Wednesday, November 5, 2008
News / News Bites Some people are angry about our Obama cover
Posted by Alison True on 11.05.08 at 04:50 PM
Within minutes of the new edition of the Reader hitting the streets today we heard from several callers who were deeply offended by the cover concept: a portrait of president-elect Barack Obama with the headline "Don't Screw This Up."
The callers told me we're assuming he'll screw up because he's black. To the contrary, we have extremely high hopes for him.
But no matter how jubilant some of us may feel about his election, the media's role isn't to cheerlead for elected officials. We serve our readers: we're observers and reporters and commentators. We were addressing Obama as the person -- not the black person -- whom we've handed an important new job and letting him know that even though we put him there, we'll be watching. Would you expect anything else?
Comments (167)
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Nice optimism there. And this covering-out-ass explanation is right up there too...
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I agree with you about the reason for the cover, but wish you could have waited a day so Obama could bask in his glory. He'll have to face the chaos soon enough.
I like the cover. Anyhow, for the ignoramus who called your offices and said "we're assuming he'll screw up because he's black", for one he is not just black. Hello, he has a white mother. And two, Black people will continue to use the race card even after the presidency has been one by someone who is other than white!! Give me a break.
Henry: The paper isn't done hitting the streets until Thursday, so we sort of were waiting a day. But the Internet, it don't wait. Dude: Optimism alone isn't enough. That's the point of the cover. Also, what Alison said about the role of the press.
So what do you say after you say "Hallelujah"? That's what this week's Reader cover is about. I can see now why the New Yorker likes to let its covers speak for themselves -- especially that cover of the Obamas bumping fists (which I like now more than I did when it ran). A paper or magazine chooses one cover over another because it feels right -- not because it's easier to argue in court. So about our Obama cover, which some readers find insulting... Here's why I like it -- and it's not exactly the reason my editor, Alison True, gives. In life there are no happy endings because there are no endings. The sun comes up Wednesday morning and Barack Obama wakes as the president-elect of a country with bigger problems than it's had since World War II. And on his shoulders isn't simply the responsibility to tackle those problems; he's also toting his ardent supporters' lofty expectations that he will be transformational, the president who leaves American society fundamentally more decent than he found it. That's some load. And it's not like millions of Americans aren't thinking one thing -- "Hey, we're getting our government back! -- and drawing up totally incompatible lists of what they think should be their man Barack's top priorities. And its not like there aren't millions of other Americans hoping Obama fails so they can climb back on top. Have you ever watched a tightrope walker perform without a net? As he coolly climbs the pole maybe we think, "Wow! Magnificent!" But once he's inched out onto the swaying wire and there is nothing below him but air we have only one thought: "Don't fall." And now the tightrope walker is juggling big colored balls labeled "Hopes and Dreams." The Reader's not dissing Obama. We're holding our breath.
I have been a fan and enthusiast of the Reader for years, and have never even looked at the paper's blogs until just now. I usually read your paper on the El on Wednesday afternoons (on Thursdays until recently), and today I found the cover so embarrassing that I carefully folded it over to hide it while I read. Think of the major accomplishments of African-Americans over the past 300 years. Last night ranks in the top three, easily. Yesterday I overheard a black CTA worker talking about how she took the train all the way out to Bolingbook to vote yesterday. I hid your cover from her, on this day after the election. Of course Obama will be held to standards, just as Bill Clinton was when don't-ask-don't-tell became an issue soon after his inauguration. But let's take at least -- at least -- a few hours to celebrate the occasion, whatever reservations we may have about his coming term. And just to make it worse, look at this: I know you can't control Google ads, but look at the particular one appearing at the bottom of this blog's page as I write this: http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/imgad?id=CP2x2t6Q44PMIxCsAhjvATIIJu-6jErW_4o
Yeah, Reader, why didn't you go through the big expense and hassle to completely change your publishing schedule so we can all feel warm and squishy for a few more hours? Lord knows your company can afford it. Eric, I have a feeling that CTA worker, if she has the resolve you credit her with, doesn't need you to infantilize her and "hide" what you deem is offensive material.
