New Yorker Unveils Next Week's Cover: Baruch Obama!

Art by Rick Meyerowitz

Turns out New Yorker Editor Supremo David Remnick was just kidding with last week's apparently racist-classist-sexist- ethnically-and-religiously-biased cover. It was all just a set-up, said the legendary political satirist, to what we at the New Yorker really think of the great Senator from Illinois.

Say hello to...Mr and Mrs. Baruch Obama!

Comments

[PJay1]

This IS a joke, right?

Now they're Hassidic Jews, yearly kids and all? That's sure to seal the Jewish vote.

Where's the *satire* on McShame?

[pepenero]

The New Yorker is losing it. The writing is still excellent, the cartoons have sucked for about the last ten years.

It needs new blood, it's become too much of a family (Mankoff and his friends) with the same cartoonist being published each week, the same persons rotating on the covers.

I don't even bother to look at the cartoons anymore, the covers I can't avoid, but I will read most of the writings..

[demfriend]

Ok, NOW the New Yorker is going to show Barack as the elite guy that kind of looks like Abraham Lincoln? And who is the woman next to him with the hair, the stroller and six kids? Are they palying "make up" in some weird way?

[eden4barack08]

Are you serious? Lol.

[PAposter]

They're supposed to be Hasidic Jews, I'm not sure who should be more offended by this?

[PumaAnn]

Very clever! Even funnier that Obama supporters don't get the joke.

[harriscrl3]

I must be dense but who are the kids Michelle is pushing. Where did they come from? Honestly the New Yorker is getting ridiculous.

Carol

[pcplz]

Methinks the New Yorker just doesn't get it.

Now, that's satire!

[tasukibeth1]

Is this a joke? I don't mean to be dim, and I see that this is not a Borowitz article.

If it is seriously not a joke, then there needs to be one more cover, since the best punchlines come in threes. Maybe a Jesus-like portrayal making to make fun of the "Messiah" jabs.

[babylonandon]

They need to have Barack descending (one foot pointed down and one knee bent) from the sun in white robes surrounded by rays of sunshine over the kneeling masses of journalists, Hollywood types, Dem politicals.

In the background, is Jesse Jackson fumng with smoke out of his ears up to a black cloud over his head and cheering members of Hamas, Hugo Chavez, and Ahmedinajab.

[Schallvain]

Funny how everybody sees this as satire, but not the New Yorker. Granted, the New Yorker required one to think and ponder the cover art to understand the social statement where this cover is blatantly making fun of the New Yorker. I am beginning to understand why American sitcoms are written around 6th grade humor.

[Krikkit]

The New Yorker cover was satire, just not very good satire. Good satire makes it's intended audience (victims) laugh, which it failed to do. It failed because satire has to seem to say something that the audience believes, whereas the New Yorker cover merely portrayed something the New Yorker audience merely chatters incessantly about.

[mbrownNY]

It didn't fail to make it's intended audience laugh... just it's unintended audience.

[eden4barack08]

"...the New Yorker required one to think and ponder the cover art to understand the social statement.­.."

Au contraire. That one was just smack in your gut, the moment you saw it, it hit you. There was nothing to ponder or figure out. It was all neatly displayed with no room for interpretation. And left one in dismay.

With this one, you see a Hasidic family, nothing offensive, then you ponder as to what it means, why? Is it to appeal to Jewish voters? Is it making fun of the magazine? Its owners, being Jewish? And on and on.

[Coronadoman]

Except that there appears to be a double standard of deconstruction at work:

Each cover (and we all DO know, the "Hasidic" drawing isn't an ACTUAL cover, right?? There's so much cognitive failure, we have to be sure, nowadays..­.) represents very specific ways that each author places the next President into a "fake" situation, as if it were real.

And each "cover" or "artwork" carries its' own germane linguistic essence; its' own historical handshake with each of us, who recognize, at a glance, what is at stake, what is skewered, what is in store.

The equally satiric drawings demonstrate an equal understanding of the assaults on our next President, in savvy, nifty ways. Brava!

[thatsNotWhatIHeard]

ha! so he's muslim one week and jewish the next, hopefully this evens us back out to about where we started? Like the artwork much more on this one too

[SomewhereInTheMiddle]

Very clever.... The point is Obama is a man that changes with the wind. He will be Muslim when needed, he'll be black and angry when needed, he'll be white and raised in mid-west when needed. He'll be anti-Clinton and pro-life when needed. He will be praising Reagan one minute and pretending he is the reincarnation of JFK another minute. He is a salesman, whatever you want, he can be. He wants to win and that's what drives him...peop­le who want him to win have their own agendas and he does not have issues with that as long as they support him because he just wants to give pretty speeches to inspire us.

[smitallica]

He's also winning.

[Hopeforward]

I have never known Senator Obama to "be a Muslim when needed", only the far right lunatics keep spreading the false rumor that he is a Muslim. I did think it was great when Senator Obama said that the cover of the NYer was not so much of an insult to him, but an insult to Muslims everywhere, as if all Muslims are terrorists.

[scouserinlondon]

Somewhere in the middle.
"I'll have whatever she's having"

Must be good stuff.

[somekid1234]

um, no

[1099]

Jewish is now the logical opposite of Muslim?

[mbrownNY]

apparently that's what all that fighting in the middle-east is about. who would have though?

[DaOne]

The New YOrker is about as witty as Two and a Half Men!

[WIpatriot]

Nowhere near close.

[MerhabaAbi]

This magazine was groovy when groovy was groovy.

[NC4Obama]

If they wanted to do a better job a satire they would of had the first cover be exactly the same but not with Obama's but the McCain's. That would of been good satire.

[Paris68]

Given that everyone is irrationally demanding that the New Yorker respond with an equally "critical" (?) cover of McCain, that actually would be funny. Not ha-ha funny. But maybe meta-meta New Yorker funny.

[BurtR]

I support Obama
What would be really funny is a portrayal of him as the second coming
The fantasy of the second coming is the reason for 90 % of the support for Israel
Then we could deal with the mideast somewhat realistically

[KSH]

That would have been Hillarious! They could have had him as Jesus and the 12 disciples could have been Joe Biden, Bill Richardson, Chris Dodd, Jesse Jackson as Judas of course, Ted Kennedy, Rahm Emanuel, Chuck Hagel, Sam Nunn, and 4 more. They could have been feeding the multitude which would be the American people. LMAOOOOOO!!

[eden4barack08]

That's pretty good actually. But wouldn't it offend Catholics?

[eden4barack08]

This doesn't cut it. Ok it's cute and funny to look at, but there's nothing wrong with being a Hasidic jew. What's satirical about it? Just the fact that the Obamas are not really jews? Big deal!

The only equivalent that of the Obamas and fitting to The NYer style, would be one about McCain and Cindy.
They should come up with the most outrageous smears, and rumors ever herd about John and Cindy and have Blitt do his magic drawing them.

[matthewdsmith]

And there's something wrong with being Muslim?

[eden4barack08]

No spins please! Obama was not necessarily depicted in that cartoon as a Muslim, but rather as a terrorist.

OF COURSE there's nothing wrong with being a Muslim!

[Torus34]

Genug, already!

[brainuser]

Not Obama as Bernard Baruch?