Has it gotten so difficult to recognize satire?

The Huffington Post's Rachel Sklar took the New Yorker to task for providing an image that plays into all the reactionary stereotypes of "anyone who's tried to paint Obama as a Muslim, anyone who's tried to portray Michelle as angry or a secret revolutionary out to get Whitey, anyone who has questioned their patriotism."

But those who are going to fantasize about the Obamas as jihadists or un-American won't rely on a simple drawing. They'll recycle old pictures of the senator in African robes, or rely on some creative YouTube splicing.

The Obama campaign felt it had to reject the New Yorker cartoon as "tasteless and offensive." The McCain camp quickly reached the same verdict.

Obama was the one man capable of putting the "furor" in its proper context. But he didn't.

Instead of his terse no comment, he should have played one of his strongest cards -- his cool -- responding something like: "Hey, I thought Michelle looked pretty good in camouflage."

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james.rainey@latimes.com