A Proposal: No More “Obama as F.D.R” Images, Please

The comparisons between Barack Obama and F.D.R. are obvious: a president taking office during a severe finanacial crisis who will likely institute a large government infrastructure-building program as part of the way out.  So, you can’t really blame folks for capitalizing on this visually.   On the other hand, these images seem to be nearing the “post-9/11 crying eagle” saturation point–and they’re, well, obvious; there’s really nothing to this visual metaphor other than that one point of comparison .  Maybe it’s time to move on…

Here are just a few exmples, culled just from stuff I had in my recycling bin:

fdr_1

fdr_2

fdr_3

Now, that’s not to say nothing good has come from all this.  That last image by Richard Thompson (and published in the New Yorker) is beautiful.

2 comments

1 ping

    • Mike Rhode on 11/20/2008 at 11:35 pm

    But he smokes, just like FDR did! How many more points of comparison do you need, Ben?

  1. Where are those weird blue lips that he has in the cartoon image? It’s not an accurate portrayal without the blue lips.

  1. […] [Commentary] No More “Obama as F.D.R” Images, Please Link: Ben Towle […]

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