奧巴馬遭政治漫畫惡搞 變身恐怖分子
Barack Obama's campaign decried Monday a satirical cartoon on the cover of The New Yorker magazine showing the US Democratic presidential hopeful wearing Islamic dress while his wife holds a Kalashnikov.
The influential weekly defended its cover, titled "The Politics of Fear," as a critique of unfounded allegations during the campaign that have attempted to paint Obama, who is Christian, as a closet radical Muslim.
"The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Senator Obama's right-wing critics have tried to create," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said.
"But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree," he said in a statement.
The campaign of Obama's Republican rival, John McCain, took his side.
"We completely agree with the Obama campaign that it is tasteless and offensive," spokesman Tucker Bounds said.
The cartoon drawn by Barry Blitt shows the couple standing in the White House's Oval Office with an American flag burning in the fireplace under a portrait of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Obama wears a robe and turban while his wife Michelle is in military fatigues with a Kalashnikov strapped to her back. The couple also give each other a fist bump -- a common greeting they have given each other in public.
"Our cover 'The Politics of Fear' combines a number of fantastical images about the Obamas and shows them for the obvious distortions they are," said New Yorker editor David Remnick.
The editor noted that the magazine includes two "very serious" articles about Obama -- a commentary and a 15,000-word reporting piece on the candidate's political education and rise in Chicago.
（美國民主黨總統候選人）巴拉克•奧巴馬的競選陣營於本週一對《紐約客》雜誌封面刊登的一幅諷刺漫畫表示強烈不滿。在這幅漫畫中，奧巴馬身穿穆斯林傳統服裝，而他的夫人則肩挎一把卡拉什尼科夫衝鋒槍。
這本頗具影響力的週刊辯解說，這幅名爲《恐怖政治》的漫畫旨在抨擊競選過程中攻擊奧巴馬的一些不實言論。一些反對人士指責身爲基督教徒的奧巴馬其實是個“穆斯林”激進分子（譯者注：影射其與恐怖分子有牽連）。
奧巴馬的發言人比爾•波頓說：“《紐約客》也許正如他們的一個員工所解釋的，認爲這幅漫畫是在諷刺那些試圖醜化奧巴馬的右翼評論。”
他在一份聲明中稱：“但大多數讀者看見的卻是一些無聊、帶有攻擊性的東西。而我們也同意這種看法。”
奧巴馬的競選對手、共和黨候選人約翰•麥凱恩也對這幅漫畫提出批評。
他的發言人特科•邦澤說：“我們完全同意奧巴馬競選陣營的看法，這幅漫畫的確是毫無品味，而且帶有攻擊性。”
這幅漫畫的作者是巴里•布里特，畫中的奧巴馬伕婦站在白宮的橢圓辦公室裏，一旁的壁爐里正燃燒着一面美國國旗，而壁爐上方則掛着基地組織頭目奧薩馬•本-拉登的畫像。
畫中的奧巴馬身穿長袍、頭纏長巾，而他的夫人米歇爾則身着軍裝，肩挎衝鋒槍，夫妻倆還在互相擊拳致意 —— 這是二人在公衆場合常用的致意方式。
《紐約客》編輯大衛•瑞姆尼克說：“這幅封面漫畫組合了一系列醜化奧巴馬的荒謬形象，讓人一眼就能看出這明顯歪曲了事實。”
他說，該雜誌還刊登了兩篇關於奧巴馬的 “非常嚴肅”的文章，包括一篇評論和一篇長達15000字的紀實報告。這份報告講述了奧巴馬的政治背景及其在芝加哥成長崛起的經歷。
Vocabulary:
unfounded:沒有根據的；不真實的
fantastical:空想的；捕風捉影的
