Obama Target Taken Down From NJ Boardwalk Game

(Aug. 12) -- A mannequin of President Barack Obama used as a target in a carnival game has been taken down after causing a stir at a Jersey Shore amusement arcade.

Tommy Whalen, manager of Lucky Leo's in Seaside Heights, N.J., decided to remove the caricature Wednesday after patrons objected that it was in bad taste, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported. The game, "Walkin' Charlie," challenges players to hit plates held by rotating mannequins. Other mannequins displayed included those of Osama bin Laden and former Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez.

Caricatures of Saddam Hussein and President Barack Obama are seen in a boardwalk game Aug. 10 at Lucky Leo's in Seaside Heights, N.J.

Mel Evans, AP

Lucky Leo's removed this figure of President Barack Obama in response to negative public reaction and a word from the Secret Service.

Mock-ups of former President George W. Bush and Hillary Rodham Clinton went up in place of Obama. "It's just to show we're not anti-Democrat or anti-Republican," Whalen told the newspaper.

Whalen may have been convinced by more than just public pressure to remove the Obama effigy, telling the Star-Ledger that a Secret Service agent informed him Wednesday that he had stationed himself near the game two months ago to make sure employees weren't urging patrons to throw a ball to "hurt" Obama or that patrons themselves weren't voicing a desire to injure the president.

Obama's "retirement" from the game may be short-lived, however. "Maybe we'll put it back up in a couple of weeks after everything dies down," Whalen told The Star-Ledger.

Read more at The Star-Ledger.