Arist who made the "Hope" poster disappointed with Obama

[SnakeEyes]

https://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews_excl/ynews_excl_pl3712

The artist whose poster of Barack Obama became a rallying image during the hope-and-change election of 2008 says he understands why so many people have lost faith.

In an exclusive interview with National Journal on Thursday, Shepard Fairey expressed his disappointment with the president -- a malaise that seems representative of many Democrats who had great expectations for Obama.

Fairey explained that when he came up with the poster in 2008, he was trying to find a single image that embodied the issues he cared most about -- promoting health care, helping labor, and curtailing lobbyists. He likened the issues to projectiles.

"Looking at Obama's standpoint on various policies, it was like, 'Why throw all these particular projectiles over the wall... when I could put all those things in one projectile that I could hurl over the wall,'" Fairey said in a phone interview from Los Angeles, where he lives. "Obama was the delivery device in theory. Now, I realize that he maybe is not the correct delivery device, and I'll just deal with those issues separately."

Fairey's much-reproduced portrait of Obama -- head tilted slightly upward, gazing into the distance, with the word "Hope" emblazoned underneath -- captured the imagination of Democrats and unintentionally tweaked Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose husband had been elected as "The Man From Hope." Hundreds of thousands of posters and stickers with the "Hope" image were distributed to supporters throughout the country. But that was just the beginning. It's been reproduced countless times on the Internet, and a parody version, with Obama as The Joker and "Socialism" in place of "Hope," is a favorite at Tea Party rallies.

Maybe it was inevitable that Hope would fade. Fairey's blue-and-red image was altered from an Associated Press photograph of Obama, and the artist is embroiled in an ongoing lawsuit over use of that picture. (He didn't discuss the case with National Journal.) Fairey, who at 40 is no kid himself, said it's easy to see why young voters are down on Obama and the Democrats. He lamented that health care reform was watered down, Tea Party activists have been emboldened, and his man has fallen short on bold campaign promises like closing Guantanamo Bay.

"There's a lot of stuff completely out of Obama's control or any of the Democrats' control," Fairey allowed. "But I think there's something a little deeper in terms of the optimism of the younger voter that's happening. They wanted somebody who was going to fight against the status quo, and I don't think that Obama has done that."

To be sure, Fairey still supports Obama, and he says he would use his talents to assist the president's re-election efforts in 2012. But he said that he couldn't design the same Hope poster today, because the spirit of the Obama campaign hasn't carried over to the Obama presidency.

"To say I feel disappointment is within the context that I know he's very intelligent, very capable, very compassionate," Fairey said. "I think he has the tools, and he does not trust his instincts in how to apply them."

[GuineaPig]

Guess now he's all like

[SnakeEyes]

(wanting to laugh very much, but refraining, out of respect for other posters who don't find things like this frantically funny)

[Seventh Son]

Is there one for apathy?

[Perpetual Change]

LOL

[juice]

Guess now he's all like

[Genowyn]

Haha, it's funny because his supporters are disappointed that his campaign promises were stymied by the OP's party of choice.

[SnakeEyes]

hahahahahaha, blame the Republicans for:

-  not closing Gitmo
-  totally screwing up Afghanistan
-  keeping the Patriot Act and wiretapping
-  not funding AIDS as much as he promised
-  ramming a health care bill despite everyone NOT wanting it
-  failed stimulus
-  etc

The only thing that has gone well since Obama has been president has [ironically] been the Iraq war and that's [comically] due to the surge that Bush put in place that Obama didn't support.  

Look, when the "Hope" artist loses confidence in you, you know you're in trouble.  

[Sigz]

So let me get this straight: some artist makes a popular poster expressing his endless enthusiasm for Obama, is disappointed when things aren't sunshine and lolipops, and now this is newsworthy? Alrighty then.

[orcus116]

Look, when the "Hope" artist loses confidence in you, you know you're in trouble.  

What about when 71% of the country lost confidence in Bush a few months before he left office, dropping those few "hard to handle no matter who the fuck you are" grenades you posted above into their incumbent's lap?

