I find it amazing they thought this was okay. It is dumb, dumb, dumb. That said, I see what they were trying to do. The look of love between the Obamas on the cover is very genuine and reminds me of real photos of them looking very much in love. I assume the idea was to juxtapose the genuine love the Obamas feel with the insane, paranoid image the right wing paints of them. That message is in there. But I think this cover falls under the category of "if you have to explain the joke it wasn't a good joke." It could have done the exact same thing far more effectively. But I was never a fan of the New Yorker, even if they gave cartoonists like Gorey space. I always found them too precious, too consciously "hip" in that way that makes you think someone is hiding some deep dark secret like alcoholism or a pedophile uncle beneath a facade of "hipper than thou." I think that attempt to rise above the morals of us common folk to make what could have been a funny and intelligent comparison was more than they were able to accomplish.