The L.A. Times reports details on the Obama Joker poster artist. Read the whole article here. Here are some highlights:
-Was it an ultra-conservative grassroots group or a disgruntled street artist going against the grain?
Nope, it turns out, just a 20-year-old college student from Chicago.
Bored during his winter school break, Firas Alkhateeb, a senior history major at the University of Illinois, crafted the picture of Obama with the recognizable clown makeup using Adobe’s Photoshop software.
-A still-anonymous rogue famously found his image, digitally removed the references to Time Magazine, captioned the picture with the word “socialism” and hung printed copies around L.A., making headlines.
-“After Obama was elected, you had all of these people who basically saw him as the second coming of Christ,” Alkhateeb said. “From my perspective, there wasn’t much substance to him.”
-“I abstained from voting in November,” he wrote in an e-mail. “Living in Illinois, my vote means close to nothing as there was no chance Obama would not win the state.” If he had to choose a politician to support, Alkhateeb said, it would be Ohio Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich.
-Although Alkhateeb claims he was making no political statement with the artwork, he’s plugged into the Washington debate. Though born in the United States, his Palestinian family closely follows Middle Eastern politics.
-“I think he’s definitely doing better than Bush was,” Alkhateeb said of Obama.
-He’s honored by Shepard Fairey‘s assessment of his Joker picture, but disagrees with some of Fairey’s comments criticizing the message of the Socialism poster.
“He made a picture of Bush as a vampire,” Alkhateeb said about Fairey. “That’s kind of speaking with two faces.”
So, now you have met L.A. Weekly/MSNBC/S.F. Chronicle/Wasington Post‘s racist right-wing nut: a Kucinich-supporting kid of Palestinian heritage from Obama’s hometown. The left will have to get creative if they hope to “Joe the Plumber” this guy.
We’ll make sure to post the media’s apologies for fear mongering as they role in…
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