what ever happened to "feets, don't fail me now!"--you guys REALLY missed the boat
People need to chill out...I know we all have super high hopes for Barak but we are currently in an extremely sensitive global economic downturn. One mistake in the first few months may prove to be costly for. This cover is honest representation of the times we're in. Shit - I couln't have said it better...I would hate for my conservative friends, family and coworkers to say "I TOLD YOU SO". Just because he won the election does not mean we are headed for good times. He better not screw this up!
The fact that the default is to a 'bot' as opposed to a human being tells a lot of the expectations you have for your readers. The cartoon is offensive and distasteful - not well thought out. The implication is Barack is unqualified and is being allowed a chance. Barack is qualified - not because of his shade - but because of his integrity, leadership skills and ability to problem solve. The assumption that he could screw up is not supported after having withstood almost two years of proving how capable he is.
It seems to me that the problem is one of timing. Today the story is that history was made- a major historical figure was born, America woke up and spoke out after years of complacency, African-American and all American history has changed forever. Yes, it's important to hold him to his promises, and no one is asking for "cheerleading," but to play the watchdog today is at best to be posing as jaded and world-weary no-nonsense, hard news, and at worst, a slap in the face to all the peoplefor whom BHO's election was one of the most significant things of their lives. Disappointing.
Eric the Google ad asks a very important question. Did Obama, who raised and spent more money than ANY Pres candidate ever, buy the election? You know, despite being slammed by the hyped up folks over at dailykos, Ralph Nader and John Cleese both recognize that the amount of money American Politicians spend to get elected is part of the reason they are in debt to their contributors. Just because we like a candiate doesn't mean we get to stop questioning his methods.
If McCain had won (phew!), the "Please Don't Die" cover would have been a welcome balm of laughter for troubled & bitter tears.
It's funny how our current administration has and still is until the last day screwing up and noone has placed any demands on him. Heck, black or white, our new president could wear a paper bag singing the star spangled banner everyday and still do a better job. However, I do understand what is meant by the banner and agree, but he can't fix things overnight because they didn't get messed up overnight. We can't pressure this man when we sat by for 8 years and let things get this way in the first place. Everyone should just be fair and remember it's not going to be easy cleaning up the mess of others. We'll see, but I am always optimistic.
I thought the whole great, wonderful thing about Obama was that he was post-racial. Certainly there wasn't much else to be excited about. His policy proposals are pretty much boilerplate tepid DLC stuff and his background is super thin, ambiguous and dicey. . But instead, race seems to suck up every last molecule of conversational oxygen. We have to be hyper, hyper, hyper aware and sensitive to race when discussing Obama and never, never forget it. This entire campaign, I think, exceeded all others in my memory in its childish and counterproductive harping on this subject. By comparison, the media's stupid pursuit of Palin's wardrobe expenditures looked like lofty discourse. But only in comparison. . After nearly 2 years of this all-race-all-the-time nonsense (Kass, by the way, being one of the few to depart, honorably, from the line), it will be fascinating to see whether we any of us can nudge the needle into anything like a substantive discussion of whether Obama actually proves to be worth a damn as president.
Prescott, I wasn't worried about offending the CTA woman, who wasn't on the train when I held the paper -- I thought of her because I saw the cover outside the same station where, 24 hours earlier, she had beeen talking about how excited she was to have made the long trip to vote. And when I picked up the paper and saw the cover, and then read the banner, I thought of her, and of all of my friends who just this week had gone to Iowa, Indiana, and Wisconsin as volunteers. We were still in the first 24 hours of celebrating that, remarkably, the country had not screwed this up -- and that no single person had screwed up election day; no cop or nut had screwed up the event in Grant Park that had raised so many fears. I understand it's the media's proper role to throw a turd in the punchbowl, but the distrust and cynicism of that cover, again on that particular occasion -- on streetcorners around the city on the day after many of us unified to get something positive done, and did -- is what prompted me to hide the cover while I read the paper, to not want to share it with anyone.
