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Obama and the New Yorker

Posted: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 7:56 AM by Dan Fleschner
Filed Under:

We reported this morning on the continued flap over the current cover of The New Yorker that depicts several of the misconceptions that some Americans have (and rumors that some pass along as fact) of Senator Barack Obama and his wife Michelle. WATCH VIDEO

The magazine has a long history of satirical covers, and Barry Blitt, the illustrator, has certainly gotten a lot of mileage out of mocking President Bush and Vice President Cheney (comparing them to the Odd Couple and depicting a Cheney visit to the cardiologist in terms of the Terrorism Threat Level).

Another illustrator, Mark Ulriksen, re-imagined the Bush-Cheney relationship as a real-life Brokeback Mountain situation on a New Yorker cover.

The point is, New Yorker covers are often satirical, poking fun at the powerful, particularly politicians. So what was it about this cover that caused such an uproar?

Perhaps it was that with most covers, the joke is on the depicted subject; but in this case, the joke is supposed to be on the people who have and perpetuate those misconceptions about the Obamas -- but those people aren't represented on the cover in any way.

Some would therefore argue that all this illustration does is spread the lies and misconceptions even further. But isn't the fact that we're talking about it help to somewhat dispel the rumors?

Regardless, I'd like to know what went on in meetings at the magazine, whether the editors anticipated the level of outrage that this cover would elicit -- and whether it was worth alienating a lot of subscribers, who, presumably, are Obama supporters (the magazine is well known for its left-of-center politics).

One thing is for sure: it can't be comfortable for New Yorker editor David Remnick to have to keep explaining the joke; nothing takes the sting out of comedy like demistifying it.

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Comments

I would prefer if the media would take a break on stretching to come up with negative news about Obama.  He is a charismatic, amazing man who is quite bluntly the left's best hope for a candidate in some time.  McCain is also an admirable man, and I hate to have the public's opinion on either of them become warped through over-reported nonsense.  Try reporting on their explanations of their ideas for our country rather than spinning every story you can get your hands on.  

Mallory Olesen, Racine, WI (Sent Tuesday, July 15, 2008 8:25 AM)

For satire to be effective, one must assume a certain level of knowledge among its intended audience.  With polls revealing that in many parts of America the majority of citizens believe that Obama is a Muslim, this  “satire” serves to perpetuate that misinformation.  It is breathtaking in it’s disrespect for the Obamas, and for all the people in our country who lost loved ones on 9/11 and in the ongoing war in Iraq.  It isn’t funny.

The blatant racism of portraying Michelle Obama as a violent revolutionary and again, perpetuating the image of Muslim-Americans as closeted terrorists is not satire…it is vicious.  It isn’t funny.

If the editors of the New Yorker are surprised at the reaction this cover has received, perhaps they need to get out more.  The situation out here in America is dire, if they haven’t noticed.  It isn’t funny.

I am a married 40-something nurse with an advanced degree and a comfortable income.  I live in the Boston area and know a great many people who are afraid that this coming winter they may have to choose between food, heat, gas, or medication.  It is scary out here in America right now.  This unconscionably vicious “satire” has the potential to damage the campaign of an earnest candidate.  Shame on you.  It isn’t funny.

Anne Fitzgerald Cambridge Ma (Sent Tuesday, July 15, 2008 8:40 AM)

Part of the problem (that isn't being mentioned a lot) is that when people say Sen. Obama is a muslim, they are not really thinking of "Arabs" but rather of black muslims like Malcolm X -- it is not the depiction of Sen. Obama in his "muslim" garb in this cartoon, but that of Michelle as Angela Davis that brings home the point.  If this same cartoon were in a magazine known to be "right wing" it would be decried and not thought of as satirical.  If it were in The Onion, known to be satirical, it could be seen as satirical.  It would appear that the New Yorker is not considered a satirical magazine by enough readers. I agree that a missing piece of the cartoon is an image of the person whose view of reality this is.

formerly of NY (Sent Tuesday, July 15, 2008 8:53 AM)

As much as I enjoy and respect the anchors for the NBC Morning Show, it is disappointing and DEPRESSING to receive the continual pounding of negative UNTRUTHS about our country.  One can only surmize there is a political agenda...perhaps?  I'm beginning to think the inner circle of NYC and the beltway of DC are disconnected from the rest of the USA.  We aren't as unsophisticated and less educated as one may assume.  Please use your voice responsibly...or maybe you've begun to believe what you report.  

