The news was that a chimpanzee was shot to death in Connecticut when it attacked a friend of the owner. In a cartoon published by the New York Post, it depicted two cops standing over the chimp’s body with one saying, “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.”

First of all, it was not funny.

Second of all, the two stories were not related in any way.

I tried to stretch it wide. Did Obama attack his owner’s friend with the stimulus bill? If anything, he was accused by the Republicans of satisfying the Democratic base with the bill. So the Democratic base, which we can arguable say is Obama’s owner, is satisfied. Why should Obama’s owner call the cops to come and shoot him?

Why should the cop be saying that they would find someone else to write the next stimulus bill? Obama said there might be need for another stimulus. Does the cartoon mean that Obama will not be president for much longer to sign another bill if this one doesn’t work? If so, who do the cops represent? Who are the people with the power to shoot Obama to death?

I tried to reason with the cartoonist, Sean Delonas, but could not see his point. It does not help that in the past the same cartoonist has been accused of drawing racist and insensitive cartoons.

Already, Al Sharpton and other anti-racist crusaders are on New York Post’s neck with protests. They are having news conferences, picketing New York Post headquarters. They are not setting people on fire as some people would have done in some parts of the world.

New York Post is out there apologizing for those it’s offended while maintaining that the cartoon was not meant as a racist statement.

I only wish the newspaper had explained the joke -or just the comparison.

If the New York Post found it necessary to compare Obama with a chimpanzee, imagine what their cartoonist would have done had Obama not been a handsome black man.

It tells you that though a black man can be president, in some racist quarters, he is still seen as the traditional black stereotype of an ape. Sad, isn’t it?

I am sure that Obama will laugh it all off. When he looks himself in the mirror each morning, he will not only say, “I’m the President,” he will also say, “I look good.”

Take that, New York Post.