The Real Caricature Problem

July 15, 2008 / 4:18 pm • By Dr. Melissa Clouthier


“I know rednecks,” my friend was telling me, “and they’re not unaware, but this is what they think about Barack Obama: they don’t think he’s a Muslim, they think he’s a secret Muslim.” After laughing about it, I responded that I know very highly educated people who flat out believe Barack Obama isn’t a secret Muslim, he just IS a Muslim. “His middle name is Hussein. He’s a Muslim.” Of course, I protest. It’s ludicrous. My name is Melissa and I’m not even a wee bit Greek, but there you go.

The problem isn’t even Barack Obama’s Muslim name, or that he has the misfortune of sharing the name of a bloody, murderous, now-dead dictator. The problem is that Barack Obama attempts to be vague about who he IS and what he believes. He is the great unknown and seems to want to keep it that way, and so says flowery things that mean little which leaves people to insert their own ideas and definitions. For the true believers, they project savior. For the skeptical, well…. A relative told me, “He SAYS he’s not Muslim, but I think he has the heart of a Muslim.”

So the cover of the New Yorker satirizes the rubes who make up America and are inserting their opinions about Obama. Essentially, the New Yorker is making fun of America and since only city dwellers wearing black and trading witty reparté read the magazine, it’s an inside joke. How stupid can you be?

Obama, being one of those wine sipping elites, gets the joke, but is, of course, outraged. He’s not outraged that an American magazine takes aim at Americans who “don’t get it”. He’s outraged that the topic about which they are ignorant and is being used to demonstrate their ignorance is HIM. It is all well and good to talk down to Americans. In fact, he enjoys a daily dose of his preening superiority, but this time, the joke hit too close to home.

Is it offensive to be portrayed as a Muslim (satirically, of course)? Because, really, that’s the fence Obama is trying to saddle. He knows his name and paternity give him instant, unearned cred with a good portion of the world’s population. And it’s not just the Middle Eastern inhabitants salivating over a Muslim American president (because that is definitely how they view him). Western elites marvel and enthuse over the possibility of a walking melting pot who hints at but is not quite Muslim. He’s the perfect, post-Modern man of vague descent and broad ideals. He’s the everyman.

Obama himself can deny nothing lest he become something. Well, he can deny the terrible insults and the injustice in the media. “I’m NOT Muslim…..not that there’s anything wrong with that,” can be his only response.

The cover was funny because it had some truth in it–many truths in it. The Flag burning in the fire place: I had a black friend who will vote for Obama in November say, “Well, he’s not really patriotic.” Obama isn’t patriotic. Does he hate America? I don’t know about that but his words and actions certainly don’t demonstrate love for America.

The knuckle bump: Sliding into slang in front of certain audiences seems unbecoming a president or president’s wife. Hilary Clinton rolled into her Southern, negro drawl and was pounced on. The Obamas adopt the cadence of a Southern, black preacher and no one says anything.

The crazy wife: Michelle Obama makes Theresa Heinz Kerry seem restrained. She’s put a cork in it, as of late, but the caricature kinda captures her essence, does it not?

But all these representations, the satire, would be funnier if it were patently, obviously ridiculous. If, after all this time, educated people I know (who aren’t political junkies) can say with a straight face that Obama has a “Muslim heart” the problem isn’t the American public or some pretentious New Yorker artist: the problem is Obama.

Jesse Jackson was right: He talks down to black people. Hell, he talks down to everyone. He doesn’t hide his contempt for average Americans and it slips out whenever he thinks he has a sympathetic audience–whether it’s donors in San Fran or average Jeans in France. His close friendships with anti-American radicals and religious leaders cement the notion that he’s an activist first, for one group of people, not an advocate for all people. His tone-deafness about how gas prices affect the average person comes off as snooty out-of-touchness–and begs the question: Has the man ever had a real job?

The New Yorker can poke fun of Americans and Obama can dismiss them as gun-totin’, beer-drinking dumbasses, but Americans are anything but. The problem for Obama isn’t his caricature on the New Yorker cover, but the caricature he has of Americans.

Posted in America • Political Animals
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  • Glynn W.

    Why is it you conservatives spend all your time talking about Barack Obama Obama, Obama. . .

    What is it about Barack? I bet there is a 30 to one ratio on conservative blogs between Barack’s name and that other guy (whoever he is). It’s like you know that the country has been completely screwed under your misrule and you have nothing to offer – so instead you lampoon the other guy.

    It’s a shame, isn’t it?

    gw

  • http://melissaclouthier.com Dr. Melissa Clouthier

    Glynn,

    Here is my job now, as I see it: minimize damage. The country will be damaged one way or another. McCain, I can hardly stomach thinking about voting for him. Obama is as liberal, a leftist progressive can get and will only get elected if he convinces the majority of Americans he is something he is not.

    I know what McCain is and will be. He has a nice long record to demonstrate how he’ll govern. I don’t like it, but it is a better alternative to Obama. So, I view my mission is to educate my readers about the real Barack Obama. They certainly won’t find the truth reading the fawning mainstream press.

  • Glynn W.

    Melissa.

    You must write this stuff while roaring with laughter. “Educating your readers about the ‘real’ Barack?” Like your hard hitting expose criticizing his temerity in suggesting it might just be a good idea for us to teach our kids a foreign language?

    Earlier, you lampooned his speech advocating Fatherhood.

    What an outrage. What’s next, criticizing his support of sunshine?

    I guess you just assume conservatives are a little dim, but when the current debacle of a administration actually manages a 35 percent approval rating – you have at least 35 percent of the population to start from.

