Sat-ire n. 1. A literary work in which vices, follies, stupidities, abuses, etc. are held up to ridicule and contempt.

So, a Muslim and an Afro-wearing militant, one a presidential candidate, walk on to a New Yorker magazine cover.

Stop us if you've heard this one. Stop us if you recognize this instantly as a spoof on an existing satire.

Seemingly everyone involved in the presidential race — including John McCain's campaign — labeled as tasteless The New Yorker cover that features Obama in Islamic dress fist-bumping wife Michelle, in Afro and carrying an AK-47, near a portrait of Osama bin Laden.

If ever there was a moment in this campaign when the politicos demonstrated that they were out of touch, this was it.

We'll spell it out: The New Yorker cover satirizes all those nasty falsehoods and insidious stereotypes that this campaign's wackos have been trying to make stick to both Obama and his wife. In other words, this cover says that the folks doing this are six beers and that plastic webbing short of a six-pack.

The campaign was not amused. Presumably, this is because they fear delusional folks who might mistake satire for fact and use it against the candidate. Sigh. Can we stop trying to tailor campaigns to lowest common denominators?

Pundits are now writing about whether the candidate has a sense of humor and whether humor is out of bounds with an African-American candidate while McCain's age is still fair game. We fully expect Obama to react with a standup routine to prove everyone wrong.

We've got an even better idea. Just lighten up.

REPRINTED FROM THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL.

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