[Genowyn]

hahahahahaha, blame the Republicans for:

-  not closing Gitmo
-  totally screwing up Afghanistan
-  keeping the Patriot Act and wiretapping
-  not funding AIDS as much as he promised
-  ramming a health care bill despite everyone NOT wanting it
-  failed stimulus
-  etc

The only thing that has gone well since Obama has been president has [ironically] been the Iraq war and that's [comically] due to the surge that Bush put in place that Obama didn't support.  

Look, when the "Hope" artist loses confidence in you, you know you're in trouble.  

Never mind the fact that the artist is disappointed because the Health Care Bill was watered down to appease the right? Did you even read the whole thing?

[Perpetual Change]

-  totally screwing up Afghanistan
-  keeping the Patriot Act and wiretapping
-  not funding AIDS as much as he promised
-  failed stimulus

The Republicans would have done all of this, and already did all the bolded things at least once before Obama was in office.

[SnakeEyes]

Never mind the fact that the artist is disappointed because the Health Care Bill was watered down to appease the right? Did you even read the whole thing?

That's just one example.  I didn't want health care at all, but the article wasn't about the artist's disappointment with not getting a complete health care bill, but rather his disappointment with Obama, overall.  This sums it up:

"But I think there's something a little deeper in terms of the optimism of the younger voter that's happening. They wanted somebody who was going to fight against the status quo, and I don't think that Obama has done that."

[Perpetual Change]

hahahahahaha, blame the Republicans for:

-  not closing Gitmo
-  totally screwing up Afghanistan
-  keeping the Patriot Act and wiretapping
-  not funding AIDS as much as he promised
-  ramming a health care bill despite everyone NOT wanting it
-  failed stimulus
-  etc

The only thing that has gone well since Obama has been president has [ironically] been the Iraq war and that's [comically] due to the surge that Bush put in place that Obama didn't support.  

Look, when the "Hope" artist loses confidence in you, you know you're in trouble.  

Never mind the fact that the artist is disappointed because the Health Care Bill was watered down to appease the right? Did you even read the whole thing?

No. That's not how to approach political pornography of this nature. The idea is to fap all over the reality that people are upset with Obama. It doesn't matter why, because to strictly partisan people any sign that an opposing party member is losing his/her stride is temporarily gratifying.

And by the way, SnakeEyes, it's because of people like you that this independent will likely vote for Obama again, even though I'm ACTIVELY looking for reasons not to. Right now, there is absolutely NO ALTERNATIVE being posed by Republicans. There's just, as I've pointed out, the overwhelming amounts of "fap material" OBAMASOCIALIST LOL PELLOSI U SHOULD BE SCARED GIVING U HEALTH CARE IS TAKING OVER UR LIFE111. This, by the way, is the same reason why I would've voted for Bush over Kerry had I not been a year to young.

In sum, at a time when an intelligent Republican could come forward to suggest an reasonable alternative to the Obama administrations handling of real problems, there is none. There are only fap artists like Palin, Murdoch "n00z" and the Teaparty and people like Mitt Romney who want to pretend that problems don't exist. Why?

[SnakeEyes]

The only thing I agree with in the above post is that the Republicans haven't come up with anyone good..... like at all.  And, just so you know (and, I know you probably won't believe this), if I had a choice between a strong Obama economy and making fun of Obama for losing support from pretty much everyone (as is currently happening), I'd choose Obama getting credit for a strong economy.  Trust me, I don't want to lose my job just so I can make fun of Obama. 

But, the thing is - reality is reality.  The economy sucks, unemployment sucks.... everything sucks right now and, well, he's in charge.  So, I can make fun of him for the choices that he has made, namely putting so much effort into health care rather than the economy, especially after the people spoke and he STILL did it.  He bypassed the people and he should get made fun of just for that. 

[Perpetual Change]

Again, I don't see how he bypassed the people. The healthcare bill was one of his main positions throughout his campaign and up until the time he got elected. If anything, I think you're confusing the fact people don't want THIS healthcare bill with people not wanting ANY healthcare bill.

