Barack Obama Hosts German Campaign Stop For World Presidency–UPDATED

July 23, 2008 / 12:14 am • By Dr. Melissa Clouthier

A note about the picture juxtaposition: This is about artistic tone. The profile view. The serious expression. The shading. When I saw the Obama flier picture, my mind immediately called up this Hitler image and I was struck by how similar they are in feel the color choice differences aside. Unnerving really.

Patrick Ruffini draws attention to the advertising and rally literature that is written in German. This action would be shocking, but this is Obama we’re talking about. Patrick says:

So, this isn’t just some sober, high-minded foreign policy speech, part of a foreign trip occurring under the auspices of his official Senate office. It is a campaign rally occurring on foreign soil. They are using the same tactics to turn out Germans to an event as they would to any rally right here in America. This after Obama’s campaign said this:

“It is not going to be a political speech,” said a senior foreign policy adviser, who spoke to reporters on background. “When the president of the United States goes and gives a speech, it is not a political speech or a political rally.

“But he is not president of the United States,” a reporter reminded the adviser.

The sea of Germans drummed up by the Obama campaign will be used as props to tell us Americans how to vote, and the campaign isn’t trying to pretend otherwise. That’s breathtakingly arrogant, and par for the course for Barack Obama.

And there is more about this stop. The Guardian reports this:

The centrepiece of the European leg of Obama’s visit will be his Berlin speech. Liberal and conservative politicians in Germany expressed consternation that Obama plans to address the crowds from beneath the golden angel statue which graces Berlin’s Siegessäule, a landmark which Hitler moved to its present location as part of his bid to transform Berlin into the world capital Germania.

“For him [Hitler] it was the symbol of German supremacy and victory against Denmark, Austria and France,” Rainer Brüdele of the liberal FDP party told the Bild am Sonntag. “It makes me wonder if Barack Obama was correctly advised in using the victory column as the location to talk on his vision for global cooperation.”

Is Barack Obama campaigning for president of the world? Not only is this a political flier meant to influence American voters via the Deutschland, it is seriously unnerving propaganda. What are the Obama people thinking? This is nuts.

Cross-posted at Right Wing News

UPDATE:

Okay, Lefties, you’re getting on my nerves. I made no comparisons between Hitler and Obama unlike the open-minded progressive nutroots have about President Bush. My point was very specific and in context and called into questions Obama’s judgment about his advertising image and where and how he chooses to share his message. He is making a campaign stop in Germany, handing out German-language campaign materials with disturbing imagery alluding to a former fascist leader and he is making this trip on the taxpayers dime as a Senator. He is not President. He is a CANDIDATE. The way the mainstream press treats him, it’s no wonder he’s confused about that.

Now, let’s get to how Progressives have made the equivalence between Bush and Hitler. First, a parody, since Lefties love arch humor so much:

The People’s Cube What? Not funny? Where’s your sense of humor?

Read about How Bush Became The New Saddam

Oh! And here’s the incisive commentary at Democratic Underground. In case subtlety is lost on you, it’s spelled out.

Don’t forget the wack-job conspiracy nuts who see the direct connection between Bush and Hitler. Here’s a quote you’ll love from Truthout: “It may not be Nazi Germany – it might be a lot worse.” Even more conspiracy wackiness, but it all makes sense to the Left. Bush is ushering in the Nazification of the world.

Kos gets in on it too. It’s too much fun to compare Bush to Hitler to let the people in institutions write all the nastiness.

Want to explain why the Left gets outraged when a point is made about the substance and form and context of an Obama slogan, style, speech location, etc. but it’s okay for President Bush to be directly compared to Hitler in thought, ideology, intention and action and the conclusion is invariably that President Bush is worse than Hitler?

Me thinks the Left doth protest too much.

UPDATED AGAIN:

Ed Driscoll gives this feedback:

I can see though, why the poster does appear to give off, at first glance, a definite whiff of, to borrow from a line from John Glenn back in 2004, “the old Hitler business.” But as Jonah Goldberg has pointed out in Liberal Fascism, these sorts of propagandistic design elements were in the air throughout the west in the 1930s. As were programs such as this.

