Strictly Politics

Obama cartoon in the New Yorker

I don't get it. No, not the image, I get that, I don't get the reaction to the image. OK, I get that too, but for some reason I completely understand where the cartoonist is coming from with this caricature.

It's an attack against those who unjustly, unfairly and constantly criticize Obama from no other perspective other than racial or religious. It seems to be all they got, but then what's an election without conservative Republicans trying to scare you about the "enemy" candidate's personal life/lifestyle? Heck, what would an election year be without Democrats trying to scare you about what the "enemy" candidate will do once in office through their policy positions?

OK, so what if Barack Obama is black; so what if Obama is or is not Muslim; so what if his wife bumps fists; so what? Seems like the right has not a whole hell of a lot other than caricatures to throw at the Obama's and that is the irony of the cartoon.

What it really is saying is that if all you can do is try to sling mud, trying to attack the "blackness" or the "whiteness" of Barack Obama, then you don't have a heck of a lot of ammunition. What it says is that conservatives/Republicans have one card that they hope to trump this election with and it's the same old tired race card.

They are counting on people on the hidden face of long standing feelings about race and religion to sway the day in their favor and they may get the desired result. What they don't realize is that they don't need to inspire caricatures such as with their fervent insipidly transparent antics to achieve their goals.

If they pay attention, they will realize that long time Democrats who have supported every Democratic candidate unwaveringly for as long as they can remember will not support Barack Obama. The idea of a black man in office, a black family in the White House- and then to top it all off, he may even have been or be Muslim...Good God in heaven forbid!

It's an ugly little thought, a disgusting realization that this dynamic is at play, but you know what will be blamed...do you know what they will say? They will say, "I am a Democrat but I didn't support Obama because he's not Hilary." They will say, "I don't like the way Hilary was treated by the media and Barack did nothing about it, so I am going to vote McCain!" As if McCain uttered any words and sprang gallantly to Hilary's defense against the arguably evil media.

No, that will be the excuse, but it will not be the truth. My thought on this is a little simpler than boiling the whole thing down to race. We certainly need to know the mettle of candidates and their personal lives are certainly in bounds; but come on! Dig up some dirt, did they cheat on their wives, their taxes, their SATs? Did they commit any grossly indecent or immoral acts? Do they beat their children or crucify small animals. I mean come on! Stop making yourselves the targets of caricaturist and cartoonists and tell me the really good stuff.

posted by Garfield Jones @ 7:24 PM