Obama's administration pushed for a better health-care bill and a better economic recovery bill, and both suck because they were obstructed.

But the question I have been asking almost everyday the last two years was "where is the alternative?" Where were the smart alternatives to Obama's stimulus and health-care bill? The fact is, those alternatives didn't exist. There was no one on the Republican side of the aisle saying "hey, that bill sucks, we can do it more effectively this way." Or, "hey, the economy sucks and your stimulus won't work. What if we do THIS instead?" And if there were, they were utterly ignored by the RP's defacto leader Rush Limbaugh and Murdoch n00z. There were, and still are, only people who want to fight on the P/R battleground and people who want to pretend the problems we're experiencing now don't exist.

[SnakeEyes]

Again, I don't see how he bypassed the people. The healthcare bill was one of his main positions throughout his campaign and up until the time he got elected. If anything, I think you're confusing the fact people don't want THIS healthcare bill with people not wanting ANY healthcare bill.

Well, my theory is that people didn't think the health care thing through during the campaign.  Every candidate promises health care and it never happens.  I think Obama could have gotten up there and said he was going to make a National Muppet Day and people would have voted for him.  It was the whole Hope/ Change thing.  Once he got elected and actually started doing it, I really think people started taking a closer look at health care once they realized how much it was going to cost and how much control government WILL have over it. 

Plus, Obama was really shady about health care, saying the negotiations were going to be held publicly and they weren't.  Then, there were the deals between him and people he needed to vote for the bill.  People just got really weary of Obama once they saw how it was happening.     

Obama's administration pushed for a better health-care bill and a better economic recovery bill, and both suck because they were obstructed.

The problem is that, when Obama got into office, the economic situation was so bad that health care should have been the furthest thing from his mind.  The U.S. didn't NEED health care right now.  We need JOBS. 

But the question I have been asking almost everyday the last two years was "where is the alternative?" Where were the smart alternatives to Obama's stimulus and health-care bill?

The biggest alternative was to allow health care to be bought across state lines.  I totally support that because it wouldn't cost the government anything.  I don't believe the government owes it to anyone to pay for their health care, but I also don't think they have a right to make it illegal for us to buy it where the hell we want to buy it.  The stimulus alternative, I don't know.  To give Obama credit for something - I really like the fact that the roads in my town look better and my ride is smoother because of the new roads from the stimulus money.  If he had kept on that track and kept putting people to work and focused ALL of his energy on that, I would be very happy with him.  Even if it didn't work and it failed, at least all his energy would have been on that.  It just seems like he half-assed getting the economy back on track because he wanted to get started right with health care.   

There was no one on the Republican side of the aisle saying "hey, that bill sucks, we can do it more effectively this way."

Concerning health care, yes there were and I just pointed out the argument they made about buying insurance over state lines.  The stimulus.... not sure what the Republicans argued for an alternative.  I think once Obama started talking about health care, that forced the Republicans to start focusing on that, too. 

[Perpetual Change]

We remember it differently then. I for one remember people like Sarah Palin talking about what was in the Health Care bill before it even existed. So if you want to talk about "being shady about healthcare" talk about the people who hijacked the discussion of reforming it before it had even begun.

But yeah, I guess I agree with everything else. Obama's been a disappointment in all those areas. Still doesn't create an alternative out of thin air (as the democrats found out when they tried to get that tired and cranky old dude to run against Bush).

[XJDenton]

I think anyone who thought obama was going to be able to achieve all his election promises (or indeed any president) doesn't quite know how broken the american political system is. Watered down half measures are all you can put out.

[hefdaddy42]

The Republican idea of making it OK to buy insurance "across state lines" would have been a logistical nightmare.  Insurance companies aren't regulated at the Federal level, but at the state level.  What insurance companies you have to choose from in your state is determined by your state's Department of Insurance.  To deregulate that fundamental level at which insurance companies are regulated would take years and years.  It would probably be one of the toughest things to change about the insurance industry.  That's one reason that I never thought it was an actual workable idea, but just a soundbyte that made it look like Republicans cared about improving healthcare.

