obama on the cover of the new yorker

this was written by my dad last monday, so it is a little late. my apologies.

Take a look at the New Yorker cover. It is a satire of the nonsense that is floating around about Barack Obama. In a Newsweek poll, 12%of Americans said they thought Obama was a Muslim, 19% said Obama was sworn in to the Senate using a Koran instead of a bible. Neither, of course, is true.

The cover, which came out Monday, created a firestorm yesterday on all the cable shows, websites and blogs. The magazine shows Obama in the Oval Office draped in traditional Muslim attire. His wife, Michelle, is pictured with an Afro hairstyle and a machine gun slung over her back. A portrait of Osama Bin Laden hangs over the fireplace where an American flag is burning.

Critics argued that instead of satire, the cover reinforced the misperceptions at best and was offensive at worst.

My take: can we be serious here? Do we really think the New Yorker imagines Obama a terrorist and his wife a militant? As far as it being misconstrued, a few things:

1. Those who already believe this nonsense about Obama were never going to change their mind, so this cover is of no consequence. [Besides, I can probably count the number of people who read the New Yorker in West Virginia on one hand.)

2. Those who know better will be unaffected.

3. That leaves those who are smart enough to know better but may not. That group will not see this cover in their mailbox or on the newsstand. They will see it talked about on cable television or read about it their newspaper. And, in this context, the satire will be clear. In other words,this helps rather than hurts Obama.

Besides, what are we, Islamic fundamentalists? Are we offended by freedom of speech? Can we finally discuss the issues that matter, like getting our of Iraq, solving the financial meltdown, and getting everyone health care?