What about the recent new yorker cartoon cover ?

About the recent Cartoon of Obama on the New Yorker cover - was it: A) good satire B) poor taste C) offensive to anyone D) meant to help E) meant to hurt ?

Depending on who you are, I would say all of the above. It was satire (not sure how good), and meant to show the ridiculousness of the smear campaing the right has been hurling at Obama. But to put it on the cover like that was in poor taste. I am sure it is offensive to many muslims, was meant to help highlight the absurdity of the attacks against Obama, and it was also meant to hurt those who continue to propagate such hate-filled speech. I don't think it was meant to hurt Obama, but it did.

The bottome line is, it was only a cartoon. As Obama said: 'It 's a cartoon ... and that 's why we 've got the First Amendment, and I think the American people are probably spending a little more time worrying about what's happening with the banking system and the housing market, and what's happening in Iraq and Afghanistan, than a cartoon. So I haven't spent a lot of time thinking about it.'

He also said: 'I've seen and heard worse. I do think that in attempting to satirize something, they probably fueled some misconceptions about me instead. But that was their editorial judgment.'

Now that is a true leader, defending the first ammendement rights of a magazine for running a cartoon that is damaging to his image and campaign.

poor taste =) not sure if it was meant to hurt, but they had to know it would cause a stir

B and E, very immature

jimahl,
I couldn't agree more. Your answer covered it all...

B, C and E.

He's not a Muslim and this will just perpetuate the right-wing misinformed bulls*it that says he is. (Without any reasoning or validity).

Editor, I honestly don't think they meant it to hurt Obama. The New Yorker is not exactly a right-leaning magazine. I think it was satire done in poor taste, but I also think it was meant to be absurd, and not cruel.

I heard an interview with the editor of The New Yorker and he said that it was meant to show just how ridiculous the rumors are...I think it backfired..

Bad judgement - they thought people would 'get' it as satire and they didn't. Of course they wouldn't get it - it's too close to some people's thoughts to be treated as a joke without making the satire a bit more obvious. Shame.

Gore Vidal called America 'land of the dull and home of the literal.' No doubt the cover will reinforce some people's misguided views but I'd hate to live in a world devoid of symbolism, metaphor, and satire because some people are incapable of understanding it.

Of course this is nothing new. I read that some people didn't understand that Johathan Swift's 'A Modest Proposal' was satire.