Obama camp not amused with magazine cover
This week's New Yorker magazine pokes fun at smears directed at Barack Obama, but the U.S. Democratic presidential candidate isn't laughing.
Obama takes on rivals over U.S. economic woesThe cover portrays the Illinois senator in a turban and robe bumping fists with wife Michelle, who sports an Afro, a rifle and military garb. In the background, an American flag burns in the fireplace.
The left-leaning magazine's cover summarizes several smears that have surfaced this year: that Obama is a "secret Muslim" who hates America and his wife harbours a Black Panthers-style enmity toward white society.
Even that fist bump, the modern version of the high five, was described as a "terrorist fist jab" by a Fox News anchor, who later apologized.
The Obama campaign, which has taken aggressive measures to knock down these perceptions, is not amused with the magazine cover.
"The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Senator Obama's right-wing critics have tried to create. But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree," spokesman Bill Burton said in a prepared statement.
Republican candidate John McCain agreed with his rival for the November election.
"I just saw a picture of it on television," McCain told reporters in Phoenix. "I think it's totally inappropriate and frankly, I understand if Senator Obama and his supporters would find it offensive."
(Reporting by Andy Sullivan and Steve Holland, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)
- 1 RBS gets Chinese approval for Suzhou stake
- 2 June retail sales fall less than expected
- 3 Birth control battle weighs on Philippine economy
- 4 Saudi Telecom in sponsorship deal with Man United
- 5 Glasgow loss deals blow to Labour
- 6 Besley says fighting inflation tough task
- 7 Asia stocks at two-year low
- 1 Banks may avoid worst of household debt pain
- 2 FAA proposes 3.8 million fine against American
- 3 Swaps spreads highlight credit stresses
- 4 Slower economy saps climate action
- 5 Besley says fighting inflation tough task
- 6 Poll shows leader swap would not save Labour
- 7 Weak sterling may not curb recession
|
- 1 Glasgow loss deals blow to Labour
- 2 Saudi's economic cities under pressure to deliver
- 3 Magnitude 4.5 earthquake shakes eastern Japan
- 4 Resilient storm Fay could hit Florida a third time
- 5 Speculation rife on U.S. VP running mates
- 6 France's Sarkozy in Afghanistan after troop deaths
- 7 Russia says troops to leave Georgia
|
|
