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Artist of Obama "Joker" Poster Image Identified -- and He's Not a Conservative
August 18, 2009 11:07 AM
The Los Angeles Times tracked down the artist of the unflattering depiction of President Obama as The Joker from The Dark Knight and he may not be whom you pictured.
Firas Alkhateeb, a 20-year-old senior history major at the University of Illinois, took a TIME cover photo of the President and with Adobe's Photoshop software crafted the grim image. Two days before President Obama's inauguration, Alkhateeb uploaded the photo and put it on his Flickr site.
Someone else downloaded the image, removed the references to TIME, added the word "socialism," and created a poster that has appeared all over the country.
"After Obama was elected, you had all of these people who basically saw him as the second coming of Christ," Alkhateeb told the Times. "From my perspective, there wasn't much substance to him."
Alkhateeb clearly didn't care much for President Obama appointing Rahm Emanuel as his Chief of Staff.
"Emanuel is a fervent anti-Islam voice in Washington," he wrote on his Flickr page. "A Zionist, he takes a hard line stance against the Palestinian cause, and shows a clear anti-Muslim racism. Besides that, he is the embodiment of 'political partisanship' that Obama was supposedly going to change!"
He wrote: "Note: I am neither Democrat nor Republican, Conservative nor Liberal, didn't support Obama or McCain. I just call it like I see it."
Alkhateeb's politics are clearly not that of the conservative Republicans who have embraced the image he created. He told the Times that the "Socialist" label on the posters "doesn't make any sense to me at all. To accuse him of being a socialist is really ... immature. First of all, who said being a socialist is evil?"
Writing in the Washington Post, Philip Kennicott suggested that there was something racist about depicting the president as The Joker.
"By using the 'urban' makeup of the Heath Ledger Joker, instead of the urbane makeup of the Jack Nicholson character, the poster connects Obama to something many of his detractors fear but can't openly discuss," Kennicott wrote. "He is black and he is identified with the inner city, a source of political instability in the 1960s and '70s, and a lingering bogeyman in political consciousness despite falling crime rates."
Kennicott called the image a "subtly coded, highly effective racial and political argument. Forget socialism, this poster is another attempt to accomplish an association between Obama and the unpredictable, seeming danger of urban life....Obama, like the Joker and like the racial stereotype of the black man, carries within him an unknowable, volatile and dangerous marker of urban violence, which could erupt at any time. The charge of socialism is secondary to the basic message that Obama can't be trusted, not because he is a politician, but because he's black."
-jpt
August 18, 2009 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (216)
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When the Los Angeles Times reported early Monday evening the artist was a liberal-leaning Palestinian, most press members couldn't have cared less.
LexisNexis and Google news searches identified the following major media outlets completely ignored the story:
The Associated Press
Reuters
AFP
The New York Times
The Washington Post
USA Today
ABC
CBS
NBC
MSNBC
Most of the coverage concerning Firas Alkhateeb was done by Chicago papers where he's from, as well as Los Angeles where the first posters were apparently sighted. Some television outlets did reports at their respective websites including Jake Tapper's blog (to his credit).
Gee, I wonder what kind of coverage we would have seen if the artist was a right-wing supporter of McCain/Palin.
Posted by: Chuck | Aug 19, 2009 8:28:09 PM
Erin seems to have misplaced her dictionary. Any country that is not a monarchy is a republic. Among the countries that qualify as republics are Cuba, China, Myanmar, and Iran. There used to be a political entity called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. There is nothing logically preventing a republic, including the U.S., from being socialist.
Posted by: linguist | Aug 19, 2009 5:07:17 PM
KR, you’re not taking into account their starting points. Obama inherited a huge mess; Bush didn't.
In the days before the elections, NBC News/Wall Street Journal asked registered voters if they thought the country was headed in the right direction or was off on the wrong track:
Oct 2000 (Clinton days):
48% Right Direction
32% Wrong Track
Oct 2008 (Dubya days):
12% Right Direction
78% Wrong Track
BIG difference as to where the starting gates were positioned on the track.
Posted by: WWW | Aug 19, 2009 2:53:38 PM
This Moslem American saw through Obama.
Jewish Americans did NOT.
Posted by: Moysh Borsch | Aug 19, 2009 1:13:58 PM
"Rasmussen also reported that only 35% of Americans thought the U.S. is heading in the right direction. Apparently Americans aren't happy with Obama's brand of CHANGE."
Sep. 2003 GW Bush - A like number (52%) said the country is heading in the wrong direction, while 40% said it is the right direction.
Looks like Obama has a 3 year head start on Bush.
Posted by: KR | Aug 19, 2009 11:58:31 AM
“In August 2001, Bush's approval was 54%. Bush didn't hit 35% until 2006, 6 years into his term. There's some perspective for you.”
