Obama New Yorker Cover

The title of the cartoon is, “The Politics of Fear”, from The New Yorker.

I am sure many of you have seen the cover by now, so I thought I would chime in with my opinion about what I think this all means. First, one has to take into context the publication that this image was produced on, The New Yorker. This is not some mainstream news periodical available to the masses at your local grocery store, nor is it read by most mainstream Americans that spend their evenings watching reality TV. And what is The New Yorker known for? Satire, criticism, and cynicism, all with political undertones. Given these facts about the magazine, I have to go with the idea that this illustration represents satire at its finest.

Is everyone going to get it? Absolutely not, but I think that is the beauty, and point, of this image. It allows the sensationalist voters to (finally) have evidence to support their claims that Barack Hussein Obama is dangerous for this country; “See, I told you he was a terrorist”. I think this is the sort of press he needs to give him a chance to clear up all of the rumors that have been circulating for quite some time about him regarding his ties to Islam. I just hope Obama has a chance to speak out before an outlet like Fox News has a chance to pick up the story and morph it into some type of collectivist left-wing conspiracy.

On the other hand I feel like The New Yorker is sinking down to the level of the main stream media, and I find it irresponsible that they would put something so controversial out there for the masses, without any sort of disclaimer. They appear to be negligent to the fact that, if something is repeated often enough, people believe it. The New Yorker is in effect catapulting the propaganda by allowing this image to confirm the questions many Americans have in their minds about this young, relatively unknown senator from Illinois.

Take it for what its worth. It is just satire, and I can appreciate The New Yorker’s attempt at capturing the way the Obamas appear to have been misrepresented, but I still do not agree that it needs to be put out there for all to see. Some people have a hard time understanding sarcastic and satiric humor, yet those same people are going to be standing with us at the polls come November. While I wish we could assume that our fellow Americans are as well-educated and thoughtful as we perceive ourselves to be, the truth is that this is just above the heads of many that will ultimately taking part in a decision that will change the fate of our country (going on the assumption that the election has not already been fixed:).

If you want to know what Obama’s camp thinks, they released this statement, “The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Sen. Obama’s right-wing critics have tried to create. But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree.”

What about the conservatives? Check out Politico.