Obama Campaign Caricatures "New Yorker" Mascot

Angered by the New Yorker magazine cover depicting Barack Obama and his wife as an Osama Bin Laden-loving terrorist and a black power guerilla (BBC), respectively, the Obama campaign has now fired back in kind. At a Thursday afternoon press conference, the candidate unveiled a “parody” New Yorker cover of his own.

Above: The New Yorker's July 21st edition cover.

Tensions over the cover of the venerable magazine's July 21st issue have risen during the past week. New Yorker editor-in-chief David Remnick has repeatedly stated that the magazine’s intent was merely to parody Republican use of fear tactics and has urged that the cover be understood in this light. Previous campaign statements branding the cover art “unfunny” and “aggressive” have failed to quell the controversy and signal that the Obama camps regards with concern the publication of an illustration – however humorous its original intentions – that could “fuel misperceptions” and revive troubling rumors about the candidate’s racial and religious identity.

The campaign’s “parody” cover fights fire with fire, presenting Eustace Tilly, the 19th century dandy who serves as the New Yorker’s defacto mascot, as a member of the Klu Klux Klan. While Eustace inspects a butterfly through his monocle, white crosses burn in the background.

Above: The Obama campaign's "parody" cover.

“That’s The New Yorker for you,” Obama said at Thursday’s press event. “While I try to get this country out of Iraq and work on establishing universal health care, they’re off inspecting butterflies. We have problems to solve and they are engaging in borderline racism. They should hereby consider my subscription canceled. I only read it for the cartoons anyway. And most of them aren’t even that great.”