You’ve probably seen the drawing. The one where Barack and Michelle Obama are in the Oval Office, fist-bumping while an American flag burns in the fireplace. It’s maybe the most famous magazine cover of the 21st century. It’s definitely the one that got Barry Blitt the most hate mail.
Honestly, it's kind of wild that a watercolor painting can still cause a national meltdown. But that’s the magic of Barry Blitt New Yorker covers. They don't just sit there looking pretty. They poke you. Sometimes they punch you.
Blitt has been doing this since 1992. He’s produced over 100 covers for The New Yorker, and each one is a masterclass in being "passive-aggressive" with a paintbrush. He uses these soft, almost sweet watercolors to deliver some of the most biting political satire in America. It’s like getting a mean letter written on a cupcake.
The "Politics of Fear" and the Art of the Backfire
Let’s talk about that 2008 cover. It was titled "The Politics of Fear," and the goal was actually to mock the crazy right-wing conspiracy theories of the time. You know, the ones claiming Obama was a secret radical or a terrorist. Blitt put all those whispers into one image to show how ridiculous they were.
The problem? Satire is a risky business.
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When the issue hit the stands, people lost their minds. The Obama campaign called it "tasteless and offensive." Even John McCain’s team condemned it. Blitt’s own mother called him screaming, asking what he’d done. He spent the first few days personally emailing thousands of angry people to explain the joke.
Basically, half the country thought he was making fun of the Obamas, while the other half thought he was making fun of the people who hated the Obamas. It’s a classic Blitt moment: the art is so sharp it cuts the person holding it.
Interestingly, things turned out okay. President Obama eventually requested a signed copy of a different Blitt cover—the one where he's walking on water—to hang in the White House. I guess the "tasteless" label didn't stick forever.
Why Barry Blitt New Yorker Covers Work So Well
If you look at a Blitt cover next to a typical editorial cartoon, you’ll notice a huge difference. Most political cartoons are loud. They use big labels and angry lines. Blitt is quiet.
His style is "deceptively sweet." He uses:
- Traditional pen and ink
- Soft watercolor washes
- Wry, understated humor
- Zero explanatory text (the image has to do all the work)
One of his most poignant pieces is "Deluged" from 2006. It shows George W. Bush and his cabinet sitting in the Oval Office, but the water is up to their necks. They’re just sitting there, completely submerged, acting like everything is fine. It won "Cover of the Year" from the American Society of Magazine Editors. It captured the incompetence of the Katrina response better than a 5,000-word essay ever could.
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The Trump Era and the "Saturation" Problem
By the time 2016 rolled around, Blitt had a new problem: how do you satirize someone who is already a caricature? He’s admitted in interviews that drawing Donald Trump is actually really hard.
"He is a caricature already, and it’s hard to satire a satire," Blitt told the CBC. He described Trump’s hair as "frozen yogurt that’s sort of cascading over a waterfall."
Despite the difficulty, his Trump-era work earned him a Pulitzer Prize in 2020. The judges loved how he "skewered the personalities and policies" of the White House. He did covers showing Trump belly-flopping into a pool of gold coins or the various "missed" handshakes with world leaders.
The Process: From a Ballpoint Pen to the Newsstand
The way a cover happens at The New Yorker is actually pretty old-school. There aren't big "story conferences" or corporate committees.
Usually, it starts with Blitt sitting at his desk, doodling. He sends in dozens of sketches to Françoise Mouly, the legendary art editor. Some are too mean. Some are too obscure. Some are just plain weird.
For example, he once tried to pitch a joke about Diet Coke and Mentos being used as explosives. The editors killed it because they thought it was too niche.
Mouly has said she looks for "one individual thought" that captures the era. It’s a dialogue. Sometimes they’ll take a sketch that was "too provocative" and use it as a springboard for something that actually works for the public.
The Ones That Almost Didn't Happen
Blitt has a habit of pushing the envelope. Back in 1996, he did a cover of two sailors kissing in Times Square—a parody of the famous WWII photo. Back then, it was a huge scandal. He got mountains of physical mail from people who were "done" with the magazine.
Fast forward to today, and that cover is considered a classic. It’s a reminder that what feels "dangerous" in the moment often becomes the historical record later on.
His work is full of these "unmentionables." He visualizes the stuff people are only whispering about.
- "Vetting" (2009): Obama picking a dog while also vetting cabinet members.
- "Narrow Stance" (2008): A reference to the Larry Craig scandal in a Minneapolis airport bathroom.
- "The Book of Life" (2012): A commentary on the digital age vs. physical books.
How to Appreciate the Satire
If you’re looking at Barry Blitt New Yorker covers and you feel a little bit uncomfortable, he’s probably doing his job right.
To really "get" his work, you have to look for the subtext. He isn't just drawing a person; he's drawing an idea. He’s poking at our collective anxieties, our prejudices, and the things we’re too polite to say out loud at a dinner party.
His art isn't meant to be "safe." It’s meant to be a record of what it felt like to live through a specific, messy moment in history.
Next Steps for Art and Satire Fans
- Check out the book Blitt (2017): It's a massive collection of his sketches, rejected covers, and backstories. It gives you a real look at how much work goes into a single image.
- Visit the Condé Nast Store: You can actually buy high-quality prints of his most famous covers. "The Politics of Fear" is still one of their bestsellers, surprisingly.
- Follow The New Yorker's "Cover Story" column: They often post the original sketches and an interview with the artist every Sunday night before the new issue drops.
Whether you love him or think he’s gone too far, you can't deny that Barry Blitt has shaped how we see American politics. One watercolor wash at a time.