According to the Tennessee creators, Mark Whitlock and Bob DeMoss, the box was meant as political satire.  In response to the criticism that the images of Obama on the box were racial stereotypes, Whitlock said, “We had some people mention that to us, but you think of Newman’s Own or Emeril’s—there are tons and tons of personality-branded food products on the market.  So we’ve taken that model and, using political satire, have highlighted his policies, his position changes.”  The distinction is that Paul Newman and Emeril Lagasse were in control of their own image creation, whereas with Obama Waffles, someone else—namely, two white men—are doing the tinkering.  This is actually a massive difference.

As Bruce Watson at Slashfood explains, political satire is one thing, but racist stereotypes and playing on xenophobic are quite another.  “What is neither amusing nor fair is the box’s depiction of Obama dressed as a Muslim and its statement that the container should be oriented toward Mecca,” Watson writes.  “Similarly, the drawing of Obama clad in a serape and sombrero, erasing the border on a recipe card seems like a general-purpose critique of the Democratic Party, not a fair attack on Barack Obama.  Both images play on the lowest standards of racism and xenophobia, and both are particularly tasteless when applied to this particular candidate.” 

At a Values Voter Summit last week, where the creators were vending Obama Waffles at warp speed, CNN’s Lou Dobbs apparently exclaimed, “My wife will love this!” and was photographed with a box.  The creators, who must’ve made a mint at $10 a box, have since cut off sales, saying they had not realized the boxes had “offensive material.”