About That New Yorker Cover

I'm not going to display it, because by now everyone on earth has seen it. My only take on it is that it's a fabulous example of why satire must have both a clear focus and a clear POV. The problem with the cover is that the focus of satire is NOT, as the editors claim, some right-wing loon; the right-wing loon is nowhere to be seen in the cartoon. The focus is the Obamas, and the POV, as far as we can tell, is that of the editorial board of the New Yorker. That is why they're in trouble, and why they should be. How easily the problem could have been avoided by placing the entire thing in a thought bubble attributed to that aforementioned right-wing loon.

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