Brouhaha over Obama cartoon illustrates oversensitivity
That might even have been true in the sort of traditional society where shame still was an operative emotion. It's a little harder to believe in the current American context, which is just one of the things that make the bipartisan hysteria about this week's New Yorker cover rather difficult to swallow.
Just in case you've missed it, the magazine's cover is a cartoon by veteran illustrator Barry Blitt depicting Sen. Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, in the Oval Office, presumably after his inauguration as president. Obama wears Islamic garb, including a turban, while the new first lady sports an Angela Davis-style Afro and has an AK-47 slung over her back. The couple bumps fists while an American flag burns in a fireplace whose mantel is topped by a portrait of Osama bin Laden.
Anyone with an ounce of wit and a passing acquaintance with what's been going on during this presidential campaign will recognize Blitt's illustration as a compendium of the various false and defamatory allegations about the Obamas that have been spread across the Internet in what amounts to the cyber-spatial equivalent of an old-fashioned whispering campaign: In this fanciful netherworld, the presumptive Democratic nominee is unpatriotic, a secret Muslim and an appeaser of terrorists, while his wife is an anti-American harridan whose college thesis advocated black supremacy.
Obvious as all that might be, it didn't prevent a panoply of grim-faced pundits from parading across the cable news channels solemnly pronouncing the cover either offensive or unfunny. Whatever it is that makes CNN's commentators "the best political team on television," it certainly isn't a sense of humor. In fact, it was downright grotesque to see Bill Bennett and Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard C. Parks holding forth on the magazine's racial insensitivity.
In fact, I couldn't help but think that the former Los Angeles police chief's sudden emergence as an art and comedy critic might have something to do with his current race against Mark Ridley-Thomas for the county supervisor's seat in the heavily black 2nd District, where Obama probably enjoys a 98 percent approval rating among registered voters.
It's interesting that this controversy — which drew in Obama and John McCain — should have arisen in what's a kind of golden age for televised political satire. Still, in an interview with The New York Times, Comedy Central's Jon Stewart — who is as sharp a political satirist as any now working — said that jokes involving Obama often seem to fall flat with his audience. "People have a tendency to react as far as their ideology allows them," he said by way of explanation.
Recent comments
Obama, in his 1st book indicates he attended a Muslim school. Both…
evensteven | July 20, 2008 at 2:24 p.m.
Unfortunately, for many the charicature invoked by the cartoon is…
Oscar | July 20, 2008 at 2:18 p.m.
evensteven, there's no "close to home" about it at all. As a New…
Oh Please | July 20, 2008 at 1:46 p.m.