Because everything old is new again!

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  • Continuum

    Good Lord! You put of picture of Hitler next to Obama’s and then expect us to take your views seriously. The only thing unnerving is your lack of honesty. Why didn’t you draw a fake moustache and horns on Obama? At least then you would have revealed your true feelings from the start. As for the advertising in German. The words say 1) when and where the speech is, 2) that the speech is open to the public, and that 3) there is no charge for admission. Wow!!! What propaganda. As for speaking in front of something in any place in Europe without some kind of untoward historical significance. Well, lots of luck to you.

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  • http://melissaclouthier.com Dr. Melissa Clouthier

    Please note: I did not say Barack Obama and Hitler are anything alike, just that the imagery is startlingly alike. It would be one thing for a flier in America in English called to mind that imagery, but when Obama is going to the very place Hitler spoke at and chose as the capital of the world under German supremacy, it’s alarming.

    The image popped in my head before I read about where he was speaking, for what it’s worth. It was a simple picture association. I couldn’t believe it. Well, I could, considering the candidate, but it seemed to be rank hubris even for him.

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  • http://photoncourier.blogspot.com david foster

    While Obama is in Germany, he might want to check out this situation.

  • Ken

    Well, some of OBAMA!s former campaign posters and Rolling Stone covers looked like he was using the same PR firm as Dear Leader Comrade Kim Jong-Il; why wouldn’t they (or their replacement PR firm) be channelling Goebbels and/or Speer?

    Come to think of it, Hillary’s managers/PR flacks also had a weakness for “Third World Glorious Leader” poses and angles…

  • http://www.sundriesshack.com Jimmie

    I thought almost exactly the same thing when I saw the Obama poster lst night. It strikes me as the same facial angle, the same fierce look, the same sort of soaring words flying up from the face of the leader that we saw in fascist Europe and the fascist/Marxist Soviet Union later on. I wish I had ready access to some of those propaganda posters to do a comparison.

    I can’t believe, for all the smart people the Obama campaign has hired, that no one there got a twinge of recognition when they saw the poster.

    I’m sure that some will call it simply coincidental, but if you put enough concidences together, you get something very close to intent.

  • Db

    This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever read,and I’ve read a lot of stupid stuff.

  • W.B. Reeves

    The Hubris on display here is your own. Or perhaps “psychological nudity” is a better discriptive.

  • Jay B.

    It would be one thing for a flier in America in English called to mind that imagery, but when Obama is going to the very place Hitler spoke at and chose as the capital of the world under German supremacy, it’s alarming.

    So your concern is that Obama is trying to appeal to Germans by speaking in their capital?

    Or are you arguing that Nazi imagery — even that which exists in your fevered dreams — is a selling point to Berliners these days?

  • http://www.unfogged.com Fontana Labs

    You’re right; profile views are fascistic.

  • Septic Tank

    All this is really pretty rich coming from people who support the party that gave us such masterpieces of cynical stagecraft as the Mission Accomplished speech. And as for the location, he was going to do it at the Brandenburg Gate before the Bushies got Merkel to quash that plan.

  • http://3-116thsniper.blogspot.com Thus Spake Ortner

    Is this too nuanced for you people to get it? She was pointing out the thematic similiarities in the poster, not a political belief that Obama would murder folk.

    For my part, what bothers me is how during dramatic moments, he will stop and glance out over the audience. But his head level is too high, so he can’t really be looking at anything. It conjures up two memories of mine. The first was how Jim Morrison in seeking to be more like Alexander the Great would always be filmed with his head sort of off to one side. It was a bizarre affectation, and I honestly found it disturbing when I read it. Now cross that with Joey from Friends when he talked about “smell your farts acting.” Obama takes on this bizarre look like he half waiting for some huge spectre to emerge from behind the audience or a spaceship to land, and half trying to remember via olfactory intake of flatulatory effluvience what it was he had for breakfast.

