It's only a question, as far as the New Yorker is concerned (and by extension the rest of the mass media which is indulging in a feeding frenzy) to exploit the celebrity status of the Obamas for their own gain.

The New Yorker has been around for a long time, and it has used withering political humor before. It is like T & O said, Obama supporters don't want to see their guy as the butt of a political cartoon. Ask Hillary if it ever happened to her, and a lot more ruthless--it's part of the political minefield, folks, and you might as well get used to it. It's rather naive to expect public figures won't receive the gaze from many quarters, or in this case, the gaze is actually a reflection of what the right wing extremists are trying to say about Obama. It is ridiculous and most people EXCEPT thin-skinned Obama supporters probably wouldn't have made anything of it except to chuckle or wince at another New Yorker cover cartoon.

Truth be told, The New Yorker took a look in some Obama supporter's Anxiety Closet and portrayed your greatest fear while representing the silly rumors that right wing pundits have tried to push all along. In the heat of the primaries so many were gung-ho Obama and his great ideas, and a lot of you were ridiculing Hillary when she said he wasn't experienced enough, and that she had been thoroughly vetted. A cartoon similar to this about Hillary would have been like water on a duck's back to her. You have seen many cartoons lampooning Bill and Hillary, caricatures on all sorts of subject matter.

When I first looked at the cover, my first impression was that he was with Angela Davis. If any of you are up to wrapping your heads around sub-text, then you'll remember that she was on the FBI's most wanted list but was ultimately acquitted of all charges in the case. More at Wikipedia. Since many Obama detractors are also trying to make his wife Michelle scary as well, why not go all out for the FBI Most Wanted list connection? It's the "acquitted of all charges" bit that people seem to have forgotten. This is a very subtle cartoon, to be commended in it's complexity, not derided because of the shallowness of some viewers.

I think this about covers my defense of the cartoon. Those of you who don't like it aren't going to change your minds, but maybe you'll at least go away understanding a little more about satire.

SRS