« "Reasonably Enlightened" China Is Brutal Toward Girls | Main | Don't Mess With Grits »
February 27, 2010
Tramp Stamp of the Hopeychange Generation
Posted by The MaryHunter at February 27, 2010 8:14 AM
Ever wondered about those folks who still have those Obama-HOPE decals on their cars?
It seemed so cool at the time. But now, the cool is gone and all that remains is a silly permanent mark.
Today, one can travel down any busy American street or highway and usually spot the new political equivalent of the tramp stamp. Namely, the ubiquitous 2008 campaign decal with the cartoonish stenciled portrait of Barack Obama gazing wistfully into the distance above the nebulous term "HOPE."
Created by "street artist" and George W. Bush antagonist Shepard Fairey based upon the 2006 photograph of Obama by Associated Press (AP) photographer Mannie Garcia, the image became synonymous with the Obama hysteria.
Here's an actual tramp stamp of the tramp stamp - to be technical, it should have been a few feet lower, but at least she's got a more prominent reminder of past indiscretions.
Apparently unconcerned with the sinister association, Laura Barton of the left-wing Guardian newspaper gushed that "Hope" had "acquired the kind of instant recognition of Jim Fitzpatrick's Che Guevara poster, and is surely set to grace t-shirts, coffee mugs and the walls of student bedrooms in years to come."
Ya think? (I defer to my esteemed colleague GoY for commentary on the Che icon.) Indeed, the emblem was hijacked almost immediately during Campaign 2008 by conservatives for their political ends, and it seems that the mock images are growing in popularity.
Whenever I see the original image, invariably I replace the "H" with a "D" in my mind's eye, to sort things out in my fragile soul. (Pre-election, it used to be a "N". Some help that was.) Comic renditions of this dubious icon have flourished and will clearly outlast the original, as the Cult of Hopeychange gives more and more ground to the Morning After Blues.
Please feel free to send in your renditions and share in this cultural-phenomenological backlash.
