Obamarxism

This stencil was spotted near Cupid's Span (Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, 2003).

We feel that Senator Obama’s surname is a boon for stenciling sloganeers, who are no doubt tired of the limited range of genital puns offered by the name of our current President. The astonishing combinability of “Obama” has only just begun to be explored--the already-tired “Obamarama” is just the beginning.

Yet this enigmatic stencil offers more than just a mellifluous neologism: it points to Red-State nightmare, a spectre haunting the heartland. The ten stenciled letters spell out an astonishing political message: it is actually impossible to tell where OBAMA ends and MARXISM begins.

As a scientific test of this ghastly/wonderful assertion (depending on your political position), we've reproduced here the actual words of Barack Obama and Karl Marx. Can you tell the difference?

Mystery Quotation #1:

America, we cannot turn back. Not with so much work to be done. Not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for. Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save. Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend. America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone. At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise--that American promise--and in the words of Scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess.

Mystery Quotation #2:

It is clear that the arm of criticism cannot replace the criticism of arms. Material force can only be overthrown by material force but theory itself becomes a material force when it has been seized by the masses. Theory is capable of seizing the masses when it demonstrates ad hominem, and it demonstrates ad hominem as soon as it becomes radical. To become radical is to grasp things by the root. But for man the root is man himself.

Which is which? After the jump.

Photo by Adam Polakoff