has plans, the cops have plans. you know what I am, Harvey? I’m a dog chasing cars. I wouldn’t know what to do with one if I caught one. I just DO things. I’m a wrench in the gears. I HATE plans. Yours, theirs, everyone’s. Maroni has plans, Gordon has plans. Schemers trying to control their worlds. I am not a schemer. I show schemers how pathetic their attempts to control things really are. So when I say that what happened to you and your girlfriend wasn’t personal, you know I’M telling the truth”*Gives Dent Gun*”It’s a schemer who put you where you are. You were a schemer. You had plans. Look where it got you. I just did what I do best-I took your plan and turned it on itself. Look what I have done to this city with a few drums of gas and a couple bullets. Nobody panics when the expected people got killed. Nobody panics when things go according to plan, even if the plans are horrifying. If I tell the press that tomorrow a gangbanger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will get blown up, nobody panics. But when I say one little old mayor will die, everyone loses their minds!! Introduce a little anarchy, you upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I AM AN AGENT OF CHAOS. And you know the thing about chaos, Harvey. It’s fair.”
IrishSamurai on August 3, 2009 at 7:34 PM
Note the last two words of dialogue!
Again from the previous Joker thread (see the original post for links):
…Anyway, if you want to understand it – Read this article: Chaos theory and Batman: Part III, in Psychology Today From last year.
From the article:
“The Joker’s chaos does not seem to be chaos, as in “Chaos Theory,” or “Deterministic Chaos.” He is related, perhaps, but the Joker is something bigger. He is more like what some refer to as a “Blue Sky Catastrophe,” (see Guastello’s 2002 book for more on this topic) which is a force that hits an attractor at a vulnerable spot and obliterates it. The Joker is the power of demolition, rather than deterministic chaos. Joker says in the film that he needs The Batman. This is because the Joker’s purpose, paradoxically, is to destroy purpose, to turn all of us from complex yet integrated heroes into empty vessels ruled by chance, like Two Face.”
Does that help?
batterup on August 3, 2009 at 7:49 PM
You know, this is getting painful. Slublog and Allah seem to think we’re going to an ice cream social, when in reality we’re getting ready to rumble.
This poster taps into a deep chord of popular culture. It connects at the gut level; all this intellectualizing is so far off the mark it’s pitiful. See the damn movie. Understand the tie between The Dark Knight and George Bush. If you don’t get it, then post about something else. This Urkel routine doesn’t cut it.
JackOkie on August 4, 2009 at 8:28 AM
Why stop with Obama?
They could have put Chris Dodd as the Riddler
Pelosi as Catwomen
ETC ETC.
robo on August 4, 2009 at 8:30 AM
Tired. Been there, done that.
beatcanvas on August 4, 2009 at 8:32 AM
…Going on a T-shirt..
Reaps on August 4, 2009 at 8:34 AM
George Bush as the Joker in Vanity Fair:
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/politics/2008/07/bush-as-joker.html
But that was okay, right?
albill on August 4, 2009 at 8:34 AM
I’m completely down with the Joker photoshop. Obama, if I may speak with moral clarity, is evil, whether he feels the same way or not. The Joker, was evil personified. So, at least to me, the parallel is rather self evident. Evil, corrupt, unscrupulous.
The ‘Broke’ poster is good, would have rocked the house 3 months ago. Kinda pales badly to Joker. MHO.
Schweggie on August 4, 2009 at 8:34 AM
Shorter version:
This Joker poster is intimately linked to “The Dark Knight”; it’s power derives from the movie’s ethos. If you haven’t seen and connected with “The Dark Knight” then you haven’t a clue what’s going on here.
Bonus: This communicates with young people in a way no ordinary political message can.
JackOkie on August 4, 2009 at 8:36 AM
Ditto.
I also think “Socialism” was spot on title…
Schweggie on August 4, 2009 at 8:41 AM
Nope. Got a link? Tried to Google for it but there’s so much out there on him I couldn’t find it.
Try this.
petefrt on August 4, 2009 at 8:42 AM
I read the comments. Don’t see that at all.
JiangxiDad on August 4, 2009 at 8:44 AM
Schweggie:
I think is is my favorite T-shirt -
http://www.zazzle.com/obama_why_so_socialist_tshirt-235726774372877590
JackOkie on August 4, 2009 at 8:46 AM
I see Slublog is still in Urkel mode.
JackOkie on August 4, 2009 at 8:49 AM
OK, The Breasts Not Bombs protesters were the scariest. Was that a scarf around her neck or were those her boobs? And what is with that shim (combination of she & him) with the boobs, tattoos, and beard?
mizflame98 on August 4, 2009 at 8:50 AM
If BC were still president, it would say GROPE.
Attila (Pillage Idiot) on August 4, 2009 at 9:09 AM
It is only acceptable to leftists to do things like this to conservatives.
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/politics/2008/07/bush-as-joker.html
See you stooopids, that is art the other is well RACISM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
jukin on August 4, 2009 at 9:10 AM
Slublog demands agreement:
Judging by comments on my Greenroom post, Obamajoker poster is the new litmus test used to determine your level of conservative bona fides.
Blake on August 4, 2009 at 9:33 AM
Bingo. I get the feeling that despite the disturbing news they post here on a daily basis, some commentators cling to this fairy tale belief that friendly dialogue is going to save the day.
I don’t know about everyone else but I feel that my government and some special interest groups have declared war on the populace, and we are just now waking up to the fact and reacting.
Too see people trying to downplay this with this “Miss Manners” approach is just infuriating
Sugarbuzz on August 4, 2009 at 9:35 AM
Perhaps this will remind people what’s at stake:
http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/henry.htm
JackOkie on August 4, 2009 at 9:38 AM
Nobody questioned your conservatism friend, we question your understanding of the current political climate and why this picture resonates
Sugarbuzz on August 4, 2009 at 9:38 AM
As always, Michelle immediately and intuitively “gets” that which is blindingly obvious to everyone else in the room save AP and company:
Obama-bots are in a tizzy over a silly poster of Dear Leader as The Joker.
The BDS-infected Left may have wiped the violent imagery and assassination fascination targeting the president from their memories.
I haven’t.
The woman is irreplaceable. Period, end of sentence, full stop.
Kent18 on August 4, 2009 at 9:40 AM
Allah and Slublog are so out of touch. You realize people have been using a version of the hope poster as their facebook profile pics for months? Every possible concoction of it has already been dreamed up, posted, and elicited barely a smirk b/c its so freaking old and played out.
-
But very good Allah and Slublog, you made pooh-pooh in the potty! You’re such good little bloggers!
Simona on August 4, 2009 at 9:40 AM
I think this type of stuff just shows how scared people are of offending anyone. Yeah, you can oppose Obama, but just don’t upset anyone while doing so.
I like the “why so socialist?” obama shirt. It’s awesome.
This is boring. Boring doesn’t work.
lorien1973 on August 4, 2009 at 9:58 AM
Sorry, but we have our image already.
The Obama/Joker image is the one to go viral with not just on the net but hard copy.
I’ll blow it up, and mount it on one side with my Sarah P. image on the other with a great Cuda pick and FREEDOM on the other side.
It WILL be at the DC Party.
If you don’t have the stomach for the fight, stand aside and let the fighters engage the enemy.
That Obama/Joker image taps into almost all the primordial fears, sins, feelings, etc.
It is the best image yet I’ve seen to use against him.
When the bayonet hits butter, that means you thrust DEEPER.
Come on, let’s fight the takeover of healthcare and cap’ntax and kill them before they kill us.
Sapwolf on August 4, 2009 at 9:59 AM
Comment pages: « Previous 1 2 3 Next »