“The whole concept of ‘Obey’ was getting people to question their obedience,” Mr. Fairey told Wired magazine.

Yet Mr. Fairey and his fellow artists are now part of a seemingly endless artistic vanguard pledging obedience to their new leader. Those who codified the slogan “dissent is patriotic” now march lockstep with the new president, no matter what he does, and use their elevated place in society to cast an evil eye on those who question his early blunders…

Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher’s celebrity-laden “Presidential Pledge” video is not a “Saturday Night Live” spoof, but the kind of reverence demanded by leaders of totalitarian regimes. During the election cycle, an all-black junior fraternity at the Urban Community Leadership Academy made a similar pledge to Mr. Obama that was viewed millions of times on YouTube.