And, anyway, which U.S. presidents do you think "screwed it up" and which ones did not? And was that clear at the time they made essential but unpopular choices? That's part of the problem I have with the statement itself.
i have never heard the media ask any other presidential elect to make sure they" dont screw this up"....hmmmmm timing.... So justify it however you racists feel like justifying it...the people who see you for what you are have just seen more proof!
Maybe the next Reader cover could feature the salty Rahm Emanuel with the headline "Don't Fuck This Up."
There's another stream of comments about this over here: http://tinyurl.com/6aatgs
God knows George Bush and every other president has done their share of screwing the American public. Why should Obama be held to any other standard. I, for one, haven't had a stable job in the last 4 years, thanks to the Great American Heist Bush and Cheney pulled off. Obama can't do anything worse. Just thank God the witless Sarah Palin didn't get a chance to destroy us further.
I voted Obama, the cover statement is very true, even Barack addressed the hardships ahead of his own cabinet in the years to come. My question is why didn't you wait and ask the question after he was actually the President, you know, on January 20th of 2009? Remember Bush is still in office. Give that guy the headline, "I screwed up".
Living abroad, but a former Chicagoan, I find the comments very humorous about the so-called racist overtones. Is this what we have to live with for the next four years? Any criticism of Obama will be shot down as racism? Harold Washington must be spinning in his grave -- what a bunch of wusses who cannot stand up on their own and fight back fairly about Obama. "Yes, we can" has been replaced with "Yes, we did." Now appropriate: "Yes, you better."
It's not pretty, but it's exactly the sentiment I was feeling Tuesday night. I voted for Obama, I'm glad he won, and hope he is a great president. But so many expectations have been placed upon him, and our problems are so many, that I can't help but hope, "Don't screw this up." It's the same advice I give myself when I've been offered opportunities: new jobs, heading a committee, being elected to anything from church council to condo board. People place faith in you and expect you to deliver. It has nothing to do with his color. It has everything to do with faith, hope, and expectations. I'd be surprised if, in private moments, Obama hasn't said the same thing to himself.
Not being a cheerleader doesn't = taking a crap all over a transcendent moment in American history. You could have done a lot better.
Well from an artist and a African-American perspective I take extreme offense to this cover. I love the reader's diversity but I never remember in the history of the reader them publishing such a cover on Bush when he was elected. Our country has suffered the last past 8 years and for the BUSH atrocities he should've been impeached sometime ago. Also the use of a cartoon versus a real image tells me that the publisher or creative director who approved this apparently felt it was comical to depict our new president as a fake, not real or a person unworthy of this job. No other local paper has printed anything like this and be it that Obama is a local guy I feel this was totally disrespectful.
This cover expressed my sentiments exactly. And only _because_ he is offering such a wonderful change - a true breath of fresh air...and it has nothing to do with skin color but everything to do with politics and the human condition....and the "if it's too good to be true" idea. There is so much good about him being elected...and I just really hope he can keep true to all he's said that has been so up-lifting and inspiring and that he can govern from the center as a president really ought. I fear the extreme left may woo him and that his good intentions may lead him...well, you know where the road to good intentions leads...and I would have felt this about _anyone_ who ran such a beautiful campaign and offered such a new vision (or really as I see it reminded us who we are!). It has nothing to do with blackness - good heavens - but everything to do with being human and being placed on a pedestal - it's a tough spot to be (for anyone, not for a black person, but for any person) - he is going to attempt to adjust the sails and it's a tough, strong wind -it is easier said then done in the murky world of politics. Things would have been easier for McCain I hate to say, only because the expectations would have been lower, status quo, if it ended up that way, wouldn't have really raised an eyebrow. We are used to disappointment and watching our leaders not live up to their promises for one reason or another (and I'm not such as cynic to say there aren't many leaders out their doing an excellent job - but we are always ready to watch them fail and it's not a shocker when they do). I really, really, really want to see him blow that idea out of the water - I want him to shock us by actually bringing about what he's sold us on...finding solutions that involve listening to both sides and anywhere in between -finding the truth where it is - somewhere in the middle and helping move those truths into play. And I do hope he keeps encouraging us to engage locally, to lift each other up and find solutions locally. It's exciting times and I would have said it to anyone who won as he did with his message "don't screw it up" - don't' let it get to your head and forget your own message and ideas...keep humble and keep above the fray!
