Today's Obama-Rama Dustup

Above (h/t HuffPo) are some previous New Yorker Magazine cover illustrations by Barry Blitt; as you can see, he’s hardly an ideologue. I would only ask that you keep that in mind when you look at this week’s cover depicting the Obamas in a highly unflattering manner (here).

Yes, it’s tasteless. Yes, it’s based on some fundamental misconceptions that reinforce right-wing stereotypes. Blitt could have depicted Obama in a negative light over his FISA vote or cowering with other Dems, and that would have been deserved; a recent Tony Auth cartoon features Bush as a cowboy rounding up the Dem donkeys into the FISA pen, or something like that, and the cartoon made the point.

Or, the illustration could have shown Limbaugh, Hannity, Bill Orally and Smerky hiding in a cupboard or something with an expression on their faces as if they were saying, “YA’ SEE? YA’ SEE? WE WERE RIGHT!” and that would have been fine; the spirit of the satire wouldn’t have been lost.

But it’s a magazine cover. And it’s advertising a feature story by Ryan Lizza that I’ll read at my earliest opportunity.

The attempt at humor went splat. That’s what happens with comedy sometimes.

Now, I’ll breathlessly wait for our corporate media cousins to publicize Blitt’s other covers, some of which I’ve highlighted above, seeing as how we’re going to see the Obama/New Yorker cover now about two million times at least in the guise of “editorial commentary and political analysis.”

On second thought, I won’t hold my breath waiting for that. I’m sure I’d suffocate.