Iowa billboard compares U.S. President to Hitler, Lenin

Mason City - An Iowa billboard paid for by the North Iowa Tea Party organization compares United States President Barack Obama to German Chancellor Adolf Hitler and Russian Communist leader Vladimir Lenin, which has drawn criticism from all ideologies.

There have been numerous posters in the United States since inauguration day in 2009 comparing U.S. President Barack Obama to various leaders and influential figures, ranging from Adolf Hitler to Karl Marx to even the Joker from the “Batman” stories. A new billboard, erected in Iowa, now combines Socialist leaders with the President, according to the Associated Press. The sign compares the President to infamous Socialist leaders Hitler and Vladimir Lenin with the word change under each image and a statement on the bottom: “Radical leaders prey on the fearful & naive – Live free or die.” The billboard was ordered and paid for by the North Iowa Tea Party, however, the Iowa Tea Party movement is not happy with the sign located on South Federal Avenue. “At our last rally we saw some people with these kinds of signs and asked people to put them down,” said coordinator of the Iowa Tea Party, John White, reports the Global Gazette. “It’s borderline hate crime.” According to the Des Moines Register, organizer for the Iowa Tea Party, Ryan Rhodes, also criticized the sign and noted that Tea Party members in the central region of the state had nothing to do with the billboard. “I don’t believe it’s productive in what we’re trying to do. You have little pocket groups all over the place and they can choose to do what they will do and, based on that, sometimes different groups have to differentiate themselves a little more from them.” However, North Iowa Tea Party co-founder Bob Johnson explains that the sign explains what the President stands for and added that the billboard maybe quite “overwhelming” but it serves a greater purpose. The White House has declined to comment on the sign.