I too was disappointed by the cover. Yes, Laura, most of us are rooting for Obama to fulfill his promise and promises. But why not put that in a positive way? Even the McCain cover said "Please." The Reader headline for Obama's triumphant moment sounds cynical, arrogant, and imperious, which I think is one reason some people are saying it's racist.
Rama B, I would argue that it's not a cartoon, or a caricature-- it's a portrait--but everyone's entitled to his own perception. (And Maureen, extrapolating anything from our spam filter seems like a stretch.) No, we didn't run a postelection cover telling Bush not to screw things up. We had no sense that he'd do anything but screw things up, so it wouldn't have been funny. Our intent was not to imply that Obama is incompetent--quite the opposite. It was to point, succinctly and with a touch of gallows humor, to the incredibly high expectations (including "magic") laid on a guy who's really just one key cog in an enormous machine that--if you'll permit the overuse of metaphor--is running totally haywire across a field of land mines.
Just to be clear if anyone is wondering,I'm not the "Eric Z" who is posting here. Whenever I do post to blogs I use my full name.
I can't believe that so many people consider such a valid statement racist. I'm ecstatic that we finally have someone other than an old white man in the Presidential office, but the idea that we can't be critical of who is in office because he's black seems absolutely outrageous to me. Besides, I don't even consider the cover that "critical" - it was just echoing a pretty common feeling. We've placed so many expectations on Barack that a lot of us are now just crossing our fingers and hoping he delivers on his promises - not because he's black, but because he's a politician,
Everyone needs to wake the hell up!!! I think that was wrong. It seems like no one wants to even give him a chance. If Mccain would have won this election what would have been said then??
It's interesting that Michelle said the same thing to Barack right before he stepped onstage to give his keynote speech at the 2004 Dem Convention: http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/221458,CST-NWS-mich21.article "The remark is classic Michelle Obama -- a woman who faces reality head-on with candor, humor and tenacity, who keeps her husband grounded, who keeps him real."
"Dude: Optimism alone isn't enough. That's the point of the cover." Of course not. But "Don't screw up"? YOu could have just as easily have conveyed your message with something like "We're counting on you", "Don't Lose Our Faith", etc. "Don't Screw Up" as a first response to something like this is something a parent says to a kid who they feel has disappointed them time and time again. "Don't Screw Up" contains none of the objectivity that the press (I guess that included you to0, right) is supposed to display. Hell, even "Please Don't Die" contains more objectivity. Whatever...
I experienced "Don't screw this up" as a humorous riff on Obama's theme of hope. Hey, EVERYONE is crossing her/his fingers in this very anxious time. The alternate McCain cover was a humorous riff on a very different type of anxiety.
Everybody relax and consider a rudimentary concept: sometimes art critiques culture and politics. Obama himself has taken his face and made it a Warholian icon, as omnipresent as air or water. One cannot commercialize words like HOPE and CHANGE without a fair amount of push back. I am relieved and inspired by Obama's victory, and am excited to be taken into a post-racial era, but I also don't want to forget what it means to be challenged.
