OBAMA BIN LADDEN WILL PUT A JIHAD ON YOU!
07.14.08
The latest cover illustration of The New Yorker is stirring up political controversy. It depicts Barack Obama and his wife enacting their now infamous “terrorist fist jab”, and adorning the oval office with a photo of Osama Bin Laden. While any child can see that the image is satirical in nature, people are still plenty pissed off.
Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton called it “tasteless and offensive” and, according to Jake Tapper at ABC, another high-profile Obama supporter called it “as offensive a caricature as any magazine could publish.” Artist Barry Blitt defends the cover, saying that “It seemed to me that depicting the concept would show it as the fear-mongering ridiculousness that it is.”
While I do not find this illustration to be Blitt’s best work, it is nice to see political art getting this kind of attention and stirring up conversation. It isn’t created to be shocking, its intention is to poke the media in the eyes for their ridiculous coverage of such rhetoric, and slam those who could actually believe in such nonsense. Obama supporters need to realize that getting the literal image of “Obama the terrorist” out in the open will cause people to take a stance on the issue. And anyone who feels its a fair criticism of him is beyond logic at this point. What to do about such ignorance?
Political illustration has a long and venerable history of saying what can’t be said out loud. The message is clear, and slimy conservatives attempting to pin Obama with the secret terrorist label get a swift kick in the nuts. Thanks political illustration! Stick around, here come the 527 groups…
Tags: Barack Obama, Barry Blitt, illustration, political art, The New Yorker
Category: Art, People, Politics
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Matt Moore aka 
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