The New Yorker cover

By Jennifer J. Foster

Published: July 14, 2008

Everyone’s all up in arms about the New Yorker’s cover this week.

It’s a cartoon drawing of Barack Obama, dressed in traditional Muslim garb complete with a turban, standing with his wife, Michelle, who’s shown with a huge Afro and an Uzi on her back. The two are standing in the Oval Office, which has been redecorated to include a portrait of Osama bin Laden above the fireplace—in which is burning an American flag.

Oh, I almost forgot: They’re fist-bumping.

I saw it, and I laughed out loud. I thought it was a funny, clever depiction of all the rumors that have been going around about the Obamas.

Have I mentioned here before that I love sarcasm?

I’m a similar fan of satire. (Really.)

So maybe that’s why I found the cover funny.

But other people—the candidate himself, among them, as it turns out—weren’t amused at all. From CBS News:

The Obama campaign quickly condemned the rendering. Spokesman Bill Burton said in a 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.“

McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds quickly e-mailed: “We completely agree with the Obama campaign, it’s tasteless and offensive.”

I can just see ol’ Bill and Tucker, sniffing condescendingly in response.

Hey, guys: RELAX!!

Or do I have it all wrong? Is this some sort of dark indictment of race in this country? Of what “everyone” thinks about the Obamas but are too politically correct to say out loud? Should we be concerned, as some folks have said, about the cover and what it says about us as a society?

CNN’s resident curmudgeon, Jack Cafferty (who’s no stranger to offending people, himself), tackled this issue in the CAFFERTY FILE (oh, that’s so official-sounding) last hour. Check out some of the responses here.

What do you think?