Obama's Picture, A Thousand Words, Countless Magazine Covers

UPDATE by Jeff Douglass
New Yorker Paints Obama As Terrorist
So my stack of Barack Obama magazine covers grows by one.

But this one, The New Yorker's Obama terrorist cartoon, goes to the bottom of the pile.

First off, I'd never be caught dead reading a copy of the latte-drinking-elitist-mag that is The New Yorker. And if Obama was really a latte-drinking-elitist (like some of his white supporters are) he would not have come out with an ultra-sensitive response to The New Yorker's "The Politics of Fear" cover story. ... MORE

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Have you been paying attention at the newsstand lately?

On any given day, you may have to use the fingers on both hands to count the covers featuring the caramel-colored, handsomeness that is Presidential nominee Barack Obama.

I love seeing Obama's ubiquitous image for the simple reason that children, of all colors, get to see it too. ...

Barack Obama Magazine Covers

Which cover do you like the most?

RollingStone

The Atlantic Monthly

Time
Oct. 23, 2006

Black Enterprise

New York Magazine

Vibe

Newsweek

NY Daily News

Ebony

Think about it; other than athletes Jackie Robinson and Muhammed Ali, my bet is that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is the only black man to have graced as many magazine covers as Obama. And although former Secretary of State Colin Powell was a media favorite too, his cover appeal didn't extend to pop-culture magazines like Radar, Vibe or RollingStone (twice so far.)

I still remember the iconic magazine images of Dr. King and Malcolm X during my young childhood in the 60's. They looked so powerful and proud. Although I grew up without a father, I felt that somehow those great men were looking out for me. And as I moved through the racial turbulence of busing and dealing with being the "first" and the "only" in a newly integrated school system, I carried the images of those great men with me in my head, and they strengthened me.

Radio phenomenon Wendy Williams cried on air when Obama was declared the presumptive Presidential candidate for the Democratic Party. She cried because her son now believes that he too can be president. For Williams' son, like hundreds of thousands of children all around the world, seeing a black man running for President in America is an awesome, dream opening thing.

It will be many years before the kids today will fully grasp and articulate how seeing a dignified, thoughtful and powerful black man running for president has influenced their lives and world view. My take is that Barack Obama has already changed the world, just by running.