Welcome to America Adrift Rune and thanks for this interesting first article. It’s wonderful to add some historical perspective to our conversations. Though I doubt anyone could really define our blog, a fair part of what we do is discuss “current affairs” through our various academic and social lenses.

Malloy,

I think the only “germ of truth” is that this meme has been pushed through enough media outlets (including the so called liberal opinion leaders) and partisan sites both from the right wing and within the Democratic party. It becomes truth eventually like any big lie; through repetition. The “terrorist fist-bump” is a prime example. Fox News and co. ran many stories about the fist-bump, drawing attention to the Obamas’ otherness both in the extreme (as terrorists) and in the “classical” sense (as African Americans). Some of the “main stream press” even ran with it, although less blatantly so. “The Heathen Obama”, doth has history against him in this sense as well.

I tend to agree with Bent here. The “highbrow” readers of the New Yorker may get the joke. But why do we assume that readers of the New Yorker are all “Latte Liberal Obama Supporters” anyways? That seems to be the crux of the New Yorker’s defense. But I think that this piece fails to meet the criteria of satire which was the editors stated goal. Read the comments of this piece over at the Bag for a good discussion on this.

What’s more, Michael has a wonderful deconstruction of the image, looking beyond the obvious surface iconography. There are other narratives at work in this image as Michael points out, which papers like the “liberal” NY Times have been injecting into main stream public discourses. So at a subliminal level this image reinforces these other memes. The more subtle Machiavellian context is, IMHO, communicating to the so called “independents” and “moderates” who are not affiliated with either political party.

Michael Powell at the Times has been building this Meme for a while. See my rant about his hit job on Michelle Obama here. And Michael Shaw deconstructs one of Powell’s “Obama as Machiavelli” pieces here.

For another example of the Times participating in spreading the Muslim rumor see, “Locating” those Head Scarves.

Though most of the talk is about how the outlandish memes of this image will be read and appropriated, it is perhaps the more subtle subtexts which are potentially more damaging to Obama’s candidacy.

1. “The New Yorker’s 630,000 or so readers know what the magazine is about. It has highbrow arts reviews, intelligent metropolitan opinions, and quirky, knowing cartoons. Woody Allen writes for it. Any regular reader would immediately ‘get’ that cover as it was intended. A not too subtle lampoon of the exaggerated right wing smears Obama has been subjected to so far. I mean, the Stars and Stripes burning in the fireplace. Come on.

So the message should be clear.

But I’m afraid it isn’t, because taken out of context, it can mean whatever you want it to. And here we come to the internet. Seen on its own, scattered randomly over the internet, with no knowledge of what the New Yorker’s mindset is, this cartoon can be interpreted however you wish. As a stand-alone image on the web, it really could be some Right-wing website or magazine’s propaganda. But it doesn’t really matter - it’s a cartoon of Obama worshipping anti-American terrorism. Take it how you want to.

The uncomfortable truth is that, outside of its context, this cartoon doesn’t work. It is too lead-heavy with irony, which can just about work as an illustration for a Democrat-supporting magazine, but anywhere else in the frenzied 24/7 immediacy of the web, with no reference points, it simply doesn’t.”
– Christian Adams, British cartoonist

2. “As the cartoon sparked a political and journalistic debate, McCain’ campaign quickly condemned it. McCain himself commented at a press conference, ‘I think it’s totally inappropriate, and frankly I understand if Senator Obama and his supporters would find it offensive.’” – McCain response…

3. “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.’

Obama blamed himself for not being forceful enough in challenging some of the rumors about him, including that he is Muslim. Obama is Christian.”
– Obama’s response via Larry King