Andrew Beaujon ponders Obama's "gaylo":
One might, at this benighted point in print-journalism history, ask what difference the cover of a magazine actually makes. They’re not a huge economic force: Newsweek’s year-end publisher’s statement this past December gave an average of 40,342 single-copy sales per issue, down from 96,334 in 2007. But they still occupy a nice piece of cultural real estate. An article in a newsweekly has as much chance of becoming the focus of cultural conversation as a photo of a falling bear or a review of an Olive Garden in a North Dakota newspaper, but an arresting cover is an assertion that while print magazines’ power may have receded, they’re far from toothless.
The Newsweek tumblr has the outtakes from this week's cover. Refreshingly, Edward Wyckoff Williams tackles the substance of the piece and assails my equation of Obama's journey toward his own racial identity with that of many gay men towards theirs'. I don't see why this insight – backed by Obama's own written words – is somehow illegitimate because I am white. I was merely inferring things from Obama's own autobiography. If Williams disputes my account of Obama's account of his grappling with race as a kid, I'd be eager to see what sources he has in the book for my misunderstanding.
The Dish 