The election of the first Hawaiian born president who is, btw, the first genuine half African president, has had a chilling effect on free speech and freedom of the press.  Because of his mixed racial background, his godlike status among core followers and let's be honest, because of some truly vile depictions of blacks in the past, the AP reports "Cartoonists treading lightly when drawing Obama."  
 
Actually they're drawing lightly (forgive the pun) and carefully, hoping to avoid another incident where the Rev. Al Sharpton, a racist, as he showed in the Tawana Brawley case and numerous bigoted remarks directed against Jews, race hustler (organizes and threatens offending institutions unless they submit to his extortion) and Democratic stalwart (prominently seated at Democratic conventions, first person Caroline Kennedy publicly consulted in her abortive attempt to replace former NY Senator Hillary R. Clinton [D] ) extracted an apology from the NY Post for its chimp cartoon. 
 
The latest victim to succumb to this politically correct terrorism--mindful of the NY Post's capitulation--is the Washington Post which printed an Editor's Note apology  before Sharpton and his local minions could get organized. 

"The headline, illustration, and text of 'Below the Beltway,' a column in The Washington Post Magazine today, may cause offense to readers. The magazine was  printed before a widely publicized incident  last week in which a chimpanzee attacked a badly mauled a woman in Stamford, Conn. In addition, the image and text inadvertently may conjure racial stereotypes that The Post does not countenance. We regret the lapse."