It's satire folks. Lighten up. And that goes for the the people who came up with today's editorial in my newspaper. (I had to water down my cartoon so it wouldn't contrast with the editorial.)

It's the New Yorker, America's best known liberal magazine where editors have already endorsed Barak Obama for President.

So what if a few rednecks in the heartland of America use the cartoon to confirm their unfounded suspicions that the Obama's are Islamic terrorists.

The fact is a staggering one third of Americans actually hold suspicions that Barack Obama has terrorist sympathies based on the fact that he has a name that rhymes with Osama, and because there's a photo of him wearing desert garb while on a trip to East Africa.

It's actually a good thing to get this issue out of the way, because the talk is simmering out there at the picnics and cookouts. There's no better time to air and extinguish the baseless allegations than in the middle of the summer before the real debates get into swing. The New Yorker magazine has probably done Obama a service with this cartoon just by provoking discussion and bringing forth the much needed clearing of the air once and for all.

* * * Update July 21, 2008 * * *

What's worrisome about this controversy is the opposition declared from those within the editorial cartooning profession. Opposition not in the form of dislike for the composition of the illustration but of the satire conveyed.

Fortunately, as the New Yorker controversy fades into history, some columnists have risen to write about the chill surrounding Obama's campaign and its lack of tolerance to mockery directed squarely at the Democratic candidate.