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Obama campaign unable to embrace satire |
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Tuesday, 22 July 2008 |
I love humor.
In fact, if you know me or have had at the very least a conversation with me, you’ve probably noticed the very basis of my personality rests on sarcasm.
I speak it, live it and breathe it.
I thrive on satire.
So naturally, I can appreciate a first-class piece of humor when I see one.
Recently, the New Yorker Magazine released what I deemed as an excellent cartoon on its cover depicting Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) with his wife Michelle Obama as terrorists and partners in crime.
The cartoon was perfect. Its illustrator had placed Barack Obama in a
turban and other traditional forms of Arab garb while his wife, dressed
like a Black Panther member, is sporting an afro and AK-47 across her
back. Obama has his fist raised and touching his wife’s as they both
engage in what the right wing has labeled as some sort of “terrorist
fist pump” (which if true, must mean Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan and
Brett Favre must also be terrorists).
Over the fireplace within this happy terrorist home is a portrait of
Osama Bin Laden, an obvious demonstration of the love Obama must have
for him.
To complete the picture, one can see the American flag buried in the flames flickering in the fireplace.
After seeing the cover, I had to ask myself two questions. Where is
the prayer mat facing towards Mecca? And shouldn’t Obama also be
sporting a tattoo saying something like “Kill Whitey?”
The New Yorker Magazine has long been a friend of the left-wing in Washington and a foe to most conservatives.
Once again, the New Yorker chose to pick on the right-wing. But the irony is most democrats didn’t realize it.
The cover was an obvious attempt by the magazine to poke fun at
ludicrous statements made by extreme members of the right-wing media.
They have asserted that Obama is a Muslim. They have asserted that
because Obama doesn’t wear an American flag pin on his suit that he
must hate America. They have asserted that Obama is an appeaser and is
willing to give in to terrorist demands.
Obama is obviously none of these things and I don’t believe he is either.
So shouldn’t he embrace the idea that a magazine is trying to make this
point? Shouldn’t he have a good laugh at an illustration encapsulating
the lunacy displayed by right-wing media outlets?
Obama’s reaction was certainly not one of laughter. He didn’t even give a response - but his campaign did.
“The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that
their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Sen. Obama’s right
wing critics have tried to create. But most readers will see it as
tasteless and offensive. And we agree,” spokesman Bill Burton said.
Oh, come on now. I am not a supporter of Barack Obama nor am I of his
opponent. But this is satire at its finest. The cover successfully
makes a point about the right-wing media while simultaneously providing
a laugh for the magazine’s audience.
Even democrats in Congress had a hard time embracing this. Some deemed it as offensive.
This is a liberal-leaning magazine attacking the right-wing media. The
democrats should be celebrating, or laughing at the very least.
Instead they’re bickering about the cover as if the illustration were
meant to be true depiction of reality.
Since when has the New Yorker Magazine ever done that?
I feel like both campaigns could use a solid dose of humor. We’re only
in July and this is already shaping up to be one of the most negative
ad campaigns America has ever seen in an election year.
Both campaigns, especially Obama’s, need to learn to embrace a solid
joke when one is made. Otherwise, it’s going to be a brutal election
season for them all.
Cory Watson, a junior journalism major from Mebane, is a news reporter.
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