Dr. Melissa Clouthier makes a suggestion as to what the Obama-In-Berlin poster resembles. But after a quick survey of Germanic graphic design in the immediate post-Weimar and post-Bauhaus era, I’d say it’s closer to the compositional elements and color pallet here.
But as Ross Douthat writes:
Yes, of course the Hitler comparisons are absurd, but I’d really like to know which genius on the Obama campaign thought it would be a good idea to have their candidate conduct a major campaign rally in Europe with three months to go till the election and their candidate, despite an incredibly favorable climate and a fumbling opponent, still clinging to a 2-4 point lead in the polls?
I can see though, why the poster does appear to give off, at first glance, a definite whiff of, to borrow from a line from John Glenn back in 2004, “the old Hitler business.” But as Jonah Goldberg has pointed out in Liberal Fascism, these sorts of propagandistic design elements were in the air throughout the west in the 1930s. As were programs such as this.
Because everything old is new again!
Update: While the text is in Italian, most of the artwork isn’t, and you can see some interesting (and mostly recent) juxtapositions and comparisons of the Obama poster here.
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