Donna Johnston (Sent Tuesday, July 15, 2008 8:54 AM)

I don't understand why this is news.  Candidates and prominent figures are ridiculed all the time in the media,and The New Yorker, for all its prestige and hype, is part of the media.  Senator Obama is just once again proving that he does not have a thick enough skin to deal with the irresponsible press.  He complained that the media should leave his wife alone in spite of the fact she is also putting herself in the public eye by campaigning for him.  While I can understand their anger at such a cover (no one likes to be misrepresented), the best thing they could have done would have been to ignore it and continue with their campaign rather than once again crying over how their family has no privacy.  Cry me a river.  Ridicule and criticism come with the political terrority.

Abby Clemencich, Shreveport, LA (Sent Tuesday, July 15, 2008 9:18 AM)

Great magazine & Great design With profound dismay, I have seen how the scourge of Political Correctness has taken hold in the U.S. It is very well entrenched in our educational system, at scientific, religious and community levels, the media, the workplace and even our government.

The United States of America Moral needs to be restore!

It is changing the American society from within, and the citizens of this nation are increasingly censoring themselves and losing their freedom of speech out of fear of Political Correctness repression.

It is the nature of Western Civilization to be civilized – respectful of others and concerned with correcting injustices. We don't need Political Correctness to make us think we are not civilized on our own and must have our thoughts and words restricted.

R Garcia (Sent Tuesday, July 15, 2008 9:37 AM)

The New Yorker's editor is either really stupid or really disconnected from reality. Since the nation's collective IQ has dropped in the past few decades, how many newsstand browsers will catch the subtle point the editor thinks he's making? To most idiots reaching over the latest hot rod magazine, gossip rag or porn magazine to peek at this cover, the subtlety will just sail over their pointy heads. America is too stupid for this type of sarcasm on the cover of a major magazine.

La Mambisa (Sent Tuesday, July 15, 2008 9:45 AM)

The ability to create and distribute messages like the New Yorker cover are part of what supposedly separates America from other countries. It's interesting to compare the reactions to this Obama cover to the reactions to the Danish cartoons. Is that where we're headed or is it where we've always been.  

David Atlanta, GA (Sent Tuesday, July 15, 2008 9:53 AM)

Sad that this will just get worse as the campaign goes on. The racist in America will begin to expose themselves. They really want to make this a black and white thing. And funny the people calling him muslim are suppose to be Christians and seem to have learned nothing of their faith. Judging a man that they never met based on his skin and his name.

Mandy Taylor (Sent Tuesday, July 15, 2008 9:53 AM)

These are serious times and your network's writers are now selling too many negatives. You need to act more responsibly, because your reports sell what a person thinks the same as a commercial sell a product. If you report more positives about all ethnic groups this world would be a better place. Now polls are  selling people and that is sad because they are not accurate. Please start being apart of the solution for young people

foster, IL (Sent Tuesday, July 15, 2008 10:08 AM)

Can we PLEASE focus on what really matters as far as national affairs??? Go sit in at the computer room of a job search agency, and hear the stories that the applicants have to tell about their frustration with the status quo...I'm thankful that I have a job, but, for many out in the REAL world, each day has more challenges than whats' going to offend which candidate.

Diego, Jackson, Michigan (Sent Tuesday, July 15, 2008 10:39 AM)

I have a question what in the world do you do on election day when you go in the booth and these two candidates are the only ones to choose from and you don't want to vote for either of them?  Really if you listen around the country there are a lot of people who think the same way

AJ, Fernandina Beach Florida (Sent Tuesday, July 15, 2008 10:39 AM)

This just proves what has long been suspected.  The IQ level of Americans has dropped so low, that they can no longer take a joke, understand satire or laugh at themselves. Obama is simply the most up to date manifestation of a humor-less society. Perhaps someone ought to inform Senator Obama that he can be ridiculed and poked fun at... and yes.. insulted. He is not nor should he ever be above mudslinging.

Cyrien McCallister (Sent Tuesday, July 15, 2008 11:59 AM)

I loved the cover of the New Yorker.

No affirmative action free passes for Barry Obama.

Late Night comedy has stayed away making Obama jokes saying that there is nothing funny about Barry - lame to say the least.

