What Were They Thinking?

I'm speechless. This is the latest New Yorker cover:



If your vision is going the same way mine is, let me describe what we have here: Barack Obama dressed as a Muslim, his wife dressed as a black revolutionary; they're standing in the Oval Office, with the American flag burning in the fireplace and a picture of Osama bin Laden hanging on the wall. I'm sure it's supposed to be mocking the wing-nut image of Obama, but I find it offensive, even so.

I have a subscription to this magazine! I LIKED this magazine!

Update: I really liked Kevin Drum's comment on this:

I had two reactions, myself. To be honest, my first one was that it was kinda funny, a clever way of mocking all the conservative BS that's been circulating about the Obamas.

But at the risk of seeming humorless, that reaction didn't last too long. Maybe it's because this kind of satire just doesn't work, no matter how well it's done. But mostly it's because a few minutes thought convinced me it was gutless. If artist Barry Blitt had some real cojones, he would have drawn the same cover but shown it as a gigantic word bubble coming out of John McCain's mouth — implying, you see, that this is how McCain wants the world to view Obama. But he didn't. Because that would have been unfair. And McCain would have complained about it. And for some reason, the risk that a failed satire would unfairly defame McCain is somehow seen as worse than the risk that a failed satire would unfairly defame Obama.

Exactly.