Forgotten Hope

The man who helped create Hope and Change may be facing jail time:

Federal prosecutors want Shepard Fairey, the artist who created the Barack Obama “Hope” poster, to serve time in prison following his misdemeanor conviction for destroying and fabricating documents in connection with a civil lawsuit over the iconic campaign image.

In advance of Friday’s scheduled sentencing of Fairey in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the Department of Justice has filed a memorandum arguing that a prison term for the 42-year-old artist would be “appropriate.”
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Arguing that a prison term is not warranted, Fairey’s counsel claimed that, following his guilty plea earlier this year, he has endured an online “public shaming” that “will now be a permanent scarlet letter for Shepard to wear.” Fairey’s lawyers have also contended that the artist, a diabetic, might not receive proper treatment for his illness if incarcerated in a Bureau of Prisons facility.

In a letter to Maas seeking leniency for Fairey, former Obama for America official Scott Greenstein recalled asking the artist to create a work during the 2008 Democratic primary campaign. Fairey agreed, Greenstein wrote, because he “was willing to stand up and announce his support for Obama” at a time when others did not want to choose sides.

Well, that was then. Welcome to the wheels of the bus, kid...