Way to go New Yorker.  Stick to your guns or in this case those of Michelle's!

Fred C Dobbs. Sierra Madre, CA (Sent Tuesday, July 15, 2008 12:08 PM)

This intended satire is spectacularly incompetent. The **only** people who find it funny are those it's meant to satirize. That's the definition of failure in a satire.

You can easily verify this. Check the letters to any story about this "cover art". The only people you'll find enjoying it are assorted racists and kooks who like it because it tells the truth.

If satire is meant to make those satirized think again, and to help the rest of us poke fun at their errors and foibles, this is cover art's most massive failure in quite a while.

Stephen Voss, Istanbul (Sent Tuesday, July 15, 2008 12:09 PM)

There's always a hint of truth in satire.

Full Moon (Sent Tuesday, July 15, 2008 12:12 PM)

The cover is not defensible.  Where have these New Yorker people been living?  One only needs to listen to New Yawkers on programs like Charlie Rose and Barbara Walters on The View to get how distorted living on the East coast is from the reality of the rest of the country.  They get all excited about their latest party or Broadway opening without any clue that the rest of us don't care.  It comes as no surprise that the new Yorker's reaction to criticism of the cover is one of people that 'don't get it' because they aren't sophisticated.  My father had a saying that you meet the same people coming down the ladder as you did going up the ladder.  So here is a 'big shout out' to the editors of the New Yorker as you come down the ladder and meet me an unsophisticated midwesterner!!

Minne Johnson Minneapolis, MN (Sent Tuesday, July 15, 2008 12:12 PM)

As the writers and artist were rising high among the clouds enabled by their self inflating genius, the prick of reality sent them flailing across the media landscape propel by the ill wind of aloofness. As the members on the New Yorker staff were being escorted to the short school bus reporters overheard the physiatrist saying “thorazine treatment”.

Fresh Brains, Madtown, WI (Sent Tuesday, July 15, 2008 12:20 PM)

Thank you for not being fearful of using satire with a minority for fear of retribution.It seems Obama is untouchable because he is Black. Bush has been abused by every form of media and no one has once complained about that.
Bottom line Obama people, he is what he is. Obviously you are so burned by 8 years of Bush that you would even give Obama a shot. This guy is a stuffed suit and makes Carter look like FDR.
Place head between knees if this guy gets into office.

Kevin Hollywood Florida (Sent Tuesday, July 15, 2008 12:58 PM)

Shocked ,sadly I can no longer say that I am shocked . After 24 years of  living overseas I can say that I am ashamed that we have come to this in the behavior of the media and politicans. If either believes
that this is not trying to incite the public then they are naive. Sadly
the icitement will be that of driving the people from the polls come
November 4th. The NewYorker knows exactly what it has done and nowcan say what ever it likes to escape the critics. How anti American can you get. This is blaten difimation of character.

Lou Steffen , Cuyahoga Falls (Sent Tuesday, July 15, 2008 1:37 PM)

A couple watching this image on "RUMR News" is satire. This is simply a vague mirror of ignorance, hardly worthy as wit, satire or irony. Isn't there an editor challenging the staff to rise above simple sarcasm?

The writer makes an excellent point on where the New Yorker went wrong. - "the joke is supposed to be on the people who have and perpetuate those misconceptions about the Obamas -- but those people aren't represented on the cover in any way."

Gideon Jesionowski, Chicago IL (Sent Tuesday, July 15, 2008 2:03 PM)

Oh good grief. Most of us out here are not so, so stupid that we need a piece of political satire explained to us as the media is now so carefully doing, in case we . . . "the unwashed masses" didn't get it. We got it already. And guess what even though this cartoon is not aimed at Obama but at "us", it's even okay to do political cartoons and humor about him. He put himself in the race. He put his family on Access Hollywood. Michelle has been all over this race. When we can no longer say anything about a political candidate of any stripe for fear of the Left correcting our speech and thinking, then we no longer live in the America I know and love.

Carol Shelton (Sent Tuesday, July 15, 2008 2:24 PM)

What happen to freedom of speech. I am sick of hearing how charismatic Obama is - Hitler was charismatic too, we all know how that ended. I'd like to see if he has any idea what he is doing or what he is getting himself into.And, yes there is always a hint of truth in satire.

