Satire, anybody? No?

Obama should know better than anyone that you don't judge a book by its cover. Perhaps he should have read the articles about him before condemning a satirical cover cartoon.  I actually have no problem with the cartoon -- it's perfect satire.  It's making a powerful statement about all of the whispered lies and fears that people have about Obama's candidacy. When they're put together what comes out is a pretty ridiculous image.  I don't know why Obama weighed in anyway, all it did was turn an edgy cover into an international headline (it was the third headline on the BBC news last night).  And for those of us who do understand what satire actually is, it's kind of embarrassing that this amazing, incredible person doesn't get it.

For the record, there are countless cartoons out there portraying John McCain (or Bush) as an evil conniving warmongers and there's not a whiff of satire anywhere.

But let's not confuse cheap comedy with high-brow satire. This cover wasn't about making people laugh or scoring points, it was about compounding and confronting lies. Perhaps one of the problems is that the comedic boundaries haven't yet been established.  So far only black comedians can poke fun at Obama, while the late night acts say that he's a tough target because 'he's not very funny'.  Of course, these are the same guys who do the John-McCain-is-so-old-that-he-still...(insert quip here), every night.

In an article in IHT, it's suggested by Conan O'Brien's head writer, Mike Sweeney that it's because there's a sense that you don't want to go after the guy you like:

There is no doubt, several representatives of the late-night shows said, that so far their audiences (and at least some of the shows' writers) seem to be favorably disposed toward Obama, to a degree that perhaps leaves them more resistant to jokes about him than those about most previous candidates.

"A lot of people are excited about his candidacy," Sweeney said. "It's almost like: 'Hey, don't go after this guy. He's a fresh face; cut him some slack.' "

Justin Stangel, who is a head writer for "Late Show With David Letterman," disputed that, saying, "We always have to make jokes about everybody. We're not trying to lay off the new guy."

But (Mike) Barry (who wrote political jokes for Johnny Carson) said, "I think some of us were maybe too quick to caricature Al Gore and John Kerry and there's maybe some reluctance to do the same thing to him."

That article, which is worth a read, concludes with Sweeney hoping that Obama picks an idiot VP. Yeah, except the problem there is that all the jokes will again be in and around Obama but not daring to actually go after him personally.