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Boomer Commentary: RENEW THE NEW YORKER -- FOR LIFE!

2008-07-18 12:04:16

By: Bill Press

Barack Obama's campaign denounced it as "tasteless and offensive" and an insult to all Muslims. John McCain called it "totally inappropriate." They both take themselves too seriously.

Pardon my political incorrectness, but when I saw the cover of this week's New Yorker magazine, I laughed out loud -- as Obama should have, too. First, it was LOL funny. The image of Barack and Michelle Obama invading the Oval Office in Muslim garb, while giving each other what Fox News dubbed the "terrorist fist jab," highlights the absurdity of the fear campaign which Republicans are trying to stir up against Obama. Indeed, cartoonist Barry Blitt named his artwork "The Politics of Fear."

Not only that, the cover makes a great point, which is to dig up all those rumors about Obama circulating on the Internet, expose them to the light of day and show just how ridiculous they are. Obama's tried to knock them down with his own Web site, fightthesmears.com, but satire and humor are much more effective tools for fighting bias than outrage. What better way to illustrate the ignorance of those who spread rumors about "Obama the closet Muslim" than by dressing him up in Muslim garb in the Oval Office, with a portrait of Osama bin Laden on the wall and the American flag burning in the fireplace?

Bravo for the editors of The New Yorker! In the all-American tradition of political humor dating back to Colonial times, they poked fun at and destroyed the credibility of those who are desperately trying to make Obama the scary man he is not. They deserve a Pulitzer. Instead, all they got was manufactured outrage from every side.

Obama supporters cried foul. How dare they make fun of our sacred candidate? TV commentators howled over what they condemned as one more example of religious and racist bias. Editorial writers lamented the lowering of standards for political discourse.

Give me a freaking break. This presidential campaign has been taken over by the political niceness police. You can't say anything clever about anybody anymore. Obama's criticized for calling Phil Gramm "Dr. Phil." McCain's slammed for calling Obama "Dr. No." The New Yorker's condemned for running a political cartoon on its cover. We've suddenly become a nation of insufferable political snobs.

Come on, people, lighten up. All politicians, including Barack Obama, are fair targets for late-night comics and editorial cartoonists. And The New Yorker, especially, has a history of skewering politicians on the left and right. As Bill Maher wonders: "If you can't do irony on the cover of The New Yorker, where can you do it?" Stephen Colbert had perhaps the best take on the whole cover flap: "It's a completely valid satirical point to make -- and it's perfectly valid for Obama not to like it."

What's even more offensive is the argument that, while regular New Yorker readers will get it, the joke will be lost on most average Americans. Or, as one of my radio listeners put it, "I can just imagine my redneck brother-in-law picking up that magazine and saying: 'See, even you damned Yankees get why we're so worried about Barack Obama.'"

Talk about elitism! That argument, usually made by people who live in New York or Washington, assumes that most people living in the heartland are boobs, which is simply not true. There is wisdom to be found west of the Hudson and Potomac. It also assumes that rural Americans will vote against Barack Obama simply because he is black, which isn't true, either. In fact, polls show Obama leading McCain or close to him in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota, where blacks make up less than 2 percent of the population.

Nervous nellies need to relax. It doesn't matter what part of the country we're talking about. Everyone gets it. There's nobody anywhere dumb enough to take The New Yorker cover seriously.

Most commentators have it backwards. Instead of condemning or complaining about its controversial magazine cover, people should go out, buy this week's New Yorker and enjoy a good laugh. God knows we won't have many more of them between now and November.

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Note: In last week's column, I may have given the wrong impression that founders of the Web site LiebermanMustGo.com are seeking the immediate expulsion of Joe Lieberman from the Senate Democratic caucus. Not so. They are responsibly seeking his ouster, but not until after the November elections.

Bill Press is host of a nationally syndicated radio show and author of a new book, "Train Wreck: The End of the Conservative Revolution (and Not a Moment Too Soon)." You can hear "The Bill Press Show" at his Web site: billpressshow.com. His email address is: bill@billpress.com.