Obama factor

So this New Yorker cover featuring the Obamas has been getting some interesting play this week ...

At first, I loved it; I thought it was genius ... But after a second look and some more thinking I thought, wait a minute, how can they get away with that!? I actually felt a little ashamed for initially thinking it was funny. Sure, enough the Obama camp wasn't pleased, either ...

Then I caught the Chicago Tribune's editorial about it this week, took another look at the cover and got back to laughing about it. The cover really is a clever swipe at the media for making so much out of Obama's name and heritage and that infmaous fist bump ... A link to terrorism!? Seriously!? Come. On. ...

Here's a snippet from the Tribune editorial ...

...there's an inspired twist to this latest cartoon contretemps. The New Yorker cartoon isn't satirizing Obama. It's taking aim at people who are frightened by Obama, those who are willing to believe even the most outlandish Internet-fueled rumors about the candidate. The New Yorker's having wicked fun with the absurd notion that America is one election away from installing a Muslim quisling as the leader of the free world, along with his terrorist wannabe wife. This Baracknophobia (thanks to humorist Jon
Stewart of "The Daily Show") is so preposterous, so ludicrous, so demonstrably untrue that it makes perfect fodder for a cartoon, and more.

Now I'm sort of feeling ashamed for feeling ashamed about the cover ...

Here's some other interesting reads about the cover and the Obama factor ...

a Obama spoofers walk a fine punch line
a How to make fun of Obama
a Laugh, Obama, laugh
a America's satire-a-thon