nov2008-030

nov2008chicagoposters1

Here in Chicago, the City’s put up Obama congratulatory decorations in several neighborhoods, such as Rogers Park.  It could be a coincidence, but so far we’ve only seen these decorations in parts of town with heavy black demographics. Maybe they are going up all over town and the City will eventually be blanketed with these, but these are the ones we’ve noticed so far, on the City’s far North and South sides, but not in Wrigleyville, the Gold Coast, Lincoln Park, Bucktown, or the Loop.

We don’t think it’s appropriate for the City to use Obama’s campaign posters for these decorations. The campaign is over. Obama won. The campaign posters should come down now, replaced with less creepy materials.

The City could have very easily used a nice photo of Obama instead of the blue/white/red propaganda print posters.  Seeing these in store windows during the campaign was bad enough, but seeing them up on lamp posts, paid for and placed there by the City government, crosses a line of taste that conjures up images of Cold War Cuba, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and China.

As Obama transitions into the actual presidency, the trappings of his cult of personality campaign need to subside, as these campaign materials have always given way to the established symbols and restraint of the actual presidency itself.

These posters hanging on lamp posts are the sorts of things found commonly in Baghdad under Saddam Hussein. Streets and schools are already being renamed after Obama. The talk of adding him to Mount Rushmore has already begun.

This has never been done for anyone else who’s won the White House. It feels very unseemly and un-American, this cult of personality taking over the government.

We just hope what’s happening in Chicago doesn’t spread across the country.