by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright July 14, 2008
All Rights Reserved.

he New Yorker's “satirical” cartoon cover picturing Sen. Barack Obama (D-Il.) in a Muslim thobe and turban and his wife Michelle in an Afro with an AK-47 assault rifle watching an American flag burn in the Oval Office fireplace takes pornography to new heights. Under the title, “The Politics of Fear,” cartoonist Barry Blitt went over the top, conjuring up the most sickening images, matched only by the vile propaganda seen on the anything-goes Internet. Since Obama announced his candidacy Feb. 10, 2007, haters have been out in full-force, depicting the junior senator from Illinois as the second coming of Osama bin Laden. Right wing radio pundit Rush Limbaugh routinely calls him “Osama,” in an all-too-familiar orgy of disguised intolerance. While ranting about Barack's ex-Christian pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., Limbaugh emphasizes Barack's Muslim roots.

      New Yorker magazine wasn't oblivious to the ongoing smear campaign against Obama. For New Yorker editor David Remmick to call the cover “satire” transcends cosmic insensitivity, blowing more smoke than a Texas barbecue. “I have no response to that,” said Barack stunned after CBS News reporter Maria Gavrilovic described the grisly scene during a press stop July 13 in San Diego. Hitting the newsstands July 14 at every 7/11 and supermarket in the country, the July 21 edition breaks new ground in unmitigated vulgarity. “I talked to the editor of the New Yorker, David Remmick, who tells me this is a satire, that they are making fun at the rumors,” said Washington Post columnist Howard Kurtz. Few imagined that the most vile attack to date would come from a liberal New York publication. There are plenty of excuses but few explanations of how this happened.

      It's the height of naïvete to assume that the New Yorker was poking fun at the most outrageous, pernicious propaganda found on the Internet. Excused by Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page, he thought the magazine cover was “quite within the normal realms of journalism.” Either Page hasn't been paying attention to the vicious assault in the world of unregulated online journalism or knows something about the political motives at the New Yorker. “It's just lampooning all the crazy ignorance out there,” said Page, totally ignoring the revolting assault on Obama's character and reputation. Internet blogs frequently mention Barack's four years at a Muslim elementary school in Jakarta, Indonesia. They seldomly mention his degrees at Columbia University and Harvard Law School. There's nothing “normal” about Barry Blitt's carton on the New Yorker's cover.

      Creating the cover, New Yorker cartoonist Blitt introduced the most vile elements. Putting Michelle in an Afro with an AK-47, casts her as the next Patty Hurst or ‘60s black communist radical Angela Davis. There's no lampooning marketing the Obamas in the Oval Office burning an American flag. No one knows for sure who ordered, reviewed and approved Blitt's cartoon for the New Yorker's July 21 cover. “We completely agree with the Obama campaign: It's tasteless and offensive,” said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds, trying to distance his campaign from the revolting images. There's nothing happenstance about the New Yorker ordering and approving the most base propaganda during a presidential campaign. Would they consider publishing a cartoon about McCain's stay in the Hanoi Hilton? I don't think so. Why single out Barack and his wife Michelle?

      Barack has shown admirable grace-under-pressure, enduring the most vile propaganda about his biography and character on the Internet and elsewhere. Watching the New Yorker magazine do anything other than pulling the magazine for its obscene content shows new levels of depravity. It's one thing to show Barack dressed as a Muslim, it's still another to depict Michelle in an Afro. Blitt covered all the despicable bases imaginable, quite a remarkable feat considering it was his first go-around. No responsible reader can find anything but disgust in the New Yorker's cover. Suggesting that it's all in good fun totally ignores today's intolerance for racism. Blitt's cover breaks new ground in obnoxious imagery, not too different from recently depraved remarks by Rev. Jesse Jackson against Barack. The New Yorker must do the right thing and pull the magazine from the shelves.

      The New Yorker crossed the line beyond obscenity, must suck it up and pull the cover off the shelves. Unless they seek permanent damage to their publication, the Obama campaign and public deserve a clear and unambiguous mea culpa. Whoever the editors responsible for approving the cover, they must stand accountable for hideous propaganda comparable to Hitler's Third Reich, Stalin's Marxist regime or more recent blights in Ahmadinejad's Iran or Kim Jong-Il's North Korea. Depicting Barack and his wife as Muslim extremists goes beyond the pale and must be condemned in the strongest possible way. Any political faction, group, campaign or individual responsible for such vile propaganda must be outed to stop future episodes. If racism isn't tolerated on the radio or TV, it shouldn't be accepted on the cover of prestigious magazines. Nothing less would seem acceptable.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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