Who remembers last week when Newsweek was embroiled in a semi-trumped up controversy about the super-close-up cover shot of Sarah Palin which not only showed wrinkles, pores, and makeup, but a few unmistakable hairs on her upper lip, which prompted a number of commentators to decry the magazine for the ungallant act of revealing her womanly moustache?
Bah, why revisit those dark, unhappy thoughts when you can have happy times with Fareed Zakaria, who sunnily encourages you to look on The Bright Side? Zakaria brings the unbridled optimism he used to spin the thesis of his book, The Post-American World, as a good thing ("It's not that America is in decline, it's just that everyone else is catching up!") to the current financial crisis, pointing out that it's a gosh-darned good opportunity to unlearn a whole lot of bad habits.
And who could feel any differently after seeing this cover? It's like an extreme dose of Prozac:
It's also a good opportunity to unlearn any cover-mustache associations, and Newsweek takes the safest route possible with a bold, bright, very very yellow cover. It's the yellow of sunshine and smiley-faces — a natural association, given the don't-worry-be-happy vibe:
But what's this? Why does the association of Newsweek with the optimism of yellow and a happy, smiley face still make me think of a mustache? Hmm...let's see...
Oh. Right.