I like old soviet posters, those reds sure knew what they were doing when it came to making posters. Warren Linn assigned a piece about Katrina. This was inspired by great old Russian poster art, and George W. Bush choking up on a hammer and tapping it against the frame of a house, while on camera, speaking about reconstruction in New Orleans.
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When Warren Linn assigned my class to make illustrations about Hurricane Katrina, this was in early 2006, I remembered something I'd seen on the news earlier that year which filled me with ire. While FEMA was failing miserably in its reconstruction efforts, the president took some time out of his day to go down to Louisiana, and personally build a house.
Sadly, Mr. President revealed his lack of basic carpentry skills when he appeared on television, strangling a hammer, and talking about his wonderful plans. This one image hammered in how tragedies are excellent platforms for the advancement of various agendas. While it is true that President Bush was far from the only one to try to use this particular tragedy to advance his agenda, there is a reason his grandstanding had me tearing my hair out, while others did not.
Kanye West, Michael Moore, they aren't the president. They didn't eviscerate FEMA. Their voice is their only means of evoking real social change. President Bush is in a different position from the various other gasbags who, like him, took advantage of a terrible tragedy to advance their own agendas. He is the president. He had the power and responsibility to aid those in need, but when the time came for action, he couldn't even swing a hammer the right way.
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