When Art Gives Offense

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Magazine's 'Satirical' Obama Cover Stirs Outrage

A satirical New Yorker magazine cover cartoon depicting Barack Obama and his wife as flag-burning, fist-bumping radicals drew outrage from the Democratic presidential candidate's campaign as it appeared on newsstands Monday.

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"Inevitably, in response to this cover, we will hear several days of discussion about the cover, whether it was out of line or tasteless (yes), and what spurred this decision, etc., what Obama's actual ties to Islam are, what his ties to various shady donors are, his ties [to] longtime supporters who tried to blow up the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol, etc.

"Thus, if McCain wins, we will see someone -- probably in the pages of The New Yorker -- write, 'Of course the Republican smear artists fooled the American people into seeing a great man as a terrorist; Google the terms, 'Obama,' and 'terrorist', and 80 bazillion links come up,' even though the context could just as easily be, 'Obama pledges to capture terrorists,' 'New Yorker cover portrays Obama as terrorist' and 'McCain denounces New Yorker cover portraying Obama as a terrorist.' "

At least he treats it as (bad) satire. Power Line's John Hinderaker says, wait a minute, there are nuggets of truth here:

"Obama isn't a Muslim, and his wife doesn't carry an AK-47. But Obama's long-time associations with anti-Americans like Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn and Jeremiah Wright are not 'rumors' or 'misinformation.' Nor is it 'crazy ignorance' to note that Obama's candidacy was endorsed by Hamas (although Hamas later withdrew its endorsement when Obama tacked toward the center) or that his wife says America is 'just downright mean.' Obama doesn't want to deal with these very real issues, and prefers to respond to the straw man that he's a Muslim. The New Yorker tried to help him in that effort, apparently, but I doubt that it did him any good. That image of a flag burning in the fireplace hits uncomfortably close to the mark."

Flag-burning? Close to the mark? He's an America-hater? I'm missing something here.

Elsewhere on the right, Michelle Malkin has a simple message: Get used to it.

"Welcome to public life.

"Guess what? In Washington, political cartoonists and caricaturists spare no one . . .

"Wipe your nose, grow a pair, do your little Jay-Z dance move, and take your own advice to your daughters: No whining.

"It clashes with your glow."

Lefty bloggers are taking the cover seriously. The Nation's John Nichols says that "the problem, of course, is that not everyone in America is as up as Remnick might hope with the cocktail chatter at the right parties on the fashionable upper west side -- or, as summer progresses, the Hamptons.

"The Obama camp complains that the image of a robed President Obama and a combat-fatigued First Lady Obama is 'tasteless and offensive.'