I fear there are many liberals who feel compassionate about the poor downtrodden, including these folks. And, since they too hate Bush and Reagan, they are in lock-step.
The key thing about the cover is that it’s a posed picture. He posed specifically for the magazine. It isn’t a picture that was just taken and used without his permission. It takes away the argument that Obama can’t control what a magazine puts on its cover. He darn well can when he poses for the picture.