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In Human Events today I discuss the allegedly "tasteless and offensive" New Yorker cover, which we are supposed to believe is worse than any other political cartoon ever drawn all the way back to the Coffin Handbill. While not backing off from his strong implication that being accused of being a Muslim is a "smear," Obama is already tacking in the other direction, claiming bizarrely that the cartoon insulted Muslims, and so maybe he isn't as canny as I thought, and we will see more "outreach" from his camp.
In a cartoon on the cover of the latest issue of the New Yorker, a turbaned Barack Obama fist-bumps his wife Michelle, who sports an AK-47. They are standing in the Oval Office, where a portrait of Osama bin Laden hangs on the wall and an American flag burns in the fireplace.David Remnick, the New Yorker’s editor, explained that they had only intended to lampoon “right-wing” attacks on Obama: “Our cover...combines a number of fantastical images about the Obamas and shows them for the obvious distortions they are. The burning flag, the nationalist-radical and Islamic outfits, the fist-bump, the portrait on the wall -- all of them echo one attack or another. Satire is part of what we do, and it is meant to bring things out into the open, to hold up a mirror to the absurd. And that’s the spirit of this cover.”
Obama spokesman Bill Burton, however, was not amused. "The New Yorker may think," he fumed, “as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Sen. Obama’s right-wing critics have tried to create. But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree.”To see a political cartoon being denounced these days should make everyone uneasy. There are indeed plenty of political cartoons that are truly tasteless and offensive, but today international Islamic organizations are making concerted efforts to compel Western countries to limit free speech in the wake of the Danish cartoons of Muhammad that were published in late 2005.
Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary General of the 57-government Organization of the Islamic Conference, declared recently that “confronting the Danish cartoons and the Dutch film ‘Fitna,’” which showed Muslims acting on violent passages in the Qur’an, “we sent a clear message to the West regarding the red lines that should not be crossed.” He said that Western countries had “started to look seriously into the question of freedom of expression from the perspective of its inherent responsibility, which should not be overlooked.” In other words, they were moving to restrict freedom of speech. Whether or not Ihsanoglu’s confidence that the West will soon outlaw criticism of Islam such as is implied by the Danish cartoons is warranted, it would have been wiser for the Obama camp to have laughed off this New Yorker cartoon.
What’s more, one would think Obama’s camp would have welcomed “a satirical lampoon of the caricature Sen. Obama’s right-wing critics have tried to create.” Does Bill Burton think that this is how the New Yorker, of all publications, actually views Obama? That seems beyond the realm of possibility. So the only thing that reasonably explains his dudgeon over what is nothing more than a funny satirical cartoon is that he is afraid that a good number of Americans actually view Obama this way.
This is in line with the Obama camp’s general defensiveness over the issue of Obama’s Muslim ties. Obama has been going to some lengths to make sure nobody thinks he’s a Muslim. Nor has he been making any particular effort to add, “Not that there’s anything wrong with that” – in fact, his denial of the claim that he ever practiced Islam is included on his “Fight the Smears” website, implying that to say that someone is a Muslim is to smear him.
And then there was the incident in the primary season where a couple of women wearing Muslim head scarves were shuffled out of camera range.
Muslim groups have noticed, and are unhappy. Junaid M. Afeef, director of public and government Affairs at the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, wrote last week in the Wall Street Journal: “Many Muslim voters love Barack Obama. They love him even if he doesn’t seem to love them back.” Afeef complains that Obama “vociferously denies being a Muslim as if it were a slur.”
In the same vein, Altaf Ali, executive director of the South Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (an organization that the Justice Department has designated an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terror funding case), noted that Obama had visited churches and synagogues, but no mosques – and called upon him to correct this omission. “Since 9/11,” complained Ali, “our community has been portrayed as inherently evil, and what Obama is doing is adding to the negative stereotype. His message is about change, and he has to appeal to every minority group.”
