PUBLISHED: 11-17-08

Scoop in the Loop

It took guts, Chicago Reader

Covers sell papers. It’s the reason RedEye is so widely read (even if it’s free). If it “pops” off the newsstand, it gets picked up.

I have copies of three different newspapers from the day after the elections. I could never forget the simple, iconic “Mr. President” image and headline that appeared on the front cover of the Chicago Sun-Times. It even ditched the “Still only 50 cents!” tagline that day. As soon as I picked it up, I knew I would later frame it.

Hundreds of thousands of Chicagoans felt the exact same way, and there was such a run on papers that everybody had to print more or charge more to have it FedExed.

The Chicago Reader hit the stands two days after Election Day. I don’t really pick it up anymore since I moved back to Indiana, and to be completely honest, I sometimes forget about it as a news source. But I’m sure people think about The Chronicle the same way.

An illustration of a smiling President-elect Barack Obama appeared on the cover, along with a headline on a banner that read “Don’t Screw This Up.”

My first reaction was to laugh. Others didn’t feel the same way, judging by a response posted later that day by Editor Alison True on ChicagoReader.com, entitled “Some people are angry about our Obama cover.”

Apparently, readers called in to say how deeply offended they were. They alleged that the only reason the Reader cautioned him to not “screw up” is because he was black. The Reader, True pointed out, is not racist. It was only trying to serve its readers by not cheerleading elected officials.

“We were addressing Obama as the person-not the black person-whom we’ve handed an important new job and letting him know that even though we put him there, we’ll be watching,” True wrote. “Would you expect anything else?”

I, for one, didn’t expect it. This was a cover that got people talking. I can’t really remember, in the few years I’ve been reading this weekly, any cover that spoke as loudly to people as this one.

I am also not black, so I can’t say there’s no way it could be offensive. But since the editor came out and said why it was printed, since she explained the motives, hopefully readers know it was not printed in malice.

The Obama cover also makes more sense when you look at the cover that would have run if Sen. John McCain had won on Election Day. It’s the same style illustration, only the banner says, “Please Don’t Die.” Funny, right?

Truly, telling Obama not to screw up is a dig at the experience (or, some people argue, the lack thereof) that people have needled him for ever since he announced his candidacy. People thought he wasn’t qualified. People thought it was wrong that others thought he wasn’t qualified.

It’s also a wake-up call to the euphoric masses celebrating in Grant Park. It was a historic win, and one many thought would never happen in their lifetime. But either candidate would have had a lot on his plate.

Skeptics are looking at our future commander-in-chief with a wary eye because we desperately want this country to be fixed, a country that itself is already screwed up. We want Obama to live up to the promises he made. Hope was his message, and now everyone hopes it was for a reason.

My copy of the cover is getting framed right next to the Chicago Sun-Times that proclaimed “Mr. President.” “Don’t Screw This Up” is probably closer to “Good Luck, We’re Counting On You,” only it’s funnier. And I’m glad the Reader had the guts to say it.

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