Che Guevara was a murderer, and no amount of iconography will ever change that.
And no amount of iconography will ever change that for reasons of ideology and temperament, Barack Obama as president of the United States leaves plenty to be desired.
But that is where the comparison, such as it is, must end.
Che Guevara was a mass murderer, responsible, directly and indirectly, for the deaths of thousands of people in Cuba and around the world. The system he helped implement in Cuba continues its reign of oppression, a legacy more powerful than a famous photograph.
Barack Obama is the elected leader of the United States, legitimately elected by the American people. Maybe that was a mistake, maybe he fooled the American electorate like no president before him. But all that can be remedied in November.
Che Guevara's victims have no such right.
Which is why images like this one are wrong.
Images like this one, which is circulating through social media, are an insult to the presidency and to American democracy. Because for all his faults, Barack Obama is not a socialist or communist nor is he a mass murderer. Rhetoric that suggests he's another Che Guevara is shrill and dangerous.
And it insults and betrays those who have suffered and continue to suffer because of what Che Guevara did. They do not deserve to have what they endured -- the loss of their homes and businesses, the firing squads, the economic deprivation, the forced exile, etc. -- to be belittled like this.
They deserve better.
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