You're not president yet. And while I truly hope you will be soon, I don't quite have the same faith in my fellow Americans that you do to make it happen (I currently have $60 in wagers that McCain will win in November - any takers?). You see, most people that share this great nationality of ours think you're a lot like the guy in the picture to the right. Complete with flags burning in the fireplace and portraits of Bin Laden mounted on the wall.
Which was the point.
I'm not morally aghast that this cover was published, like all the of the uppity liberals who think this will only feed the fears of many Americans (the Americans we need to be worried aren't exactly reading Hendrik Hertzberg's skewering of the Bush administration or checking in on David Denby's movie reviews - sorry. Do they even sell this magazine south of the Mason Dixon line?)
No the Americans we need to be worried about are the ones who barely even know how to pronounce your name, Senator, or that you just edged out Hilary in the primaries. The ones who will learn that there is a presidential election coming up from all the tv ads they will see in late October and will pull the lever 100 times for a white, war hero named McCain over a young black man named Obama, if they could. And I think they can in Florida.
They're the same Americans who complain about the rising cost of fuel but drive SUVs they can't afford and believe that it is their inalienable right to do so.
The same Americans who think 2nd cousins are plenty removed enough.
Sadly, they're the same Americans who might just catch enough of the nightly news to see your tour of the Middle East and question your association with Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, because you're not the president yet.
Slate.com sort of beat me to the punch on this one, but it does seem odd that a man who has a lot of work to do before becoming America's first black president is behaving like one in a part of world that would like nothing better.
A bit presumptuous some might say, even if some don't really know what presumptuous means.
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