I am not suprised by this cover at all -- why should I have any more faith that our media sources, especially those as prominent as the New Yorker, deliver us news in an objective, truthful fashion? I just recently interviewed for a field organizer position with the Obama Campaign for Change, and the individual who was interviewing me asked me how I, as a Muslim, would answer someone who was ignorant about Mr. Obama's background and religious practices questions regarding those two topics. I told him that I would truthfully answer that Barack Obama is indeed half African and his father was indeed Muslim, but he was raised in Hawaii in a very American upbringing, and is a practicing Christian. Yes, he was educated in a private, Muslim education school for a brief period in his childhood, but it was not a Madrassa as many media outlets tried to claim is was, but a private, religious-based school no different than the private Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim schools that we have here in America. Just because he did not find a reason to change his name to appease middle America, does not mean that he should be viewed as a perpetual foreigner, a terrorist, or be viewed under any more scrutiny than his caucasion, Republican counterpart.
I believe this cartoon, which should undoubtedly be viewed as satire, does nothing to refute the views of many ignorant critics of Mr. Obama, his wife, and his general background. I believe that this does much to affirm the worst beliefs of more Americans then we think, and gives many of those (members of the KKK and similiar groups, for example) more reason to stand against change and progression, and work to ensure that a lesser candidate gets into office and runs this country into the ground for another eight years.
