Ich liebe dieses Shirt mit Che Guevara, der ein Obama-Shirt trägt. Das Design entstand im Rahmen der Aktion Rebrand America, hier das Statement von Designer Alex Bogusky:

"Che Guevara has become T-shirt shorthand for counterculture -- most people in a Che T are oblivious to who he really was and are just celebrating the rebel in us all. In reality, Che went from being a doctor to a murderer in a wrongheaded, desperate attempt to change the world. The Communist Revolution he believed in didn't work -- and were he alive today, he would have to face that fact. Knowing that, the question is: Who would Che wear on his T-shirt? Who and what would (or could) he put his faith in?"

Rebranding America (via Superpunch)

badpaintingsofbarackobama.com

Barack Obama is more than just the next president of the United States, he's become a cult hero - a super brand of proportions rivalling that of David Beckham and Coca Cola. But how from relatively unknown just a year and half ago to popculture deity today was the brand built.

Right from the beginning he recruited the co-founder of Facebook Chris Hughes to help create the first ever socially-networked presidential campaign and encouraged 3.1 million people to donate as little as $5 to have a vested interest in a positive outcome.
Overall he managed to raise nearly US$650 million in funding [of which $240 million was spend on advertising] as opposed to John McCain's budget of just $358 million.
The marketing attack was so comprehensive, on so many media channels and so socially connected with American youth culture - that it was almost impossible for him to lose.

The Obama campaign even bought a channel on the Dish Network to screen Obama ads 24/7.
Yes we can...take a lot, marketing wise, out of how they did it.

Here's what we had to say about it on Cape Talk 567 this morning. [hit the latest podcast button for this morning's audio]

More:

You know us Europeans: most of us are Obama fans. We would love him simply because he's not Bush. But, damn, he's everything we've could ever wished for in our liberal dreams. He understands the internet, has some Kanye West on his Ipod and even used the word "treehugger" some days ago at the Daily Show.

Count on us sporting our Obey tees and chant "Obama Bumaye" tonight when the editorial stuff of Datum magazine throw a Election Night Party. With burgers, freedom fries and lots of popcorn thrown into the mix, of course.

Obama it is! The results are in and here at Unlike we've announced the winner. Hey, we never said that we were unbiased. Our declaration may be preemptive, but we're hopeful and steadfast--let's just hope the voters stateside are checking the right box.

Tonight's televised frenzy will, in theory, confirm our suspicions. But if you're a skeptic, join a global community in an anxiety-ridden evening when the hours dip into dawn here in Berlin as polls come in and results are added up.

Here are our picks for where to follow the grand affair, if you're not already grilling hamburgers on your frozen balcony with friends.

...und das verdanken wir der fabelhaften Sarah Palin

Das Traurige an den US-Präsidentschaftwahlen ist, dass Sarah Palin wohl wieder aus unserem Leben verschwindet. Dabei haben wir sie ja richtiggehend lieb gewonnen. Immer wieder hat sie uns zum Lachen gebracht - zuletzt, wie sie über Wissenschaftler spottete, die an Fruchtfliegen forschen. 60 Prozent der US-Wähler halten sie definitiv für ungeeignet, das Vizepräsidentschaftsamt auszufüllen. Und in allen Umfragen liegt Barack Obama 5 bis 15 Prozent vorne. Klar, böse Überraschunen sind nicht auszuschließen. Aber ...

Liebe Amerikanerinnen und Amerikaner!

Ich ersuche Sie inständig, die Wahl am nächsten Dienstag dazu zu benützen, Herrn Barack Obama zum Präsidenten der Vereinigten Staaten zu küren. Der Mann kann was! Er spricht geordnet, denkt vernünftig und zieht sich gut an. Wenn ich das über jemanden sage, dann heisst das was! Er kann tanzen und lachen und hat das Herz am rechten Fleck. Er wird ein guter Präsident sein. Ein wirklich guter Präsident. Glauben sie mir das.

Sollten sie weiss sein (was immer das ist, weiss), im Bible Belt leben und an den grossen Zwetschkenröster glauben, springen Sie über ihren Schatten und wählen Sie diesmal demokratisch! Ihr Zwetschkenröster wird es Ihnen danken. Jesse, Sie wissen wen ich meine, der Hippie aus Galiläa, würde Herrn Obama wählen und nicht den hölzernen alten Herrn mit der Friseurstimme.

Puppi Palin, gewiss ein steiler Zahn, dürfen Sie sich in den Spind hängen, wenn Sie Redneck sind und an die Freiheit der Patronen glauben, da hat niemand was dagegen, nicht mal die Feministinnen. An die Codes der Atomraketen wollen wir sie bitte nicht lassen.

Liebe Amerikanerinnen, liebe Amerikaner, wo immer Sie sind, was immer Sie treiben, woran Sie auch glauben:

Wählen sie Herrn Obama!

Die Welt wird es Ihnen danken.
Und ich selbstverständlich auch.

Beste Grüsse,
Andrea Maria Dusl,
Vienna, Austria

New York City street art: Paste-ups of Senator Barack Obama as Superman. Awesome.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, will begin to campaign on behalf of Barack Obama, reports the Wall Street Journal.  He is scheduled to speak Tuesday at a panel on the economy in Florida.

Schmidt has been an informal adviser to the campaign, but the official endorsement weeks away from the election gives Schmidt more of a voice in net neutrality issues that could affect Google, as well as better position him for a possible role as chief technology officer under an Obama administration.

"I'm doing this personally," Schmidt said. "Google is officially neutral" in the campaign.

But that's not to say that Google hasn't played much of a role in Obama's campaign.  About 70 percent of the $3 million Obama spent in online advertising during the primaries went to Google ads. 

McCain has a few tech execs on his side, including former eBay CEO Meg Whitman and former Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO Carly Fiorina.

Google CEO Backs Obama [WSJ]

Photo: Flickr/worldeconomicforum

"Batmobama & Robiden" by Paul Richmond

UPDATE: mikl-em reminds us of the Batman episode where he debates The Penguin.

RICK! then tipped us off to real-life version of the John McCain Penguin.

See Previously: Barack Obama Has A Posse

via Chris Glass, mikl-em & RICK!

This is a blog post from Laughing Squid For more content like this, subscribe to the RSS feed, Twitter & FriendFeed.

Batmobama & Robiden

Now GigaOm has confirmed that the ads are an official purchase made by the Obama campaign.

This appears to be the first time that a national campaign has made a buy in a video game, and is leading to some debate, as Obama often campaigns about th dangers of video games.

Just yesterday, Obama warned that his investment in education as president "won't make much of a difference if parents aren't turning off the television set and putting away the video games." But his message seems coherent to me. His campaign's investment in video games won't make much of a difference if users don't get up after awhile and go outside to vote.

Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Watch The Political Spin Machine With Google "In Quotes"  --  Google has just opened a new Labs project, called In Quotes, to the public.  The site allows users to compare quotes from various political figures, displaying key excerpts from speeches and interviews that they've given recently.