Obama slams Muslim portrayal on cover of the New Yorker

Where's the Qur’an?: Barack and Michelle as fist-bumping terrorists on the cover of this week's New Yorker magazine (click to enlarge).The Obama campaign is condemning the “tasteless and offensive” illustration that appears on the cover of the New Yorker magazine this week which depicts U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) in a turban, fist-bumping his gun-slinging wife, as the American flag burns in the fireplace.

“The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Senator Obama's right-wing critics have tried to create," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement.

"But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree."

The issue, which goes on sale Monday, includes a long piece by Ryan Lizza about Obama’s start in Chicago politics.

Barry Blitt, the artist responsible for the cover, defended the piece by saying, "I think the idea that the Obamas are branded as unpatriotic in certain sectors is preposterous. It seemed to me that depicting the concept would show it as the fear-mongering ridiculousness that it is."

When asked if, in retrospect, is he glad he made the art, he responded, "the magazine just came out ten minutes ago, at least give me a few days to decide whether to regret it or not."

UPDATE #1: The Huffington Post has put up an interview with David Remnick, the editor of the New Yorker.

Many Obama supporters have started to voice their anger over the cartoon, which they say does not so much lampoon the smear as perpetuate it.

Normally I'd want the work to speak for itself — normally I'd not want to explain jokes, or short stories, or a piece of non-fiction that we publish — people always read things the way they're going to read them. In this case, since I see that it's stirred the pot somewhat, and some people have misinterpreted it very quickly, I'm talking to you. The image tries to be as clear a possible the title tries to make sure of that.

UPDATE #2: Syndicated cartoonist Matt Bors has criticized the coverage the publication of this cover has created, saying it's "the latest fake outrage since The Huffington Post has it as the top story with a red headline."

'You'd think Obama and his supporters would appreciate a sympathetic magazine like The New Yorker lampooning the right-wing caricature of him. But satire is too divisive for Obama."

I just have a wide stance: Another controversial cover by Blitt that appeared back in October 2007.UPDATE #3: This isn't the first controversial cover that Barry Blitt has produced for the New Yorker. Back in October of 2007, the magazine published a cover playing off the Larry Craig scandal that showed Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sitting in a public bathroom reading a newspaper as a sandaled foot creeps into the bottom of his stall from the stall next door, lightly taping the Iranian president on the foot.

The cover, titled 'short stance,' appeared following comments the Ahmadinejad made while speaking at Columbia University about that fact that no homosexuals in Iran.

UPDATE #4: Synidcated cartoonist and columnist Ted Rall has commented on the cartoon, blaming the confusing message on illustrators attempting to be political cartoonists:

"First and foremost, The New Yorker once again demonstrates why you shouldn’t publish cartoons about politics unless you’re willing to hire political cartoonists to draw them. Time and time again, tone-deaf artists like Art Spiegelman crank out embarrassingly lame attempts at agitprop (the Easter Bunny crucified on a 1040 form, a Hasidic guy kissing an African-American woman). They fall flat because they’re devoid of sophistication, texture or context and drawn by artists whose views of politics and current affairs lack historical depth; the lamest edittoons published by Newsweek and USA Today soar like eagles in comparison."

UPDATE #5: Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic weighs in on the New Yorker cover:

"As someone who appreciates a good joke, as well as a bad joke, it bothers me that people are reacting so dyspeptically to the cover, and it's a shame Obama's campaign couldn't have laughed it off. In my limited experience, Obama is capable of humor, though he's not as funny as John McCain, the funniest person in the Senate, except for those times when Orrin Hatch goes blue. Also, Dianne Feinstein, who does one of dirtiest interpretations of "the Aristocrats" I've ever heard."

UPDATE #6: Politico interviewed Pulitzer prize-winning cartoonist Nick Anderson of the Houston Chronicle about the New Yorker cartoon, and he had some sharp comments for the artist, Barry Blitt:

“I think, as a piece of satire, it utterly fails,” Anderson said. “The artist and the New Yorker editor [David Remnick] have claimed that it is so over the top that it is clearly absurd. But it’s not sufficiently over the top. It is merely depicting what the whisper campaigns have been suggesting.”

Anderson added that the cover might have been more effective if it had included the title of the cartoon, “The Politics of Fear,” on the front of the magazine.

“It would have been even stronger had they shown an enemy of Obama painting the picture, or imagining it in their head,” he said.

UPDATE #7: Art Spiegelman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist and former New Yorker staffer, told the San Francisco Chronicle that he was baffled that much of the negative reaction to the cartoon was coming from Obama supporters on liberal blogs.

"They sound so elitist," he said. "The essence of what they're saying is, 'I get it, but I don't trust the people in Kansas to get it.' But isn't that what the whole hope and change thing is supposed to be about? That they will get it."

UPDATE #8: Seattle Times editorial cartoonist Eric Devericks was invited to talk with Frank Shiers on the radio at 710 KIRO about the controversial New Yorker cover.

Listen to audio from the exchange here.

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