  • Jay B.

    She was pointing out the thematic similiarities in the poster, not a political belief that Obama would murder folk.

    Thematic similarities? What’s the “theme” of comparing the profile of a Hitler poster with that of an Obama poster if it isn’t political? Do you even understand what you are trying to argue?

    After all, the “point” got across to your fellow conservatives, right on this thread: I’m sure that some will call it simply coincidental, but if you put enough concidences together, you get something very close to intent.

    Why don’t you guys argue about the “nuance” of the Doctor’s point?

  • danno

    Wow. You people are idiots. There is no nuance in this post. Just the ravings of a bunch of lunatics.

    Please do the world a favor and go away.

  • The Third Policeman

    lessee here . . . one image is on a blue background, the other on a red one. One features a view, from below, of the right profile, the other a level view of the left profile. One has text printed alongside the image at roughly a 45 degree angel, the other has text level and below the image. Oh yeah, and one is an image of Senator Obama, the other an image of Hitler. You’re right, it really is unnerving. It’s unnerving to yourself, Dr. Melissa, as you are, for whatever reason(s), unnervingly afraid of Senator Obama, and so of course when you see images of him, you think of Hitler, who you are probably also unnervingly afraid of. Don’t fear Hitler, though, because he’s dead. I suppose you should fear Obama, though, if what matters to you is continued federal power in the hands of a corrupt and imbecilic political party.

    You do, certainly, dramatically overrate your own ability to see, describe and think critically about graphic images.

  • paul

    I still don’t get it… so the similarity is that a profile was used?

    but: its not the same side of the head, not taken at the same angle, they dont share the same artistic rendering technique, Obama has his mouth open talking while Hitler’s is closed, the colors arent the same…on and on.. apart from the fact that its a “profile” there’s not one other thematic similarity..

    back to the drawing board for you, “dr.”

  • Dr. Gregory Stroud

    As one Dr. (of modern European history) to another (of medicine): I would like to point out that the comparison is rather silly. Such profile imagery was popular across the political spectrum during the first decades of the 20th century. The use of profile suggests forward movement, progress, change, a future-oriented sensibility… these were dominant tropes at the time, and many many many politicians used them. And frankly, I find his use of the German language on the poster simple politesse (he is a guest of their country after all!)

  • Gene

    Quick everyone destroy any profile shots of yourself or loved ones or friends. You and they may be labeled a Hitler or Nazi propagandist!

  • Oh Mah

    Oh No, did you also know that when Obama gives speeches there are people in the audience too. Guess who else had people in his audiences when he gave speeches…Hitler! Oh my, what ever shall we do????

  • Larry

    You could at least bother to spell Deutschland correctly, Doctor.

  • edsbowlingshoe

    This is one of most absurd, laughable blog posts ever.

    Obama can’t use profile shots – Hitler once used those!!!

    Obama can’t put out fliers in Germans – Hitler spoke German!

    Volkswagen used to make military vehicles for the Nazis….Volkswagen owns Audi…perhaps I should burn my Audi A6 to the ground!!!

    Are you kidding me? Way to ruin your credibility on your own blog.

  • AltonDarwin

    Maybe Dr. Melissa is an avid collector of Nazi propoganda, but it strains credulity that the particular image that “popped into” her mind was the one she displayed. I couldn’t find that graphic in more than 60 pages of Google image searching of “Hitler,” then “Hitler, profile,” then “Hitler, poster.”

    There are at least a dozen images (some of them profiles) that occur far more frequently in The Googleland.

    As an aside, there are basically three set-ups for headshots. Full face front, 3/4 and profile…

  • Phil

    Godwin’s Law in action!

  • Leo

    “The People’s Cube What? Not funny? Where’s your sense of humor?”

    No, that’s pretty damn funny. Not as funny as this post though.

    You still don’t live up to the Birth Certificate doubters though. Now those guys are a riot.

