I met Shepard Fairey last year during the Primary Flight street art celebration in dowtown Miami. He is the artist who got most famous during the 2008 Presidential election for creating the "Hope" poster of Barack Obama. He is a very intelligent and sensitive dude, and today on Huffington Post he drew up a picture of sanity in the midst of unfounded panic.
Let me state as simply as I can my views on President Obama. I support President Obama. I believe he is an intelligent, compassionate person, with many good policy ideas. If Obama runs for reelection in 2012, I will support him.
I realize he is trying to do the best that he can given the obstructionist, "just say no to anything," opposition he faces from the Republicans in Congress.
And for the record, I have not lost "Hope," in President Obama, even if the change he ran upon is not coming as quickly many of us thought or hoped it might.
I'd like to drop in one more photo from last year's Art party, something that remains on permanent display in our fair city. Just in case you can't read it, Shepard Fairey's message on this wall is simple.
Don't believe the hype.
The punk rock posters that are part of that wall warm my heart with as much glow as Barack Obama winning the White House. I love Minutemen and Meat Puppets as much as any music ever created. Punk rock was made to inspire, and nothing can ever dim the glory that sprouted in thousands of garages around the world because of it.
Same with President Obama, for me. No matter how many times he breaks my heart with his (anti-teacher) "Education" policies, no matter how slow the progressive cause is progressing, he is still an inspiration.
The United States of America has a black president, and he is a free-thinking child of the seventies. He is a symbol of hope for the world, and his mere presence in the White House creates boundless potential for a better future.
That, for me, will never die. Hope on!