Still, it is unlikely that Muslim voters are going to throw in their lot in any significant numbers with McCain, and so Obama’s keeping them at arm’s length is evidence of his canny political calculation. He seems to be tacitly aware that people are suspicious of the violent and supremacist elements of Islam, although he has never spoken about them. Apparently he is altogether willing to throw a billion Muslims under the bus along with so many of his former friends and associates – at least until after the election.
Meanwhile, of much greater concern is the likelihood that a naïve and overconfident President Obama makes good on his promise to sit down and chat with the likes of Iran’s Ahmadinejad, and ends up becoming the latest national leader to learn the perils of appeasement. That prospect is more tasteless and offensive than any political cartoon.
Posted by Robert at July 16, 2008 7:04 AM
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First of all the New Yorker is lying through their teeth. They know full well that the so-called liberal racist pigs have made outrageous racial comments. If they really like Obama they have a funny way of showing it.
I find it amazing that Obama does not see this purely as a slam against him and his wife. It came from the New Yorker. They never would have said a word about it being satire until all hell broke loose. People better realize that some prominent TOLERANT liberals do not like black people. Blacks needs to take this into consideration while determining who they will vote for.
I'm NOT surprised that Obama is putting people under the bus. That is his track record. He will say anything in an attempt to make people sympathize with his so-called compassionate heart. I hope in November the veneer is removed. I'm not real happy with the choices for president this election season but Obama scares me the most.
Yes I'm black.
Posted by: pgcfriend![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/nav-commenters.gif)
at July 16, 2008 7:40 AM
Obama is already tacking in the other direction, claiming bizarrely that the cartoon insulted Muslims, and so maybe he isn't as canny as I thought,
Obama canny? That notion is uncanny, for canny he is not.
at July 16, 2008 7:44 AM
If Obama is not a Muslim but is in fact Christian, wouldn't a proper response to the cartoon be more positive.
Obama should have said: "I am pleased that I am depicted as a Muslim in this cartoon because we all know that Islam is a religion of peace but I must say that I am a Christian and not a Muslim. I have many Muslim friends such as Louis Farakand and some of my relatives in Africa are devout (militant) Muslims but thats not for me. I have religiously followed the Christian teachings of Rev. Wright and his church for the past 20 years and we all know that Rev. Wright is a solid Christian and solid U.S. citizen who loves America."
Posted by: Spot on at July 16, 2008 7:52 AM
And this man wants to be President????? He'd better get armour on his cojones.
pgcfriend, i agree with you. This guy has absolutely no loyalty to anyone but himself. Americans can't be so stupid as to actually elect him....can they???
Hmmmm, who am I to talk, downunder we got Krudd :(
Good luck world :)
Posted by: spyder at July 16, 2008 8:26 AM
My guess is Muslims and their apologists have been working hard and applying pressure to Obama to get him to say something in their defense. Since his rejection and snubbing of Islam has been very obvious.It's clear that he absolutely does not want to be mistaken for a Muslim.He also overreacted to the New Yorker cartoon, given that insulting cartoons are part of the playing field in American politics. Just asked George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and John McCain.By saying the cartoon insulted Muslims, Obama gets to throw Muslims a bone while deflecting attention from his own overreaction to what is part of American politics.
Posted by: Roxane at July 16, 2008 9:31 AM
Obama has been going to some lengths to make sure nobody thinks he’s a Muslim. Nor has he been making any particular effort to add, “Not that there’s anything wrong with that” – in fact, his denial of the claim that he ever practiced Islam is included on his “Fight the Smears” website, implying that to say that someone is a Muslim is to smear himWhy should Obama state, a la Kramer, that there's nothing wrong with that (being Mohammedan)? Of course there is something wrong with it. While being gay is at best something one is born with and at worst a personal choice, it does not have a damaging impact on people, at least as long as it's practiced in private. Being Mohammedan, OTOH, involves inflating the headcount of a club that seeks to subvert this country, its heritage and indeed that of all countries whose citizens aren't overwhelmingly members of this club. It's no more a 'to you your religion and to me mine', with apologies to Allah, or whichever dickhead wrote the Qur'an.
