According to the opening lines of many hack journalists and bloggers, "critics are outraged" over today's New Yorker cover, which depicts Obama in a one-piece Muslim garb and headdress fist-bumping his, Afro-wearing wife Michelle in camo clothes with an AK-47 and ammo-belt slung over her shoulder beneath a portrait of Osama bin-Laden while the American flag burns in the fireplace, in the presidential Oval Office.Staff at The New Yorker magazine have defended the illustration, saying it is meant to mock right-wing depictions of US Democratic presidential candidate Senator Obama and his wife. But the Obama campaign camp has reacted angrily. Spokesman Bill Burton said: “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." The McCain campaign immediately e-mailed a similar statement from Tucker Bounds: “We completely agree with the Obama campaign, it’s tasteless and offensive.” Of course, the McCain people must say that, despite some staff no doubt chuckling behind closed doors over their opponent's new challenge. That's the problem with satire. A lot of people won't get the joke. Or won't want to. And will use it for non-humorous purposes, which isn't the New Yorker's fault.
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