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Shallow Nation

July 16th, 2008 at 1:33 pm

Video: Barack Obama Larry King Live Interview 7-15-08

Barack Obama, Larry King

Presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama made an appearance on Larry King Live on July 15, 2008.

Finally, on day three of The New Yorker flap, words from the candidate caricatured on the cover in Muslim dress, fist-bumping his gun-toting black-militant wife in the Oval Office.

“I know it was The New Yorker’s attempt at satire. I don’t think they were entirely successful with it,” Democrat Barack Obama tells CNN’s Larry King in a taped interview to air on Larry King Live at 9 p.m. ET. “But you know what? It’s a cartoon, Larry, and that’s why we’ve got the First Amendment.”

Barack Obama and Michelle Obama cartoon on New Yorker Magazine July 21, 2008 cover

Obama’s spokesman, Bill Burton, called the cover art “tasteless and offensive” when it came out on Sunday. Obama took a more detached view today, as you can see in this clip at CNN.

“I think the American people are probably spending a little more time worrying about what’s happening with the banking system and the housing market, and what’s happening in Iraq and Afghanistan, than a cartoon. So I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about it,” he said.

Barack Obama and Michelle Obama cartoon on New Yorker Magazine July 2008 cover

“But didn’t it personally sting you?” King asked.

“No,” Obama said, adding he had “a pretty thick skin” after two years of campaigning. He did say the cartoon “probably fueled some misconceptions about me,” such as false rumors that he is Muslim and doesn’t pledge allegiance to the flag.

“That was their editorial judgment,” he added. “Ultimately it’s a cartoon” and not what Americans “are spending a lot of their time thinking about.”

Source: Obama’s take on New Yorker cartoon: Not entirely successful