Today's outrage: Obama on the cover of the New Yorker
Posted by 3Dsound at Monday, July 14, 2008 7:00 AM and is filed under Barack Obama,Political Cartoon,media,Humor,satire,personality-based attack 
![Barack and Michelle Obama on the cover of the New Yorker, July 21, 2008 [political cartoon by Barry Blitt]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v612/hmbn/New_Yorker_July_21_Obama.jpg)
Media
Fist bumpin': Barry Blitt [cartoonist] (21-
To the left you see a depiction of Barack and Michelle Obama, who are sharing a celebratory fist-bump in the Oval Office. Apros pro of the occasion, an American flag is burning in the fireplace, beneath an attractive portrait of Osama bin Laden. Barack, as is his wont, wears the traditional Islamofascist garb of his madrasa youth. Michelle – her hand defiantly placed upon her hip – sports a terrorist's fatigues, an oversized Angela Davis afro and a Kalashnikov rifle slung over her shoulder. Click to enlarge.
This cartoon has ignited a storm of indignation, along with a put-down from the Obama campaign. Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said, "The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Senator Obama's right-wing critics have tried to create. But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree."
I disagree. I think the cartoon is exactly the kind of full-bodied satire that the public needs to see published in the national press – in general and specifically in reaction to right-wing polemics (which do nothing but cry out for mainstream, push-backing parody).
The alternative press has always published cartoons this biting – as its mission and bread and butter, but that's not the case in the timid mainstream press. And so, criticism of the New Yorker is not surprising. But as far as I'm concerned, critics of the New Yorker and of the cartoon should remember how to take a joke.
Did I mention I'm a New Yorker subscriber? Bravo to the New Yorker.
I am so glad you agree. So many folks at work this week were talking about how outraged they were about it (most of them hadn't even seen the cover) - and I thought it was great. I felt like I had to keep my mouth shut - or else it was like I was condoning such a 'thing'.
And I subscribe to the New Yorker too.
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Just left a comment, but it didn't...do whatever it is supposed to do. Hmmm.
Okay, more briefly: I totally agree. I loved the cover - and felt as if I needed to get that fact quiet at work, or else folks what say that I was condoning sterotypes. I think that's bullshit. And yeah - I subscribe too.
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Yeah, I can't explain the histronics. I mean, the cartoon's "racist"?!? No.
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