Special Report: U.S. presidential election 2008

A copy of the 'The New Yorker' magazine, featuring an illustration of Barack Obama with a turban and robe, is seen at a newsstand in New York, July 14, 2008. The magazine pokes fun at smears directed at Barack Obama, but the Democratic presidential candidate isn't laughing. The cover portrays the Illinois senator in a turban and robe bumping fists with wife Michelle, who sports an Afro, a rifle and military garb. In the background, an American flag burns in the fireplace. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    WASHINGTON, July 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama's campaign condemned on Monday as "tasteless and offensive" a New Yorker magazine cover that depicts Obama in a turban, fist-bumping his gun-slinging wife.

    "The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Senator Obama's right-wing critics have tried to create. But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree," said Bill Burton, spokesman for the Obama campaign.

    Even Johan McCain, Obama's Republican opponent, agreed with the accusation.

    McCain's spokesman Tucker Bounds said, "we completely agree with the Obama campaign, it's tasteless and offensive."

    The new New Yorker magazine, which goes on sale Monday, includes a long piece about Obama's start in Chicago politics.

    The magazine explained the cover at the start of its news release previewing the issue.

    "On the cover of the July 21, 2008, issue of The New Yorker, in 'The Politics of Fear,' artist Barry Blitt satirizes the use of scare tactics and misinformation in the presidential election to derail Barack Obama's campaign."

    New Yorker's editor-in-chief David Remnick defended the cover cartoon.

    "The intent of the cover is to satirize the vicious and racist attacks and rumors and misconceptions about the Obamas that have been floating around in the blogosphere and are reflected in public opinion polls," Remnick said.

    "What we set out to do was to throw all these images together, which are all over the top and to shine a kind of harsh light on them, to satirize them. That's part of what we do."

Obama calls for shifting focus from Iraq to Afghanistan

    WASHINGTON, July 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said Monday that he would set a goal of having all U.S. combat brigades out of Iraq by summer 2010 and shift more resources to fighting al-Qaida in Afghanistan.

Obama candidacy raises hope of better racial relations

    WASHINGTON, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The candidacy of Barack Obama, who was the first black man won U.S. presidential nomination of a major party, has raised hopes among blacks and whites for a better racial relationship, a new poll finds.