Obama’s approval ratings this month have been ranging from 52% to 55% at Gallup. Neck ‘n Neck.
Posted by: WWW | Aug 19, 2009 10:52:46 AM
***
Ah. Thanks for correcting that. That's pretty good considering the disasters Obama inherited and the steps he's taking toward real change.
Posted by: Alyson | Aug 19, 2009 11:39:58 AM
Ya, not a conservative. Just talks like one. I almost believe him. People like him frighten me a he ll of a lot more than socialism.
Posted by: Hannah | Aug 19, 2009 11:20:19 AM
“"Not so fast. People are more than twice as happy now as they were under George W Bush. Check the Rasmussen poll for for 11/2/09, just before Obama was elected."”
“In August 2001, Bush's approval was 54%. Bush didn't hit 35% until 2006, 6 years into his term. There's some perspective for you.”
Obama’s approval ratings this month have been ranging from 52% to 55% at Gallup. Neck ‘n Neck.
Posted by: WWW | Aug 19, 2009 10:52:46 AM
In August 2001, Bush's approval was 54%. Bush didn't hit 35% until 2006, 6 years into his term. There's some perspective for you.
Posted by: KR | Aug 19, 2009 9:42:27 AM
###
That's scary. Why don't they ever poll me, for crying out loud.
On the other hand, Bush never tried to do anything important until the aftermath of 9-11, and then the response was a no-brainer. And there wasn't a lot of transparency or dialogue about anything he did do.
He also was handed a much, much, much better economy and deficit.
Posted by: Alyson | Aug 19, 2009 10:33:15 AM
Alkhateed: "First of all, who said being a socialist is evil?"
Does he realize that Obama is the President of the United States, a republic, and not a socialist country? Does he understand what socialism truly means? I was blown away by his statement. Being a socialist is a terrible thing when you are the leader of the free world. I'm not saying Obama is a blatant socialist, but he certainly does appear to have socialist tendancies. (Insert "Spread the wealth" comment here.)
Really--this person is supposed to be college educated.
Posted by: erin | Aug 19, 2009 10:00:30 AM
Tacky, disrespectful and mean, but I will lay down my life to protect the rights of free speech...
Posted by: DaveM | Aug 19, 2009 9:59:40 AM
"Not so fast. People are more than twice as happy now as they were under George W Bush. Check the Rasmussen poll for for 11/2/09, just before Obama was elected."
In August 2001, Bush's approval was 54%. Bush didn't hit 35% until 2006, 6 years into his term. There's some perspective for you.
Posted by: KR | Aug 19, 2009 9:42:27 AM
"Rasmussen also reported that only 35% of Americans thought the U.S. is heading in the right direction. Apparently Americans aren't happy with Obama's brand of CHANGE."
Not so fast. People are more than twice as happy now as they were under George W Bush. Check the Rasmussen poll for for 11/2/09, just before Obama was elected. Only 14% thought the country was headed in the right direction.
Posted by: WWW | Aug 19, 2009 3:56:44 AM
I think history will have a different perspective than many current Obama supporters.
Posted by: deanbob | Aug 18, 2009 7:07:14 PM
*************************************
And history will most likely be hateful to Bush.
Posted by: secondlook | Aug 19, 2009 12:15:09 AM
love it...that's a freedom of expression... and the rest is B.S.
love it ...wish i could do something in photoshop, probably i will.
Posted by: Anova | Aug 18, 2009 11:27:46 PM
The image became popular David, not because of the media so much but that it first went viral on the Net. I find the Joker to be a good comparison for Obama..........evil, two faced, deceptive mixed in with a bit of severe pyschological problems seems to be a common threat for the two.
Posted by: PotatoeGater22 | Aug 18, 2009 9:26:53 PM
Oh come on....there is no comparison between Obama and Carter. Obama has already shown he is FAR FAR MORE inept than even the peanut for brains Carter.
Posted by: PotatoeGater22 | Aug 18, 2009 9:24:40 PM
So much for deep psychobabble.
Posted by: moklspa | Aug 18, 2009 9:22:30 PM
"it just goes to show the similarities between tthe kooks on the left and the kooks on the right."
You do have a point. Obama's job performance numbers continue to drop across the entire political spectrum.
Today Gallup reported an all-time high 42% disapproval rating. Rasmussen reported 50% disapproval. Rasmussen also reported that only 35% of Americans thought the U.S. is heading in the right direction. Apparently Americans aren't happy with Obama's brand of CHANGE.
Posted by: Jenn | Aug 18, 2009 8:42:16 PM
The number of wrong assumptions made by the left in this case is caused by the vast differences between their worldview and the way the world really works. To borrow a quote from Ann Richards referring to their favorite politician, "They can't he'p it."
Posted by: QA_NJ | Aug 18, 2009 8:40:48 PM
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