Absurdity, Allegory and China

Though it is highly unlikely that anyone hasn’t yet heard, the latest issue of the New Yorker with it’s trademark cartoon cover shows the Obamas in the Oval Office kitted out as rad-Muslims, a burning flag in the fireplace and an Osama portrait hanging on the wall. The Obama camp has called it “tasteless,” and the McCain camp heartily agrees (though you can almost hear the arm-pumping “Yes!” in the background).

I am a New Yorker reader and have been for the last twenty-five years, and I’d hardly call it “tasteless,” given the way that weekly magazine - arguably the best in America - has portrayed the current administration: Bush as Nero; Bush and members of his team in the flooded Oval Office in September 2005 after Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans; and the classic side-splitter in February 2006 of Dick Cheney blowing smoke from the end of a shotgun barrel with George’s head – both of them in cowboy hats – on Cheney’s shoulder mimicking a promo poster for the film Brokeback Mountain. This one appeared shortly after Cheney sprayed his hunting partner, Harry Whittington, in the face with buckshot on a Texas weekend bird shoot. It was chosen by the American Society of Magazine Editors and the Magazine Publishers of America as the best magazine cover of the year. Tasteless? To neocons, I suppose. And maybe George’s mother, if she got it, though she probably had to ask her husband who, no doubt, gave an answer something along the lines of, “Just the boys kickin’ a lil ass.”

It’s tough being at the top and, to some, it can be tasteless. I hope the Obamas relax a bit and take it in stride. Imagine what would happen if the leaders of China were parodied on a New Yorker cover in the current cultural climate. Hard to even imagine that one, though I am curious to see the cover during Olympic week, and if it will precipitate a boycott on all-things-New-York. If the New Yorker isn’t careful we baseball fans may not be seeing the Yankees or the Mets in Wukesong any time soon.