Obama the person, not Obama the black person? That comment right there showed that this paper is woefully underqualified to talk about racial issues. Since race colors everyone's experiences in this country, how exactly does someone divorce themselves from their color? In addition, the cover for McCain begs him not to die. The cover for Obama begs him not to screw up. Why the assumption that Obama would fail, and the assumption that the only thing that would go wrong for McCain would be him dying? The media folks can pretend that this was unbiased, critical thinking but they are fooling themselves. Typical.
How the hell can anyone see that cover and think it has anything to do with race????
Also, this cover is FANTASTIC because it helps prepare us for the inevitable: Obama will not be able to fulfill all of his campaign promises, at least not in the first few years. Blind supporters are setting themselves up for a colossal dissapointment. Be excited, but be prepared.
Obama's vote on the FISA bill and, importantly, how he spoke with his supporters afterwards gives one clear picture of what is ahead. Outside of right-wing blogs and radio, I haven't heard anyone associate "magic" with Obama. He won the election in part because progressive Chicagoans put great time and effort into getting out the vote in Indiana, Wisconsin, and Iowa, most essentially in the primaries but also this fall. To assume they are naive or delusional is to condescend to those of us who have felt kinship with the Reader for so long.
I appreciate the fact that the media is suppose to have an objective point of view. However the implication of racism comes into play when you choose to expresss that objectivity only in certain situatiions. Now we all know what expectations we have when ever we elect any officials but never before have I ever heard qoute "Screw UP" implied to a President entering into office and considering the shape things are in now anything contrary to the present circumstances would be considered a fix. I know you could have chosen many other adjectives to express the same concerns but instead you seemed to have taken the most racial approach express your deepest fear. It makes me sad to think that as far as we've come as a nation there is still so much hidden racism.
"but I also don't want to forget what it means to be challenged." "Don't Screw Up" is not a challenge, it's an admonishment. "Make us proud" is a challenge. Would you tell an astronaut heading into outerspace for the first time into unchartered territory "Don't Screw Up"? That's your message to someone embarking on an history journey?: "Don't Screw Up"? "Hey, Lewis and Clark, don't screw up, OK?" How about acknowledging the history of this occasion, Reader, while reminding Obama that he carries the hopes and dreams of a lot of people on his back, of ALL races? "Don't Screw Up"? Really? That's the best you guys could come up with. And I find it hilarious that you guys offer a downloadable version on this site. What is someone supposed to do, print it out and frame it as a keepsake of this pivotal moment in U.S. history. "Don't Screw Up". And the fact that you continue to defend that trite, snarky, hipster-ironic decision as sound journalism. And I'm not even throwing the whole race aspect into it, though I could see how someone could. C'mon, just admit it. You fucked up.
Anthony, we took the most racial approach? OK, then so did Michelle: http://tinyurl.com/2huk3c. As did Obama himself: http://tinyurl.com/5upxxp
Contrary to what is being implied by many of the cover's critics, the subtext of this piece is the assumption is that everyone reading the Reader is 100% in the tank for Obama already and have spent two years working to make Nov. 4th happen. The "This" in the banner is supposed to be something intimate between "us" and Obama, and rather than being a racist, cynical attack, this is a grounded, good-humored dose of reality.
Come on, folks. This is a remarkably oversensitive reaction. Racist?? Does that mean that every time someone says something negative about the persident he will risk being branded a racist? That is pathetic, and unworthy of our great republic. to me it was a completely fair and not unhopeful slogan. It shows that our hopes are resting in him, which is pretty optimistic and downright complimentary. it also acknowledges that we are holding our breaths hoping that he is up to the challenge. There also is a dash of of recognition that we have all been burnt before, and we are desperate to quiet the little voice in the back or our minds that says, even when we support the new guy, "We get on our kneees and pray... we won't get fooled again!!" one more thought... the most delightful part about it is that, because Barack is our own hometown guy, for once in its life the plucky lil ol' Reader can speak directly to the soon to be President of the United States via its front page, and have a reasonable hope that the message will cross his line of sight right in your own honor boxes. That is COOL!, and somehow makes it finally hit me that our local guy is the Leader of the Free World.
