NPR: Target Audience: That Obama Cartoon

Target Audience: That Obama Cartoon

Filed under: Election 2008

Editor's note: Our own Angela Ellis blogged this cartoon of Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama. With the ongoing politicking over race in South Carolina, it seems worth a second look. You can check the original round of comments here.

I pretty much had an immediate and visceral reaction to a cartoon this week labeled "Target Man." I saw it Wednesday -- the same day that a Hillary Clinton supporter at a Dover, New Hampshire, rally introduced the candidate like this: "Some people compare one of the other candidates to John F. Kennedy. But he was assassinated."

It's been clear to most in the press that it was a reference to Barack Obama, whose message of hope and magnanimous public speaking style has been likened to JFK's.

Back to the cartoon. It's from the U.K.'s Guardian Unlimited and billed as cartoonist Steve Bell's commentary on Democrat "Barack Obama's sprint to the White House."

Here's my question: Is this a commentary on Obama's being the biggest threat to his opponents' campaigns, therefore making him the focus of their strategies? Is it a play on how Obama has come under fire by the Clinton camp after his Iowa win? Or is it a reference to stories that many people -- especially some in the African-American community -- feel anxiety and fear for Obama as he advances in the campaign because he could possibly be the target of an assassination attempt? And if it is reference to those fears, is it an insensitive one?

On first glance, I felt the latter -- again, in no small part to the New Hampshire rally comment. But now I'm wondering if that's too reactionary. What if the cartoon showed Mitt Romney, a candidate also heavily pounded by his rivals? Or Hillary Clinton? Would it be offensive to show any other candidate with a target on his or her chest? Or does it just seem wrong because Obama -- as the nation's first viable African-American presidential candidate -- really could be a target for the people whose threats have necessitated 24-hour Secret Service protection for the candidate? What do you guys think?

Laura Conaway

11:16 AM ET | 01-15-2008 | permalink

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