Obama as the butt of the Joke(r) *UPDATED*

At first, only people in L.A. saw it.  Now we’ve all seen it:

Predictably, liberals are already crying “racism.” As for me, maybe I’m just out of touch with pop culture, but the Joker character never ranked up there in my mind with Uncle Tom or Sambo or any other stereotypical character created by racist whites to denigrate blacks. Just to refresh your recollection, this is what one of those images looks like:

If you don’t recognize that vile image, it’s Michael Steele, as reimagined by a liberal blogger.  Now that’s a racist insult.

We are being reminded, yet again, that anything negative about Obama is ipso facto racist.

The best I can do here is to leave the last words to Bob Owens:

A lot of people are getting their noses out of joint about a poster popping up around Los Angeles comparing President Barack Obama to the Joker.

Frankly, I don’t get it.

One embraces terrorists and madmen, is dedicated to anarchy and the destruction of capitalist society, and sends the population fleeing in horror from his creations.

The other is a fictional character played by the late Heath Ledger.

UPDATE:  The Anchoress is also bewildered by the racism charge:

This is political commentary; whoever came up with it is using a familiar visual image, and giving us an actual word which delivers a two-point message: he or she thinks the president is a joke, and a socialist.

This -until very recently- used to be called “free speech.” It is protected in this country, and thought very highly of. And protest or dissent, we have been told, is the very highest form of patriotism.