'Hope' Poster Artist Shepard Fairey Says Obama Let Him Down

— -- The artist behind one of the defining images of the 2008 presidential campaign – the “Hope” poster – says President Obama has not lived up to the ideal expressed in the artwork.

In an interview with Esquire, artist Shepard Fairey said Obama hasn’t even come close to embodying the break with the past administration that Fairey and so many voters hoped he would, but said the president is also a victim of the political system.

“I'm not giving him a pass for not being more courageous, but I do think the entire system needs an overhaul and taking money out of politics would be a really good first step,” he said, adding that he was surprised that drones and domestic spying, in particular, have become hallmarks of the Obama administration.

The White House did not immediately respond to an ABC News request for comment.

Fairey, 45, said he also blamed the public.

“I hate to say Americans are ignorant and lazy, but a lot of them are ignorant and lazy,” he said, urging more U.S. citizens to vote and research the public servants they support.

As for Fairey, he’s executive producing a Web show on MTV, “Rebel Music,” that spotlights artists trying to express themselves in unwelcoming, sometimes oppressive environments.

But perhaps he’ll be staying out of the political poster game. He was sentenced to two years of probation and fined $250,000 in 2012 for destroying documents and concealing others in an attempt to hide that he had used an Associated Press photograph as the basis for his “Hope” poster.