There’s No Place Like Home: Right-Wing Group Targets LeBron With Billboards In Ohio

When Barack Obama was elected president, LeBron James, who’d campaigned for the former Illinois senator, tried to sum up the enormity of the feelings he had as he was flanked by his two sons and surrounded by tearful family members:

“It was uplifting,” he said. “It was something that you can tell your kids, you really can become anything now. You don’t have to become a basketball player. You can become President of the United States. It was definitely an unbelievable feeling. It was definitely one of those feelings that you say, ‘Wow.’”

I’m doubting when he said that he was thinking of himself so much as he was his sons and other young minority children. And while there might not be much likelihood LeBron will ever run for office (although it’s not unthinkable), he can already count himself, like the President, among those who the Right-Wing professional attack dogs have gone after.

Before LeBron James had made his “Decision” there were numerous billboards and signs posted between the city of Cleveland where he played basketball and his hometown of Akron, OH. All of these signs pleaded with LeBron to stay, in hopes he would ignore his destiny, and become mired in the Midwest forever.

Now that LeBron has spurned his home state in favor of more sunshine and sand, not to mention championships and trophies, it seems the same professional Right-Wing operatives who have made a living off of attacking such eminent Democratic personages as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are after his hide.

Perhaps they got wind of the fact LeBron contributed $20,000 to a committee supporting Obama, or the fact he took part in an early-voter registration rally during the election campaign, or that he hosted a free concert at the Quicken Loans Arena with rap star Jay-Z to support the former Illinois senator.

Whatever the reasons, the Omada Group, a marketing company in Akron, paid $3,000 for one of the billboards, which is on Route 18 eastbound between I-71 and I-77, about two miles from LeBron’s home in Bath, OH.

The sign, which is up for another week or so unless the company extends its contract and pays more to keep it up, says “Welcome Home LeBron.” However, there is a large red ‘X’ plastered over the word “Home”. A second line asks the question: “How does it feel to be a sidekick?”

This is, of course, a reference to LeBron’s decision, along with Chris Bosh, to play alongside Dwyane Wade in Miami for the Heat. The word sidekick is also underlined in red.

The final part of the sign reads, “Go Cleveland!” in gold lettering.

Matthew Palumbo, one of the principals at the Omada Group, said he hopes the billboard sparks a grassroots campaign to let James know exactly where he stands in his home state since his decision to leave.

Who is Matthew Palumbo and the Omada Group exactly?

Well, they’re the group behind the propaganda film “Hillary: the Movie”, which was created with the sole purpose of challenging the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law.

These are professional political operatives who have been involved in smearing Democrats and Liberals every chance they get.

Regardless of where you may stand on political issues (I’m a progressive, Liberal Democrat myself), it has to be noted that LeBron has a much greater understanding now of what it feels like to be attacked by these hacks like his buddy Barack does.

Of course, this is only a tiny taste of what he’d be in for if he were to dip his feet into the political world once his basketball days are done. Hell, even Pat Riley, a staunch conservative who once proudly touted he’d voted for George W. Bush might have some unseemly things to say about “King James” then.