July
14
Under Cover
Updated
That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.
It's safe to say that most of those who will get the next issue of the New Yorker in their mailboxes will end up voting for Barack Obama anyway. That's why it's hard to get too worked up over their latest cover, which features the candidate in head dress, his wife in the garb of a militant and a flag burning in the fireplace of the Oval Office.
It's a satire on all of the rumormongering that surrounds the Obama campaign. And while it surely looks like something that would be cooked up by the National Review, the fact that it has drawn such a rebuke from the campaign and that of John McCain's team speaks to the perils of any kind of humor at this point in the cycle, whether you are the candidate, a surrogate or just an observer.
Sure, to see it is to immediately wonder if it is of questionable taste, but that usually is what all satire is. I give the whole hubbub just a few more hours, after which much will be quickly forgotten.
Obama Auction: Given his track record, Shepard Fairey is one artist who easily could have satirized Obama in one of his renegade images, but instead the Obama supporters created the ubiquitous Obama 
"Hope" poster. He's donated one of three fine art versions of the poster to Art for Life, which benefits Russell Simmons' Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation. The first phase of an online auction ends Tuesday at noon.
Money Raised: Obama collected about $1.2 million at a Newport Beach fund-raiser on Sunday night, with Lou Gossett, L.A. City Councilman Eric Garcetti and NASCAR racer Tim Woods II in attendance. Another fund-raiser in San Diego also collected more than $1 million for the candidate.
More on "Access": The New York Times' David Carr weighs in on the propriety of Obama having his two daughters in on the "Access Hollywood" interview.
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Thank you! I find myself extremely baffled by the uproar surrounding a satirical cartoon that simply took everything negative that's been said about the Obama camp and merely put it into one place for everyone to think about as a commentary. It simply tries to help people visualize how absurd an idea some in this World have conjured up of the Obamas as a whole. Nothing new was offered by the imagery -- maybe if they showed him stomping on a map of Israel with his feet or hugging Ahmadinejad, I'd understand everyone crying foul. Also, as you've pointed out, chances are the readers of the New Yorker are supporting Obama over McCain anyway.
Posted by: JZipp | July 14, 2008 at 12:24 PM
Thanks for the comment. Among a few of the editors here, we actually had a mini-debate about this --- even a bet --- as to how long this New Yorker cover would be a "big deal." If it's still a story by Wednesday, I lose.
Posted by: Ted Johnson | July 14, 2008 at 05:07 PM
So, I'm guessing you lost your bet? Hope the payoff isn't painful!
Posted by: JZipp | July 16, 2008 at 08:39 AM
I think you are right, what with the Obama appearance on Larry King last night still reverberating. Luckily, the bet was only $5.
Posted by: Ted Johnson | July 16, 2008 at 09:13 AM