    Not a bad target audience. Looking forward to more “education” about Barack.

  • WayneB

    “Like your hard hitting expose criticizing his temerity in suggesting it might just be a good idea for us to teach our kids a foreign language?”

    Good grief. I haven’t see something mischaracterized this badly since, oh, since the last nut tried to defend some condescending tripe that came out of the Obamessiah’s mouth. He specifically said it was embarrassing that Americans would visit other countries without learning a foreign language first, and implied that that’s why we should be teaching our kids other languages. Not because it might broaden their horizons, but because he was embarrassed. In other places, it has been pointed out that the difference in size between America and countries in Europe make it likely that not many people here will actually need to speak another language to get along, because if you don’t live in a border state, you can’t drive to another country in one day. And let’s face it, as popular as air travel is, MOST people don’t fly anywhere, because they can’t afford it.

  • Glynn W.

    Yes, Wayne, good to hear from the 35 percent . . .

    Newsflash: if the headlines in any newspaper don’t make it clear – even those living in America’s hinterland participate in something called a “global economy” (go ahead, sound it out slowly). It is imperative that Americans from every state have the language and cultural skills necessary to excel in this environment.

    But I guess foreign languages are bad, because Obama likes em! The bad news is that he enjoys baseball and lemonade as well. Better add them to the list . . .

  • Chalmers

    Glynn,

    I love you man, but you are killing me with that logic! I don’t need to speak German to work for Siemens, I need to speak Spanish to order lunch! It has nothing to do with a global economy and you know it. The standard business language for international companies is, go ahead and sound it out slowly, ENGLISH. That has not and will not change.

    Dogging on Americans that are not bilingual is just another way to imply that we are the dumberest folks on the globe. It flies in San Fran and NYC, but not in the majority of the country.

    By the way, while W may only have a 35% approval rating, what is it for Obama and his Cronies, 8%?

  • Glynn W.

    Lemmie get this straight.

    Do I really have to argue that it might just be a good idea for Americans to learn foreign languages – even if Obama thinks we should?

    Perhaps I should take a deep breath. Five years after 9/11 and we reportedly don’t have ten military analysts that can speak Arabic. This is not just ignorant – it is dangerous. Over a billion Chinese speak at least eleven wholly different dialects of Chinese.

    If we don’t learn to communicate with them, we are hamstringing ourselves.

    Huntington’s “Clash of Cultures” is playing itself out right now today on the Indonesian archipelago – maybe, just maybe, a few of us might just want to learn Bahasa.

    Has the GOP really become the pro-ignorance party?

    Good luck with that.

  • Glynn W.

    Did I say five years after 9/11?

    I meant SEVEN.

    NOTE: We are spending over 800 million dollars on a new Iraqi Embassy, and we don’t have anybody to work in it that speaks the language!

    And let’s go to the FBI, charged with protecting us from threats domestic and foreign.

    According to recent FBI statistics, of the bureau’s 12,000 agents, only 33 speak even MINIMALLY functional Arabic. It gets worse: Of the 33, ZERO PERCENT work on international terrorism.

    And as someone who actually worked in an international business arena, let me assure you that a lack of language / cultural skills is a long-term death-nail. (And I’m from the Midwest, only transplanted to the evil California recently, largely because Michigan allowed itself to be beaten soundly by foreign competition while we beat our chests and screamed ” We’re Number One!”.)

    If you think that Germany and the rest of somewhat English-speaking Western Europe is where the long-term action is . . . I have a bridge to sell you. In China.

  • Chalmers

    Glynn,

    Well, your show on NPR will definitely be wildly successful.

    I am not sure I said I was against learning foreign languages. I stated that the standard language for business is English. I merely used Germany as an example. How about Korea, I also do business with folks there, again, English.

    By the way, Obama was telling us to teach our children Spanish, not to learn Arabic to support the war on Terror.

    Also, the downfall of manufacturing in the Midwest had nothing to do with language or cultural sensitivity. It had to do with free markets and the inability for Union Run Manufacturing Facilities to compete with Japan, Korea, China and everyone else! Why are manufacturing plants being built in the southern states? Are they teaching Cantonese there? No, they have Union-free shops that are economically competitive.

    By the way, how are the economics in the great state of California rolling these days? You guys are so culturally concerned and multilingual you should be rolling in the dough! In this, let me sound it out, G-L-A-H-B-O-W-L I-K-A-H-N-O-M-E-E, why is California in such a dire economic state? Texas seems pretty stable. But I guess that is all of the Pro-Ignorance GOP folks that are busying themselves curing cancer, selling energy, building weapons of peace, etc.

  • Chalmers

    Glynn,

    By the way, I am glad that you are finding success in your new career. The original statement was not intended to be derogatory. It was intended to reference to the NPR propensity to embrace self-loathing Americans that are only proud of what America might become. Since leading the free world for a hundred years is not sufficient. Stopping the Nazis and such.

    The greatest gift we can give modern man is not freedom or expansion of democracy, but multilingual brats in public schools.

  • Glynn W.

    Ummmm. . . Matt?

    First things first. California’s economy places it as the fourth largest economy in the entire world. Unlike Texas, it manages such a feat without a natural gas/oil resource.

    Now then, if you don’t wish to learn a foreign language – then you mustn’t do so. But to characterize someone as self-loathing because they appreciate the value in such study is absurd.

    Or, perhaps you are employing some type of “special” Texas logic that hasn’t quite made it out of Bush country.