How can CBS News explain this photoshopped picture? What possible explanation could they have?
Accompanying their election coverage on their website, CBS published this photoshopped picture of a half black/half white President Obama with Republicans and Democrats on either side of him as if to say he is split between the two.
Needless to say Obama’s white side is on the side of the GOP’s John Boehner and Eric Cantor. His black half is on the side of Harry Reid and Charles Schumer. Are they saying that Obama will have to act white with Republicans?
How could anyone think that changing the President’s skin tone like this would be a good idea? This has got to be either one of the most racially insensitive and just plain ol’ stupid photoshops a major news organization has done since Time Magazine blackened OJ Simpson’s face. The idiocy of this is only heightened by the fact that Obama’s heritage is mixed.
Who knows who did the actual photoshopping but the pic can be found at CBS News website.
(CMR HT to frequent reader Paul Schneible for bringing this to our attention.)
November 3, 2010 at 6:15 pm
You're right. It has subtle but toxic implications i.e. GOP is for white folks. But I wouldn't bust a gasket over it because no one takes the Dems seriously anymore. The Tea Party has supported the most number of minorities in the history of Conservative politics so there goes their racial suggestions. Besides, this black-white thing reminds me of the late Michael Jackson (I know he's not white but he wanted his skin tone to be light.) But he goes beyond race and into gender – kind of. Like neither white or black, man or woman. (I read that somewhere, maybe in a tabliod, like the Natl. Cath. Reporter, while waiting in the grocery line.) Does Obama go there too?
November 3, 2010 at 8:04 pm
No wonder no one watches CBS any more! Has anyone at FOX seen this?
November 3, 2010 at 8:19 pm
its amazing how in so many pictures of Obama he has his nose up in the air, symbolic of anything…
November 3, 2010 at 8:37 pm
Way to go Paul! nice catch.
November 3, 2010 at 9:24 pm
What's CBS?
Looks like the tan lept off Boehner and onto Obama.
November 3, 2010 at 9:38 pm
That is downright weird.
November 3, 2010 at 9:47 pm
Absolutely creepy.
November 3, 2010 at 9:48 pm
They didn't change the skin tone; it's an optical illusion. Put your thumbs over his forehead and chin, and it stops looking odd. The "crack" in his face provides a stark divide that, because the left side of his face is in shadow, makes it look to the eye like his skin was shaded. Didn't they not notice? Did they still intend this effect? Probably. They could have just swapped left for right. But no reason to think they literally doctored his skin color.
November 3, 2010 at 9:59 pm
Maybe since Katie is out seeing the Great Unwashed, maybe O is halfwashed with the midterms now?
November 3, 2010 at 10:01 pm
Um, if you want to get technical, they also then Photoshopped the dome of the nation's capitol to be half white and half black too. Maybe it's not about black and white and is about dividing down the half and the President having to work with both sides. THERE is an idea! Why is it always race? Would it have been better if they had actually shaded one side with red tones and one side with blue tones? Seriously, people, get a life.
November 3, 2010 at 10:08 pm
I agree with Anon 5:48. I don't think they photoshopped Obama to look half white and half black. Rather, they only added cracks down the center of his face. The black/white thing is the actual shadow in his unaltered image.
November 3, 2010 at 10:14 pm
Same optical illusion for the capitol. Whether it's a photo or some other illustration made to be naturalistic, the sun is shining on the right side, leaving the left in shadow. The building itself is round (as is a human face), so without the center divide, you'd percieve it as a smooth gradient.
Look, it's splitting hairs. I agree with you, the editorial choices here are clear, but there is no actual photoshopping of the shadings. Maybe I should stop picking nits on the internet…
November 3, 2010 at 10:20 pm
Boehner and Canter are darker than shumer and Reid
November 3, 2010 at 10:33 pm
The flag pin is on the "white" side. Obviously, CBS is saying Democrats aren't real Americans. Or do they mean that only white people are real Americans?
November 3, 2010 at 11:16 pm
What's black and white and red all over?
November 4, 2010 at 12:11 am
I don't know what CBS is thinking, but they are dumber than I believed, and I already thought they were very dumb.
-Meremortal
November 4, 2010 at 8:26 pm
Nice post. I am Aaron Worthing, guest blogger at Patterico, and i posted on it, giving you links and all that goodness.
And i manage to work in a pretty decent star trek joke.
http://patterico.com/2010/11/04/wtf-cbsap-creates-a-picture-of-obama-with-one-side-of-his-face-darker-than-the-other/
November 5, 2010 at 1:28 am
Obama is a black raciest PIG, against white people, who should just disappear for the earth. The GOP won this election. Praise the LORD. Obama should realize what the bible says about Slavery, innit?
And yes, may he might have a big one (all blacks do), but as I learned this before my AA days, but it doesn't give him the right to stomp on us little people. I might not be educated, but I'm not ignorant!!
November 5, 2010 at 2:14 am
Maybe it really represents the culture of death on one side and the culture of life on the other. No wait – Obama isn't split on this – he's all about death….
November 7, 2010 at 5:53 am
@adreinne
Impostor Troll alert!