I Love A Good Laugh, But Come On!

Unless you have your head in the sand you have likely seen a picture of the front cover of the latest issue of The New Yorker. The issue that was released yesterday was titled "The Politics of Fear" and just in case you have not seen it, it depicts Barack and Michelle in the Oval Office seeming to be in a celebratory mood. They are doing the "fist tap" and smiling at each other.

Obama is dressed in a robe (like the Mid East kind not the bath kind), sandals, and a turban on his head. Michelle is wearing camouflage, combat boots, and has an assault rifle in her hands. On the wall, above the fire place is a picture of Osama bin Laden and in the fire place burning, is the American flag.

I find this cartoon completely tasteless and sick.

The magazine commented that the cover "combines a number of fantastical images about the Obamas and shows them for the obvious distortions they are. Satire is part of what we do, and it is meant to bring things out into the open, to hold up a mirror to prejudice, the hateful, and the absurd. And that is the spirit of this cover."

I am always up for satire and humor, but I see very little that is humorous in this picture. Have these people forgotten that we are in a war? Our men and women are continuing to die in Iraq and Afghanistan and we think that it is funny to show a presidential candidate not just supporting the enemy, but being the enemy.

Would it have been funny to have a cartoon with Hitler's picture in the Oval Office during World War I? At least Hitler did not attack the US on it's own soil as bin Laden did.

The Obama campaign responded with this statement, "The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Senator Obama's right wing critics have tried to create, but most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree."

Senator McCain even came out from under his rock and said the cover was "totally inappropriate and frankly I understand if Senator Obama and his supporters would find it offensive."

Barack Obama is not a Muslim, he is a Christian. He never attended a Muslim school, and he did not place his hand on the Koran when he was sworn in as a Senator. He placed his hand on the Bible.

The cartoonist, Barry Blitt, took a fear that some Americans have spread as rumors and gave color to that image. The first amendment protects him and allows him to draw and publish things like this. Although it is protected, this cartoon, just like pornography, is ugly, disrespectful, and repugnant. He owes Senator Obama an apology as well as the friends and families of our solders who are fighting against the Taliban.

This just shows how far removed we are from the front lines of war. Something has to change.