Colorado Billboard Features ‘Terrorist, Gangster, Bandit, Gay’ Obama
- Posted on October 13, 2010 at 6:20pm by
Meredith Jessup
A Colorado billboard depicting what the artist considers the “four faces” of President Barack Obama is causing quite a stir among Grand Junction residents. The “four Obamas” portray the commander-in-chief as a terrorist, a gangster, a Mexican bandit and a gay man all seated around a poker table, gambling with items representing American values, including a copy of the Declaration of Independence, a liberty bell, a toy soldier and a statue of Justice holding a balance.
In addition, the Obama caricatures shows numerous rats, some of which are labeled as IRS, trial lawyers, the EPA and the Fed. At the top is the rallying slogan, “Vote DemocRAT. Join the game,” positioned between two vultures.
The political cartoon is being paid for by a local man who wants to remain anonymous. In an interview with local KJCT News 8, the billboard’s artist, Loma resident Paul Snover, said the unnamed sponsor wanted to “represent the influences he saw the president as having in his administration.”
Snover said he‘s unable to name the billboard’s sponsor, but suggested the parody‘s message should’ve gone even further. “If it had been me, I would have included the Republicans as part of the problem,” he said.
Snover says the billboard represents satirical political humor, but, many aren’t laughing. Mesa County Democratic Party Chairwoman Martelle Daniels has denounced the work as “racist” and “homophobic.“ ”It doesn’t incite any type of intelligent response to whatever they are trying to represent,” Daniels said. “It’s racist, it’s homophobic, it’s terrible.”
Like Daniels, Republican Party Chairman Chuck Pabst said he doesn’t like the billboard because it doesn’t further a dialogue about the president or his policies. “That kind of political positioning and statements, I think, are in bad taste,” Pabst said. “It’s reprehensible and disrespectful, and that’s not what any honorable person would put forth. To ridicule somebody in this manner is juvenile.”
“It is one person’s impression of what the country has gone to. How everything has been taken from the United States and not really been brought back. And our values have pretty much gone to the crud,” resident Yoge Mitchum told KJCT.
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