WELL, THE JOKER IS A PERSON OF COLOR:

Obama as The Joker: Racial Fear's Ugly Face: 'Political' Poster Turns On Violent Symbolism (Philip Kennicott, 8/06/09, Washington Post )

The new Obama poster has two basic thrusts. Obama is a socialist, or a crypto-socialist. And Obama is somehow like the Joker, unpredictable and dangerous. But joining these two messages together yields more questions and contradictions than good poster art can sustain. The Joker is violent and dangerous, but a socialist? And didn't we see George W. Bush depicted as the Joker not so long ago?

Yes, in an image by Drew Friedman published online by Vanity Fair on July 29, 2008. [...]

So why the anonymity? Perhaps because the poster is ultimately a racially charged image.

I've never even heard of Drew Friedman, but I find it extremely hard to believe that he's racist in the first place or feels racial animus towards W in the second.

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 6, 2009 4:44 PM