Sunday, July 13, 2008

Obama and The New Yorker   [Byron York]

The McCain campaign has been put in an awkward place by the new cover of The New Yorker:

The magazine says the cover art, featuring Barack Obama and his AK-47-toting wife in terrorist garb in the Oval Office, with a portrait of Osama bin Laden above the mantel and an American flag burning in the fireplace, "satirizes the use of scare tactics and misinformation in the presidential election to derail Barack Obama's campaign." But the Obama campaign is denouncing the cover, saying The New Yorker's editors might believe the picture is "a satirical lampoon of the caricature Sen. Obama's right-wing critics have tried to create," but it is fact "tasteless and offensive."

On the record, the McCain campaign adds: "We completely agree with the Obama campaign, it's tasteless and offensive." But privately, some McCain types admit they find the cover funny. And how bad can it be for your campaign when a national magazine, in an effort to take a shot at Fox News and talk radio, portrays your opponent like this? Some of Obama's supporters are likely to go over the top in their defensive outrage, sending subtle reinforcements to viewers who already believe that McCain is stronger than Obama on the issue of terrorism. Maybe it's funny, and maybe it's tasteless and offensive — maybe all three — but it will be noticed.

07/13 10:45 PMShare