Say Anything Blog

I guess Obama didn’t get the joke either.

  CHICAGO - Democrat Barack Obama said Tuesday that the New Yorker magazine’s satirical cover depicting him and his wife as flag-burning, fist-bumping radicals doesn’t bother him but that it was an insult to Muslim Americans.

  “You know, there are wonderful Muslim Americans all across the country who are doing wonderful things,” the presidential candidate told CNN’s Larry King. “And for this to be used as sort of an insult, or to raise suspicions about me, I think is unfortunate. And it’s not what America’s all about.”

Here’s the video:

I really don’t see how the cover was really all that offensive to Muslims.  Unless Obama is accusing the New Yorker of being staffed by closeted anti-Muslim bigots.

Let’s face it: The most widely known and notorious terrorists in this modern era tend to be Muslim.  We can all admit that not all Muslims are terrorists, but these days it tends to be the screeching jihadis more than anyone else who are crashing planes into buildings and murdering people with bombs.  The satire of the New Yorker cover was supposed to be Obama dressed as the real Muslim terrorists we see on television because that’s how Obama’s critics see him.

It wasn’t terribly good satire, but certainly there was no racism intended.  That Obama would suggest there was indicates a level of unseriousness, and desire for form over substance, that is downright scary in someone who could well be our next national leader.