[ReaPsTA]

I don't understand why seemingly everyone is so intellectually and emotionally dishonest about the Obama presidency.

The right completely ignored all of Bush's flaws, and are now attacking Obama for everything, even things Bush would have done.

The left attacked every little flaw of Bush's, and now they're trying to dismiss Obama's failures by saying they're Bush's fault.

[skydivingninja]

Welcome to Partisan politics 101: blame it on the other guy.

[Sigz]

The right are not attacking Obama for everything

You have to be kidding.

[Perpetual Change]

The right are not attacking Obama for everything

You have to be kidding.

This. The right are attacking Obama for things Bush DID do!

[El Barto]

I'm pretty sure it was a typo on Reap's part.  However, he's wrong anyway.  As I pointed out earlier in the other LOL-Obama thread, the left are coming down pretty hard on him.  I find it refreshing to see dissent from his own party.  Republicans could never show anything but feigned awe over Chimpy's brilliance.  While the opinion of some dipshit artist means less to me than than the contents of my trash can,  there are plenty of people on the left who've made very valid points about their disappointment. 

[ReaPsTA]

I'm pretty sure it was a typo on Reap's part.  However, he's wrong anyway.  As I pointed out earlier in the other LOL-Obama thread, the left are coming down pretty hard on him.  I find it refreshing to see dissent from his own party.  Republicans could never show anything but feigned awe over Chimpy's brilliance.  While the opinion of some dipshit artist means less to me than than the contents of my trash can,  there are plenty of people on the left who've made very valid points about their disappointment.

'Twas a typo indeed. Fixed.

I dunno, maybe I'm just seeing it wrong, but every time I talk to someone who voted for Obama or isn't a die-hard Republican, they talk about how he isn't really as bad as it seems. It confuses me that Bush could be this evil horrible president but Obama's just in a bad situation.

[El Barto]

I'm pretty sure it was a typo on Reap's part.  However, he's wrong anyway.  As I pointed out earlier in the other LOL-Obama thread, the left are coming down pretty hard on him.  I find it refreshing to see dissent from his own party.  Republicans could never show anything but feigned awe over Chimpy's brilliance.  While the opinion of some dipshit artist means less to me than than the contents of my trash can,  there are plenty of people on the left who've made very valid points about their disappointment.

'Twas a typo indeed. Fixed.

I dunno, maybe I'm just seeing it wrong, but every time I talk to someone who voted for Obama or isn't a die-hard Republican, they talk about how he isn't really as bad as it seems. It confuses me that Bush could be this evil horrible president but Obama's just in a bad situation.

To be fair,  Obama is in a bad situation.  I think he is a bad president, but not for the reasons most will pin on him.  He inherited a devastated country.  Some of us didn't think it even could be rebuilt, so criticizing him for being unable to fix things in two years is pretty unfair. 

[ReaPsTA]

To be fair,  Obama is in a bad situation.  I think he is a bad president, but not for the reasons most will pin on him.  He inherited a devastated country.  Some of us didn't think it even could be rebuilt, so criticizing him for being unable to fix things in two years is pretty unfair. 

I don't expect it to be fixed. But things shouldn't be worse than if you had just done nothing.

[EPICVIEW]

Go Snakeyes and Reapsta!!!

[rumborak]

To be fair,  Obama is in a bad situation.  I think he is a bad president, but not for the reasons most will pin on him.  He inherited a devastated country.  Some of us didn't think it even could be rebuilt, so criticizing him for being unable to fix things in two years is pretty unfair. 

I don't expect it to be fixed. But things shouldn't be worse than if you had just done nothing.

There was the video that SnakeEye linked to in the other thread, where Obama was enumerating what he had done so far during his presidency. Dunno, in no way or fashion could I say that his inaction would have been better in the cases he mentioned.

rumborak