If you want to know why the New Yorker's controversial Barack Obama cover is so controversial, well ... you're on your own.

The cartoon (that's what it is) shows Barack and Michelle Obama in what appears to be the Oval Office. He is wearing Muslim garb. She is dressed like a terrorist street fighter, with a bandolier and AK-47 slung over her shoulder.

The Obamas are giving each other the famous "terrorist fist bump." An American flag burns in the fireplace. Above the fireplace hangs a portrait of Osama bin Laden.

In brief, the cartoon portrays the worst nightmare of the nation's wacko right. It also portrays what is likely to be the subtext of any number of anonymous right-wing spams and whispering campaigns aimed at Obama before the November election.

The cartoon is funny because it puts all of these elements into one silly image. The drawing's title, which can be found inside the magazine, is "The Politics of Fear."

The drawing is not great satire or even great art -- but it is not that bad.

Obama's campaign called the cartoon "tasteless and offensive." John McCain said it was "totally inappropriate."

And suddenly the cartoon is a political issue.

It is easy to understand why McCain would denounce the drawing. It reflects the various untruths that have been told about Obama -- or hinted at -- since he began his campaign. If McCain did not criticize the New Yorker, Obama supporters would tie those lies to McCain's coattails.

But why is Obama making an issue of the cartoon?

Certainly, he is an earnest man, but he has always seemed to have a keen sense of humor and an appreciation of the absurd. Based on his past performance, you might expect him to pass off the incident with a laugh and a quip.

His humorless response indicates that the Obama campaign is really worried about these whispering campaigns.

Unfortunately, they also seem to think that the American people couldn't recognize satire if it bit them on their bare big toes as they ran through the holler.

That's a pretty grim assessment of the general intelligence of the nation.

But most Americans can recognize satire.

To Obama's campaign: The cartoon was a joke -- get over it and lighten up.

If you want to criticize something "tasteless and offensive," let's talk about the nation's nonexistent energy policy and the threat of an economic meltdown.

Then the rest of us will be happy to join you in your outrage.

Editorial by the Emporia Gazette