Obama campaign outraged by New Yorker cover

Barack Obama's campaign decried Monday a satirical cartoon on the cover of The New Yorker magazine showing the US Democratic presidential hopeful wearing Islamic dress while his wife holds a Kalashnikov.

The influential weekly defended its cover, titled "The Politics of Fear," as a critique of unfounded allegations during the campaign that have attempted to paint Obama, who is Christian, as a closet radical Muslim.

"The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Senator Obama's right-wing critics have tried to create," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said.

"But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree," he said in a statement.

The campaign of Obama's Republican rival, John McCain, took his side.

"We completely agree with the Obama campaign that it is tasteless and offensive," spokesman Tucker Bounds said.

The cartoon drawn by Barry Blitt shows the couple standing in the White House's Oval Office with an American flag burning in the fireplace under a portrait of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Obama wears a robe and turban while his wife Michelle is in military fatigues with a Kalashnikov strapped to her back. The couple also give each other a fist bump -- a common greeting they have given each other in public.

"Our cover 'The Politics of Fear' combines a number of fantastical images about the Obamas and shows them for the obvious distortions they are," said New Yorker editor David Remnick.

The editor noted that the magazine includes two "very serious" articles about Obama -- a commentary and a 15,000-word reporting piece on the candidate's political education and rise in Chicago.

（美国民主党总统候选人）巴拉克•奥巴马的竞选阵营于本周一对《纽约客》杂志封面刊登的一幅讽刺漫画表示强烈不满。在这幅漫画中，奥巴马身穿穆斯林传统服装，而他的夫人则肩挎一把卡拉什尼科夫冲锋枪。

这本颇具影响力的周刊辩解说，这幅名为《恐怖政治》的漫画旨在抨击竞选过程中攻击奥巴马的一些不实言论。一些反对人士指责身为基督教徒的奥巴马其实是个“穆斯林”激进分子（译者注：影射其与恐怖分子有牵连）。

奥巴马的发言人比尔•波顿说：“《纽约客》也许正如他们的一个员工所解释的，认为这幅漫画是在讽刺那些试图丑化奥巴马的右翼评论。”

他在一份声明中称：“但大多数读者看见的却是一些无聊、带有攻击性的东西。而我们也同意这种看法。”

奥巴马的竞选对手、共和党候选人约翰•麦凯恩也对这幅漫画提出批评。

他的发言人特科•邦泽说：“我们完全同意奥巴马竞选阵营的看法，这幅漫画的确是毫无品味，而且带有攻击性。”

这幅漫画的作者是巴里•布里特，画中的奥巴马夫妇站在白宫的椭圆办公室里，一旁的壁炉里正燃烧着一面美国国旗，而壁炉上方则挂着基地组织头目奥萨马•本-拉登的画像。

画中的奥巴马身穿长袍、头缠长巾，而他的夫人米歇尔则身着军装，肩挎冲锋枪，夫妻俩还在互相击拳致意 —— 这是二人在公众场合常用的致意方式。

《纽约客》编辑大卫•瑞姆尼克说：“这幅封面漫画组合了一系列丑化奥巴马的荒谬形象，让人一眼就能看出这明显歪曲了事实。”

他说，该杂志还刊登了两篇关于奥巴马的 “非常严肃”的文章，包括一篇评论和一篇长达15000字的纪实报告。这份报告讲述了奥巴马的政治背景及其在芝加哥成长崛起的经历。

Vocabulary:

unfounded: 没有根据的；不真实的

fantastical:空想的；捕风捉影的