You will find his response at his website.
For an understanding of the artist, Jon McNaughton's meaning behind the painting, check out this wonderful video:
September 07, 2010
What has President Obama done? Visit: http://www.mcnaughtonart.com
McNaughton’s website allows you to have an interactive experience with the picture. To try it click here. You can even buy a copy of the print.
Against the background of a darkening sky, all of the past Presidents of the United States gather before the White House, as if to commemorate some great event. In the left hand corner of the painting sits a man. That man, with his head bowed appears distraught and hopeless as he contemplates his future. Some of the past Presidents try to console him while looking in the direction of the modern Presidents as if to say, "What have you done?" Many of these modern Presidents, seemingly oblivious to anything other than themselves, appear to be congratulating each other on their great accomplishments. In front of the man, paper trash is blowing in the wind. Crumpled dollar bills, legislative documents, and, like a whisper—the U.S. Constitution beneath the foot of Barack Obama.
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Seth Adam Smith helped Mr. McNaughton make the video and in Mr. McNaughton's own words, he hopes this painting will "Shake the Nation!" Seth has written an EXCELLENT article about this painting. It is a must read~and needs to go viral.The following are excerpts from his blog:
"The Forgotten Man" by Jon McNaughton
A political storm has been brewing for the past few years and I believe that this painting is the first clear lightning bolt.
Why is Obama Stepping on the Constitution?
Is such an image unwarranted? As Jon clearly states, the painting of Barack Obama stepping on the Constitution is representative of not only Obama’s actions, but of the actions of past Presidents. Nevertheless, Jon has taken great pains to list out several reasons why and how Obama has violated the Constitution.
Some people will reject this painting, claiming that a President would never blatantly disregard the Constitution in such a way. You’re right. No President would ever want something like that on his record. So when it comes down to it, it’s really death by a thousand cuts.
Death by a thousand cuts? How so?
Let’s get one thing clear: the Constitution is a document which spells out a government of limited, enumerated powers. America’s Founding Fathers knew, first hand, just how dangerous excessive power could become and they labored to ensure that no one person would get too much, unchecked power.
But for decades now, the Constitution has been slowly chipped away by power-hungry politicians. In the last decade alone we’ve witnessed the Federal Government grow as quickly as its own appetite: Homeland Security, the Patriot Act, the Iraq War, entitlement programs, trillion-dollar deficits, the takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, federal bailouts, Stimulus packages, health-care overhauls, the takeover of auto industries, economic regulations, and deficit spending…just to name a few.
With the Federal Government expanding its power and dipping its hands and arms into the economy (creating the now infamous statement “too big to fail”) they have created a political, social and economic climate wherein we find “forgotten” men and women. The Founding Fathers strove, to the best of their ability, to give rights and power to the people. But as time has gone on, the Federal Government has taken much of that power from the people.
To put it simply, the Federal Government has stepped on the Constitution whenever they have stepped outside of its boundaries.
As Mr. Smith says in his blog, "I hope that Americans will no longer be content with simply sitting (like the Forgotten Man) but will wake up and stand up for (not upon) the Constitution."
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