L.A.W.Brown,Lexington,KY (Sent Tuesday, July 15, 2008 4:20 PM)

I wonder what people would have thought if the New Yorker did a cover of Adlai Stevenson dressed up like Stalin waving a hammer and sickle flag during the height of the Joe McCarthy era. I guess most people would have just dismissed that as just one of the New Yorker's cute cartoons.

Paul McCarthy, Oakland, California (Sent Tuesday, July 15, 2008 7:54 PM)

I *heart* Barry Blitt!

I am giving the link where you can buy a print of the New Yorker’s Obama cover in archival quality, matted and framed, as well as, boxed cards (in sets of 20) for only $29.99. They will even personalize for you.  

If you REALLY love this cover, you can get it in 24″ x 30″ poster size.

If I were a GOP supporter and had already given the max to McCain, I would buy these boxed card sets and have them personalized to send to all of my friends.

Brilliant! Bravo New Yorker and Barry Blitt!  

link  

http://www.cartoonbank.com/product_details.asp?mscssid=6100FUAUH34G9H9VMA6GNAXM06RA2FW9&sitetype=1&sid=125383&did=4

Post-Ironic, Beverly Hills, CA 90211 (Sent Tuesday, July 15, 2008 8:03 PM)

The New Yorker and society as whole has lost grace, tolerance and dignity.  We’ve learned to reward bad behavior and promote people like David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker magazine, to a position he is not worthy of.  Remnick is misguided, misinformed, inappropriate and very arrogant.  

Don’t be confused by the outcome of Remnick’s tornado. He has entered the world stage without any regard or respect for himself.  I’d suggest Mr. Remnick, if as an editor or reporter you choose to belittle and misrepresent people; you should start first with yourself.   You’ve also helped to confirm why I never have and never will be a reader or subscriber of your less than honorable magazine

OceanSide on the Maine coast (Sent Tuesday, July 15, 2008 8:19 PM)

I thought the "New Yorker" cartoon was hilarious.
It was original, artistic, and extremely funny.
I really did laugh out loud!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Michelle Boston, MA (Sent Wednesday, July 16, 2008 3:24 AM)

Enjoy your First Amendment rights while you have them !!!
Nonetheless it would probally be a better idea to do it in a productive manner and not in a incendiary and totally absurd way.

MarkV, Portugal (Sent Wednesday, July 16, 2008 4:05 PM)

Give me a break.  Obama is in the position that he is in because the media, especially NBC and it's affiliates just love him!  I'd also like to add thatit's frightening to think that in a country such as ours; one that was built on freedom of speech, media outlets are not allowed to voice opinions about the Obama's without threat of consequence from his followers.  I'm so tired of black people thinking that they are entitled because their ancestors were enslaved!  

Matilda Backinbowl, Miami, FL (Sent Wednesday, July 16, 2008 5:54 PM)

Hear ye,

The term "racist" is no longer acceptable and has been superseded by the term "ethnocentric".

It is thought that the word "racist" has connotations originating in the objective reasoning of a subjective issue and falls under the jurisprudence of 'exercising control' and hate mongering.

The New Yorker cover is ethnocentric, and subject to interpretion, its intent as parody or satire notwithstanding.  Its merit might be underscored by its vain attempt to un-perpetuate the stereotype by poking fun at ourselves being countered by its very perpetuation of the stereotype.

Steve Lussing, Toronto, On (Sent Thursday, July 17, 2008 1:53 PM)

I am sorry for saying this but i have know problem with him but then I DON'T TRUST HIM most of the people wants the war to stop and the troops to come home and have a time line for them to come home and i think he is wrong to want a time line... i am a proud army wife my husband has been over seas more then two times and two of those times were more then a year that he was gone and if you talk to troops they want to come home but then they dont cause they want to win the war, they want to get the job done and not half ass they dont want to give upbut to me he wants to that right there is sending a mix sign to people who are in the milt. he be great at the white house and help with the problems in the u.s.a but the part i dont like is that he is giving up and that he just doesnt care..... I just think people need to grow up and think of what needs to be fix in our country oil war housing market etc.  and this racist stuff thats going on i dont care if he is pink or whatever the person skin color is the person has a soul and people neeed to move on this is the new age new world and its not right for someone to say the n word or turn around and call a white man cracker or whatever the kids say these days we need some one good to stand for us

sandy lindsey, fort lewis wa (Sent Monday, July 21, 2008 9:13 PM)



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