Cartoon World & Barack Obama

HAT TIP to Anderson @ Large

It takes intellectual savvy to listen to Barack Obama’s words and discover his wisdom in responding to the New Yorker cover. Anderson @ Large has ears to hear and eyes to see.

New Yorker Magazine Runs for Cover

The July 21 cover of the New Yorker perpetuates racial stereotypes. In the name of satire, the "Politics of Fear" cartoon plays into the smear that Barack Obama is not patriotic. The depiction of Michelle Obama as an AK-47-toting revolutionary in combat boots evokes the "Angry Black Woman."

In a transparent attempt to cover its rear, the New Yorker has compiled a gallery of past political covers. But without context, the current satirical cover merely fuels "a lot of distortions, lies and misconceptions about the Obamas."

[Excerpted]

For his part, Obama is downplaying the kerfuffle. He told CNN's Larry King:

Well, I know it was the New Yorker's attempt at satire. I don't think they were entirely successful with it. But you know what? It's a cartoon, Larry, and that's why we've got the First Amendment.

And I think the American people are probably spending a little more time worrying about what's happening with the banking system and the housing market, and what's happening in Iraq and Afghanistan, than a cartoon.

So I haven't spent a lot of time thinking about it.

King asked, "Did it personally sting you?"

Obama said:

I've seen and heard worse. I do think that, you know, in attempting to satirize something, they probably fueled some misconceptions about me instead. But, you know, that was their editorial judgment.

Ultimately it’s a cartoon. It’s not where the American people are spending a lot of their time thinking about."

OK, end of story

[Read Essays by Eddie Griffin referencing “Cartoon World”]