New Yorker 07/14 Cover

The cover art of this weeks New Yorker shows Barack Obama as a Muslim and his wife, Michelle, as a gun-toting terrorist in the Oval Office while an American flag burns in a fireplace under a portrait of Osama bin Laden.

Both Democrats and Republicans are calling the cover tasteless and offensive for its satirical depiction.

Obama's campaign spokesman, Bill Burton, criticized the cover as "tasteless and offensive." Obama's fall opponent, Republican John McCain, called it "totally inappropriate."

In a statement Monday, New Yorker editor David Remnick called the cover a "fantastical" satire that shows "obvious distortions" about the Obamas.

Satire is supposed to exaggerate reality, not reflect it, author Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote at ta-nehisi.com. "Sadly, that picture exaggerates nothing — that's exactly what a slice of Americans believe about Barack Obama." he wrote.

The problem, says Elaine Miller, a former professor who gives talks on gender and race in political cartoons, is that "once you launch a work of art it belongs to the reader. The artist's intent is very interesting, but the reader owns the interpretation."

A recent Newsweek poll shows the potential for misinterpretation: 26% said Obama was raised a Muslim, 39% said he attended an Islamic school and 12% said he was sworn in to the Senate on a Quran. All of which is not true.

Some conservatives said the cover annoyed them because they were its real targets. "The cartoon is intended to make fun of conservatives as ignorant racists, and essentially marginalize any criticism of Obama as moronic," wrote Philip Klein at The American Spectator.

In a USA Today poll on Wednesday asking if 'The New Yorker' cover is offensive, 43% said No while 57% said Yes.



ProudAmericant says: this is all a marketing/pr campaign.

ProudAmericant’s New Yorker insider said the magazines next cover will depict an old and wrinkly John McCain propped up on a hospital bed by puppet strings being controlled by George Bush. A botoxed Cindy McCain is sitting in the background reading two books simultaneously, one titled “Trophy Wife by Anna Nicole Smith”, the other titled “It’s Better To Be A 2nd Wife Than A Black One.”

I hear a rise in subscriptions!