Apparently there's a stir about next week's New Yorker cover. It depicts Barack and Michelle Obama standing in the Oval Office in full terrorist regalia under a portrait of Osama bin Laden as a flag burns in the fireplace. Both the Obama and the McCain campaign have called it "tasteless and offensive," but I for one think it's time that everybody suck it up for satire.
I'm working backwards here, because my first instict is to defend everything the New Yorker does, and then figure out why it's okay. The cartoonist, Barry Blitt, defends his work by claiming that, "It seemed to me that depicting the concept would show it as the fear-mongering ridiculousness that it is." Sure, but he needn't be so diplomatic. One of my favorite things about this "new kind of politics" was that there weren't supposed to be any pulled punches. I want to see a cartoon of McCain cutting brush in a cowboy hat with Laura Bush (he's Bush III). I want to see Obama stubbing a cigarette out on the face of a helpless white man as he sips a fine red wine (he's an elitist who hates white people).
Come on, media, help us think more about the men who will run our country! Don't just give me soundbites, give me biting commentary. Don't give me scandals, scandalize me. Political discourse has the reputation of turning off millions of Americans who feel like it's such a dirty game that they can't get involved. But Americans love dirty games, let them participate! People know more Bush jokes than they know Bush policies. It's time to use that to everybody's advantage.
Q: How many Democrats does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Only three, but they need healthcare and a living wage.
Q: How many Republicans does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Let the market decide!
Those are just off the top of my head, but I feel confident that the more jokes we hear(constructive jokes, mind you, not Dennis Miller shit), the more invested we'll be. And so I applaud the New Yorker for spearheading what will hopefully be a trend of amusing understanding.
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