Whose Side Is He On?

In the early days of the movement, Democrats from President Obama on down–Nancy Pelosi was especially prominent–rushed to embrace the Occupiers. Once the Occupiers became known mostly for committing crimes, however, mainstream Democrats scurried for cover. So now, the Occupiers are asking the Democratic Party, wistfully, are you with us?

Shepard Fairey, the graffiti artist who designed the famous Obama poster, certainly hopes so. He has produced a new poster, with the same color scheme and general look as the original, that features an Occupier in Guy Fawkes costume saying, “Mr. President, we HOPE [duplicating Fairey’s original Obama poster] you’re on our side”:

The resemblance to Fairey’s iconic Obama poster is no doubt discomfiting to liberals who would just as soon forget the whole Occupier thing. Meanwhile, a reader answers Fairey’s question with a variation on his poster; Obama, he says, is indeed on the side of the parasites:

“Takers” is right: the Occupiers are a bunch of greedy, parasitic losers. I’m not sure whether our reader had in mind Peter Schweizer’s book Makers and Takers, but if not, he should have. Freeloaders like the Occupiers are indeed takers, while those of us who support them are makers.

There is an irony here, too: much as Obama and his fellow Democrats are running away from any association with the Occupiers, Democratic office-holders–especially those who are up for re-election in 2012–are running away from Obama, and for the same reason. The dual stench of failure and leftism hangs over the Obama administration, only to a somewhat lesser degree than the Occupier crime wave.