  • soddruntlestuntle

    Odd, Fraulein Doktor, that you would immediately conjure up an image of Hitler. Spend a lot of time thinking about him, do you?
    Honestly, don’t you wingnuts have more important things to do? You all have your collective panties in a twist because Obama’s trip is going far better than expected, and he’s left your ‘candidate’ John McSame eating his dust. Perhaps tomorrow you’ll start comparing how many days Obama has worn his flag lapel pin (which we all know is the ultimate sign of Patriotism) vs. how many he has not. Find some ‘nuance’ in that one…

  • http://jaycbird.blogspot.com jaycbird

    This is a joke, right?

    I guess you have every right to blog your subconscious fears, but if your fear of a white supremest genocidal fascist maniac is reflected in a poster about featuring an American black man, well that is just too rich!

    Maybe all that “red” that is used in GOP advertisements should be revisited after all… there is RED in that poster of Hitler!

    Give. Me. A. Break!

  • The Other Steve
  • Glynn W.

    Sorry Melissa,

    As much as you might like to blame us liberals – you have only yourself to thank for this supremely silly posting.

    But we are forgiving folk. Why not say, “whoops! that wasn’t thought through very well.”

    The attack-dog stuff might be mistake number two. You write:

    “He is making a campaign stop in Germany, handing out German-language campaign materials with disturbing imagery alluding to a former fascist leader and he is making this trip on the taxpayers dime as a Senator. He is not President. He is a CANDIDATE.”

    Instead of commenting on the breathless absurdity of this, “making a campaign stop in Germany!!!!” I’ll just note that approaching hurricanes have been known to make people take leave of their senses.

    gw

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  • Jay B.

    More gibberish. It’s hysterical that you think this “alludes” to anything, not the least Nazi imagery. That you find it disturbing says far more about you than it does about Obama.

    And of the Bush-Saddam-Hitler comparisons you link to, one was from a Canadian magazine, one referred to Bush McHitler (some might think it’s a joke, an exaggeration of sorts), another made a jokey/facetious “comparison” between Bush and Hitler, one was a joke photoshop job from the right — of which NO ONE complained (because it’s a joke, see. Is your post meant to be funny?). And one that you called “a conspiracy” points out that Prescott Bush helped out the Nazis, which is, in fact, a fact, and “Kos” didn’t actually write the post which you quoted, nor did the post actually compare Bush to Hitler (rather, it pointed out his historical ignorance when Bush compared Democrats to appeasers).

    I’m sure that there are plenty of examples of lefties equating Bush to Hitler (just as there’s an entire book dedicated to the notion that liberals are fascist), what would be interesting is if you could point out where it was the graphic design of the Bushies that was called fascist.

  • http://kurinboism.blogspot.com/ kuri

    “I did not say Barack Obama and Hitler are anything alike, just that the imagery is startlingly alike.”

    I was also startled to learn that Obama not only has a profile but that he had a photograph taken of it. I see now that I have no choice but to vote for McCain. Thank you for helping me see the light.

  • gabriel

    This post is so ridiculous I have to think it’s a parody of sorts. Right?

  • keev

    > He is making a campaign stop in Germany…
    > and he is making this trip on the
    > taxpayers dime as a Senator.

    Wrong. Only the Iraq and Afghanistan trip is being paid for by taxpayers, as part of a congressional delegation. All the other stops on Obama’s trip to Europe and Middle East, including the Berlin stop, are being almost entirely paid for by his campaign funds.

  • Ken

    I think Obama’s PR graphics types screwed up. Again. Just like Rolling Stone‘s cover artists and editors with their cover pics of the same subject (“President Cloud-O of Heaven”, “Obamessiah Walking on Water”).

    Either that or a lot of media and PR flacks are working on Disraeli’s maxim: “With a ruler, you can lay on the flattery with a trowel.”

    As for the reaction in this thread, looks like Dr Melissa is a Traitor and Thought-Criminal for Blaspheming the Divine OBAMA (TM). Her burning at the stake for Heresy (and/or stoning for Blasphemy) will commence after the Inaguration/Deification in January.

