Politics and iconography

PJTV offers an interesting analysis of iconography in politics, particularly President Barack Obama's famous symbol:

I like this comment by one YouTube viewer:

All of us who are in the marketing and graphic design fields know that what this man says is true. What he fails to say is that it is not the first time and ALL POLITICIANS do it . Obama just has a better Marketing team behind him. The US did it during WWII, FDR did it, Castro, Kennedy, Nixon, Hitler, a graphic designer, used design for propaganda, hence his brand the Swastika. Branding and marketing are not the problem. The problem is what is being "sold" and bought by the unsuspecting