Reply #95: it was conceived as a joke, for what it's worth

[foo_bar]

I couldn’t figure out what this portrait was about, so I wrote the artist, Lukas Ketner, to find out. Here’s what he wrote:

Hello Jill,

The illustration in question is meant to be a humorous depiction of Portland’s (and perhaps much of Oregon’s) democratic population’s preference of Obama over Clinton. The picture makes the joke that Portland is in love with Obama, hence the harlequin romance novel treatment. Originally we were going to do a similar cover with Obama making out with Portlandia (a Lady Liberty-style statue that has oft represented our fair city in local cartoons), but we felt that it wouldn’t read as well outside of Portland.

http://www.writeslikeshetalks.com/2008/05/16/obama-editorial-portrait-artist-lukas-ketner-explains-wilmette-week-illustration/

The alt cover in question provides a little more tongue-in-cheek context ("We <3 Barack / Read who else we want you to fall for this election in WW's endorsement guide, p.16"):