Michelle Obama Watch

With ‘friends’ like this…Obama needs no enemies.

If you look at some of Barry Britt’s past illustrations, its impossible for him to seriously defend this particular cover as simply “satire”. Just look at his past work and you see the very different concepts….with the Obamas he portrayed the ugliest racial/ethnic stereotypes he could conjure up as his basis for parodying the idiotic imagery that’s been created in the minds of many. His other covers aren’t even close to being so…so….i can’t think of the word to even use. His “satire” will be lost on many because its not coming across as simply silly…its coming across as just downright hateful. This won’t make those who think the Obamas are secret radical Christian muslim extremists, reassess their thoughts and realize “oh how stupid I’ve been!”…nope, on the contrary, this will just embolden them.

That’s so true…..but you know what? Barry Blitt is not naive….the purpose of this cover in its overt derogatory imagery, is not about satire..its about inciting an emotion at the first side glance (you don’t even have to look at it directly to either get extremely mad or extremely giddy). Blitt is no fool, this is no different from Annie Liebowitz of Vogue pretending that a “photo is just a photo” when you KNOW its ALWAYS more than that. Now, for the next week, this topic will be on every single morning and evening talk news show. Expect Blitt to sit with Meredith on the Today Show, Diane on Good Morning America – and there will be the roundtable on every show from O’Lielly to Olbermann to Larry King…just watch….there were many meetings at The New Yorker this past month in anticipation of all this – from marketing to legal..these people ain’t fooling nobody.

So, you don’t have a subscription to the The New Yorker but would cancel if you could? Do it anyway. Send a cancellation request to NYRcustserv@cdsfulfillment.com because cancellation requests speak louder than condemnation alone. Let them figure out if you have a subscription or not. Tell them why you are canceling.

My “lawyer” pants tells me that Michelle will have a SUPER legal case against the New Yorker, once this edition hits the streets. Barack on the other hand is a public figure deeply involved in politics as a career and
can be subject to so-called “cartoon satire”. Michelle is a private citizen who has an unlimited wideopen steller professional life ahead of her in the years to come, regardless if her husband’s campaign is successful or not.

I think she should put together a legal team to take on the New Yorker. Nothing chills the overheated public viewpoint that a well known person like Michelle is fair game for public ridicule (or “satire”) like the propspect of losing millions in a high profile personal injury slander suit.

IMHO the New Yorker has thrown down the gauntlet in this long simmering background controversey, i.e., exercising media restraint due to the strong racial pressures in this presidential campaign. They have blasted all racist arguments out front and center onto the American media stage. Barry Blitt like the guy who lights up a cigarette inside the shed where boxes of dynamite are stored. If Michelle doesn’t punish the publishers of the New Yorker, she could look forward to being depicted in the handiwork of hundreds of Barry Blitt wannabees.

I seem to remember years ago Madam Josophine Baker also had a seriious legal fight over how she was “satirized” in an issue of the New Yorker magazine. I think it was about the time of the famous “Stork Club” incident where even as a world famous celebrated entertainer Ms. Baker was denied entrance into the club as a patron. So racist “satire” is nothing new at the New Yorker….

if this does not constitute slander what does