Obama should be cheered for throwing the billion Mohammedans under the bus. Since he is the type of politician who puts his moistened finger in the wind to see which way it's blowing, he should be cheered for all the anti-Mohammedan moves that he makes, from removing the klansmuslimahs from his reporters' camera ranges to his original statement about Jerusalem being the undivided capital of Israel, and jeered whenever he makes any pro-Mohammedan comments, be it on Iran, Mohammedans, whatever. That way, he'll know what will keep him elected, and the policies should follow.
I certainly trust him over Juan Jihad McVain.
Posted by: Infidel Pride at July 16, 2008 2:46 PM
This guy has absolutely no loyalty to anyone but himself. Americans can't be so stupid as to actually elect him....can they???
spyder,
Why not? We elected Bill Clinton, didn't we? And everyone LOVED him, all over the world.
The world wants us to elect someone more to their liking instead of our own and too many Americans are so love-starved that it might actually happen.
World: be careful what you wish for. You just might get it. You can thank yourselves afterward.
Posted by: PMK at July 16, 2008 5:41 PM
No matter what Obama does to the Muslims worldwide, they will still love him worldwide.
Posted by: American at July 17, 2008 11:23 AM
What worries me about Obama is the fact that he is related to more Muslims from his father side and he is closer to them than to his atheist relatives from his mother side that are about a dozen or two at the most. His relatives in Kenya are in hundreds and they are all 100% Muslims. He has been very close to his Muslim relatives. He has visited them many times and less than two years ago he went to Kenya and campaigned for his first cousin (Muslim) who was running against a Christian candidate. When the Christian candidate defeated his cousin, his Muslim supporters burned hundreds of those Christians alive while they took refuge in their churches – they burned the churches while people were trapped alive inside them. Assuming that this story has nothing to do with Obama he still has some loyalty to Islam by virtue of having relation to hundreds Muslims. I question his motive when he opposed the war on Iraq – he was listening to his leaders Luis Farrakhan and Rev, Wright. Both Farrakhan and Wright are very anti American, Anti Whites and anti Jews. I believe that Obama’s Christianity hinged on Rev. Wright who helped him convert to “Christianity”. And I doubt that he became Christian because he had a revelation or belief in Jesus Christ. I believe it was a calculated decision to become Christian to help his long term ambition to run for a high level office. I believe he would have converted to Judaism if it were to help his odds for candidacy. I have no doubt that if Obama were a US Senator in 2003 he would have voted like every democrat. All the democrats supported President Bush’s war on terror and Obama would have been wise enough not to vote against his fellow democrats whom he would need in due time.
Now let’s talk about our troops in Iraq. McCain refuses to specify when he will bring them as any poker player would tell you; you do not play poker with an open hand. Obama is cashing in on the fact that even the pets in the US are sick and tired of Iraq and they all want the US soldiers home. Obama says “Huh, if every one wants the troops home then if I promise to bring them home people will vote for me”. How stupid does he think we are? We are smart enough to know that once Obama is elected as the US President, he will come up with tens of excuses to keep the troops in Iraq to prevent an all out war between Muslims. He would be somewhat sympathetic to Muslims and his relative would not forgive him if he did not prevent an all out war between Muslims. Just because a president promises something to get elected does not mean that he will not back down on his promise. We all remember “No Tax increase, read my lips” when Bush Sr. had to back down on his promise because the situation required it. McCain is more likely to bring home the troops as he has no obligations but to American people and the troops. Obama will have a conflicting situation as he feel obligated to his own Muslim relatives, hundreds of them. When Obama explained the National Anthem Stance, “As I’ve said about the flag pin, I don’t want to be perceived as taking sides” Obama said. “There are a lot of people in the world to whom the American flag is a symbol of oppression. And the anthem itself conveys a war-like message…” What sides was he afraid to take? American vs. Muslim? Only to Muslims the American flag is a symbol of oppression.
at July 17, 2008 11:25 AM
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