Is Satire Dead?

How does one interpret the New Yorker's recent attempt at satire with its portrayal of Barack and Michele Obama? The Obama and McCain campaigns both condemned the cartoon, calling it tasteless, offensive etc. I did note that when Senator Obama himself was asked to comment he was careful to recognize the cartoon as satire and indicate that there were far more important issues to discuss than this attempt at humor. The best comment that I have heard came from Bill Bennett on CNN. He said that it was basically satire that failed. He went on to say that when you have to explain the cartoon as much as the New Yorker did, then the cartoon simply didn't work.

This current New Yorker cover brings a number of thoughts to mind. First of all, there can be no question that seeing this cartoon is jarring and can almost not be seen as anything other than offensive at first glance. Perhaps if some of the elements had been left out, such as the burning American Flag or the portrait of Osama Ben Laden, the effect may not have been so dramatic. I also believe that if it had been one of several equal opportunity cartoons inside the magazine there would probably not have been such an uproar. As others have noted, one major problem is that there is no context provided within the magazine. There is nothing to provide perspective as to the intent of the cartoon, and its relationship to the issue's political articles. Finally, I also believe it is another illustration that we are in the dog days of the campaign when the smallest story becomes a major event because nothing really significant is likely to happen until the conventions.

There is no doubt that politics has become too serious. Every statement is put under the microscope and examined for any negative connotations that can be mined. Yet it is not altogether true that humor cannot still be effective. Saturday Night Live and other late comedy shows seem to work most of the time. Candidates have all made use of such forums to present a more human side of themselves. Some of the candidates actually do a pretty good job. The key for comedians seems to be to treat everyone equally. The key for the candidates seems to be to make fun of themselves, and essentially show that they can 'take a joke'. Unfortunately, the New Yorker magazine was blatantly unsuccessful by every reasonable standard in achieving acceptable humor except in their own minds. Of course, I guess if the rest of us were as smart as regular readers of the magazine we might not see any problem.