Judging by the poster showing Barack Obama as Heath Ledger’s Joker and daubed with the word ‘socialism’ in various locations across LA, there appears to be a concerted effort by the far-right to undermine the US president.
The uncredited poster shows his lips smeared in red lipstick, his eye sockets kohl-black and his hair dyed green. Combined with a whitened face, it strongly resembles Ledger’s Joker image in ‘The Dark Knight’.
The accusations against Obama of ‘socialism’ come as the president tries to launch healthcare reforms with a $590 billion programme.
The latest smear follows a conspiracy theory propagated by ‘the birthers’, a group of far-right activists claiming that Obama was not born in the US but in Kenya and as a result he is not entitled to be president and first citizen under US Constitution rules.