Outlook Gets It Own Back Against Time

Outlook magazine’s upcoming cover story, for the issue dated July 30, calls Barack Obama ‘The Underachiever’. An obvious riposte to Time magazine’s issue dated July 16 featuring Manmohan Singh and the same headline on the cover. Even the sub-heading is similarly worded. Time declared that India needs a reboot and asked if Singh was the right man for the job. Outlook retorts that Obama has similarly failed to reboot the US. The Time cover, which prompted blustery responses from Congress leaders and the Opposition, was followed by another unflattering headline for our PM. British daily The Independent has carried a story titled: ‘Manmohan Singh: India’s saviour or Sonia’s poodle?’ (The title has since been changed.) No doubt the Outlook cover will give Indian politicians something to be smug about. Predictably, it has already fired up our social media. While some are tickled at the magazine’s tit-for-tat move, others have called it childish behaviour. Wall Street Journal India columnist Rupa Subramanya tweeted, “For real? How juvenile is this?” On the other hand, youth Congress member Priyanka Chaturvedi declared on Twitter: “Outlook cover—super like. Period.”