What is Satire?

Today brought a national firestorm over the cover of the latest New Yorker magazine.

Reportedly, the Obama and McCain campaigns are both offended at the cartoon depictions of Barack and Michelle Obama. The couple is shown in the White House Oval Office exchanging the now infamous "fist pump." He's in Middle Eastern garb, she's in combat fatigues, Afro hairstyle, and AK47 machinery across her chest. In the fireplace, an American flag is burning, and above the mantel is a framed drawing of Osama bin Laden.

OK, now, People...do you really think one of the oldest, most sophisticated, most liberal magazines in America would make fun of the Obamas and risk bringing aid and comfort to the more conservative, more extreme elements who truly believe such depictions are realistic? Not a chance. It's the New Yorker being itself again: hip, wry, sophisticated, informed, satirical. And, dare I assert, "educated."

Which brings up another question, the answer to which perhaps is too much taken for granted by older, more experienced, better educated Americans, e.g., New Yorker readers. To wit: exactly what IS satire? Answer: "A literary work in which irony, derision, or wit in any form is used to expose folly or wickedness." That's from the American Heritage Dictionary of nearly 40 years ago, when definitions were clearer and better understood, apparently.

Meanwhile, both the Obama and the McCain camps must be thrilled at a new opportunity to seek more voters by blasting the liberal New York media. Talk about irony!