One word.. WOW! I heard some commotion about a comic being published making fun of President Barack Obama. It wasn’t until tonight that I saw the comic. Wow!

Either Rupert Murdoch has got one GIANT set of balls or he has complete morons working for him at the New York Post– the paper owned by News Corp, a company for which Rupert is a major shareholder– and the paper that published the aforementioned comic. The execs at Fox News Channel must even be sitting back and scratching their heads, wondering how this one got out.

One…Two…How Stupid Can I Be?

Let’s see if I can give the Post the benefit of the doubt here. There have a bunch of right-wing nuts running around there since Murdoch took over. They also have a core political philosophy that I don’t agree with. But, I can understand this comic in one way, a way that may not be an overt racist attack on the President. The Post, and many republicans hate this stimulus bill. They don’t like anything about it. In that sense, they must think that even a chimp’ could write this bill.

Evolution Of A Different Sort

The only problem, chimps, monkeys, gorillas, and any other primate you want to include can be mistaken as a racist interpretation, especially when it comes to degrading a President who also happens to be black. If this was Bush, you could easily understand and laugh. Since this is not Bush, you can understand the uproar.

Now, just because Obama happens to be black doesn’t mean he is off limits when it comes to satirization. He is fair game. However, you must understand the delicate nature of racism, especially as it pertains to white-on-black racism. Yes, there is also black-on-white racism. The problem, this country has had more than it’s share of white-on-black racism and neither is acceptable.

I just can’t believe any newspaper would depict an African American as a monkey. I just can’t. Now, I wouldn’t even think twice if I saw a comic of this nature on the web. You expect that, given the heightened freedom of speech that the web offers. But you don’t expect a popular newspaper such as the New York Post to depict Obama as a monkey.

Opportunity Knocks

Of course the usual suspects are taking advantage of this foul-up. I see the Rev. Al Sharpton sticking his head out from the rock he lives under. I’ve never actually seen this guy in a church, only sticking his nose in racial matters, usually making them worse or blowing them out of proportion. I’m sure Obama is getting a good laugh. As if he didn’t already know his political enemies…

Update 02.24.09

In a statement published in the New York Post today, Murdoch said he wanted to “personally apologize to any reader who felt offended, and even insulted.” He said the Post will work to be more sensitive.

This is a bullshit apology. If he felt he did anything wrong, this is what he would have said, “I would like to personally apologize for the offensive and quite insulting nature of this cartoon.” That would have been an apology. What he gave, read between the lines, means “We didn’t do anything wrong. The similarity between a monkey and Obama is a coincidence. We are not offended, so how can any of you be? It’s my paper, I will publish what I want.”