    The Jewish Prophets had a LOT to say about adoring a man as if he were a god — none of it complementary.
    * What happens when a man becomes President (or any other Big Boss position) surrounded by constant flattery and worshipful adoration?
    * How will he react to someone who tells him what he needs to hear instead of what He Wants to Hear(the classic difference between a True and False Prophet)?
    * What sort of mistakes might he make, secure in the flattery of yes-men? (Pointy-haired bosses with that management style have included Stalin, Saddam, Hillary, and uncounted Third World strongmen and refugees from the pages of Dilbert.)

  • Ken

    P.S. He’s not running for President of the US. Or even President of the World.

    He’s running for “Your Personal LORD and Savior.”

  • gabriel

    Ken,

    Dr Melissa is no traitor. She just wrote a very silly post. Or is it all some sort of parody?

  • SteveS

    Dr. Melissa, you are missing the point. People aren’t mad that you compared Obama to Hitler. Rather, they are shocked at your incredible stupidity.

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  • http://crofsblogs.typepad.com/seymour/ Crawford Kilian

    I’m sitting here in Canada with a pocket full of coins bearing the profile of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Am I to suppose that this questionable bit of graphic design means Mr. Obama is actually a transsexual crypto-monarchist?

    As an undergraduate at Columbia 50 years ago, I got a thorough drilling in close textual analysis from the likes of Lionel Trilling, F.W. Dupee, and Stephen Marcus. They also taught me not to take it too far.

  • Cranston

    Ken wrote:

    The Jewish Prophets had a LOT to say about adoring a man as if he were a god — none of it complementary.
    * What happens when a man becomes President (or any other Big Boss position) surrounded by constant flattery and worshipful adoration?
    * How will he react to someone who tells him what he needs to hear instead of what He Wants to Hear(the classic difference between a True and False Prophet)?
    * What sort of mistakes might he make, secure in the flattery of yes-men? (Pointy-haired bosses with that management style have included Stalin, Saddam, Hillary, and uncounted Third World strongmen and refugees from the pages of Dilbert.)
    ——————-

    I agree completely with this. The funny thing is how utterly perfectly it describes — and warns against — the leadership of George W. Bush.

  • http://blog.nrwspd.de/ Merle

    http://blog.nrwspd.de/
    The Berlin community chose this place because there’s enough space around it and for reasons of security and being neutral (because of that they did NOT choose the Brandenburg Gate).The Siegessäule is in fact not in the mind of the public to be a symbol for Hitler’s dictature. It’s called “Goldelse” (Goldlizzie). She’s just a big golden angel on a column.

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  • ke

    Want to explain why the Left gets outraged when a point is made about the substance and form and context of an Obama slogan, style, speech location, etc. but it’s okay for President Bush to be directly compared to Hitler in thought, ideology, intention and action and the conclusion is invariably that President Bush is worse than Hitler?

    Me thinks the Left doth protest too much.

    So how, prey tell (as long as we’re invoking Old English) is what you’re doing any different?
    Just curious.

    But I guess to answer your question – Obamas’ is ‘slogan, style and speech location.’ Bush’s image comes through is actions – invading another sovereign nation, as one example.

  • syn

    Why did the Obama campaign need to go to Europe? Is he running for something over there?

    Obama’s entire trip is idiotic as indicted by the three major network anchors providing free campaign coverage for Obama.

    Lord King Savior of the World Obama and everyone thought the Clintons were arrogant.

    Do Obama supporters understand just how creepy is all their idol worshipping?

  • syn

    “The funny thing is how utterly perfectly it describes — and warns against — the leadership of George W. Bush.:

    Heh that’s funny since it is safer to live in Bush’s Baghdad, Iraq today than it is to live in Obama’s Gangland, Chicago always.

  • BT

    Syn, I live in Chicago. I work in Chicago. I have seen no decapitated bodies, at least today, and I don’t remember any car bombs, at least this month.

    I also like how McCain can hammer Obama for not visiting foreign countries enough, so he does so, and folks like Syn complain that he shouldn’t be over there. Catch 22 I suppose.

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