John got that right.

Bill D wrote: Millions of people are just looking for ANY excuse to not vote for this character with the funny name and dark skin, no matter how well-spoken he is or how reasonable he seems....and the New Yorker has just given them one more reason. They may not say so, and indeed they may not even realize it, but they WANT someone who looks like their father and 'waves the flag better'.
I can only hope that the obvious differences in basic competence and viewpoint that Obama brings to this race will overcome poorly presented images.

I respect your opinion, Bill D., so it's depressing that you hold this view. As you write it, it sounds like the Democrat party is holding it's breath, hoping that these stupid bigots will not know any better and will vote for Obama, or just not vote at all, versus go out and vote for McCain simply because that is a perceived vote AGAINST Obama. Was that where you were taking this?

Who are these bigots and where do they live? Are they former Hillary voters, are they former Edwards or Richardson supporters, that they're somehow now dangerous to Obama? I don't think so. Are they conservative voters who wouldn't have voted for Obama anyway? Maybe wouldn't have voted at all? That this will drive them to the polls?

This discussion looks like an episode of mass hysteria. It is ludicrous, exactly like the Danish cartoons, and these Obama supporters are exactly like the muslim leaders who told large groups of followers (who were clueless about the cartoons) that they had been insulted. It is a tempest in a teapot generated for political gain.

The New Yorker did what it always does, and it's readers got it. Big deal. But Obama himself made a fuss and his set off his most ardent supporters who themselves hold extremely biased (one could call them bigotted) views of the rest of the nation--"everyone but me is a bigot" or "everyone who doesn't support Obama is a bigot." Yes, we know there are bigots in the world, but don't dismiss everyone in Mississippi or Oklahoma or Kentucky or wherever you think those Others live as incapable of figuring out the meaning of a cartoon, or of understanding this discussion about the cartoon and realizing that Obama isn't the things portrayed. Those who want to hate Obama don't need another excuse, this cartoon isn't going to drive them any faster into McCain's camp.

SRS