AMERICA’S POLITICAL & DAILY CARTOONISTS REALLY KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON

...A classic political cartoon from the 2008 campaign

Want to understand what each political party stands for and what America thinks about them? Just read the daily funnies and the editorial cartoons.

As many of my readers may know from my previous columns, I’m one of those individuals that believes that history has shown that the daily newspaper cartoons have a unique capability. I have always felt that from the very first published cartoon, the daily newspaper funnies and the single-frame political cartoons have always shown where the American public’s attitude is in any given decade.

The content of today’s daily’s comic strips such as Gary Larson’s “Far Side”, Gary Trudeau’s, “Doonesbury”, Borgman & Scott’s, “Zits”, Brian Crane’s “Pickles”, Scott Adams’, “Dilbert” and Wiley’s “Non Sequitur” are good examples of where the American public’s attitudes on culture and style are demonstrated. And these daily funnies also sometimes offer a look at the nation’s a political leanings.

But it’s the single-frame, political cartoons, that really zero-in on the nation’s politics.

One of my favorite political cartoonists is Tom Toles, who is regularly published in the Washington Post. Mr. Toles’ cartoons continually “hit-the-nail-on-the-head” when showing where the two political parties are in the current political landscape.

Last week, Toles did it again.

In the January 27th single-frame cartoon, Toles offers his regularly drawn Republican Elephant character that is dressed as a high-end restaurant waiter discussing the desert menu with a large, over-weight business man wearing a button labeled “The Rich”.

The waiter is asking which of the following items this wealthy, obese patron would like for his dessert:

The elephant waiter is holding the dessert menu asking, “Would you like the,”

“Candy 999 Cain”
a “Ras-Perry Shortcake”
a “Michelious Fruitcake”
some “Pig-Newt-ons”
or
a “Wafer-Thin Mitt”

In the cartoon, the wealthy business man just keeps saying “oh my” after each dessert item, while not agreeing on any of them.

Does this sound kind of familiar, and doesn’t it honestly demonstrate most of the GOP’s position over the last few Republican primary months.?

In one single panel, Tom Toles has summed up what has been going on within the GOP primaries since day one.

The only “whack-a-doodles” left out of the Toles cartoon was him not making any reference to Sarah Palin or Donald Trump, who rightfully were never officially running anyway.

And after the president’s combination State of the Union (SOTU) / 2012 Campaign Speech, the Republican’s are now probably considering just how far they still have to go in order to beat the president in November.

Let’s face it. It’s going to be either a “Newt” or a “Mitt” for the Republicans. That is unless some other GOP superman with millions of campaign finance dollars steps into the race. As of today, with only 9 months to go and with the US economy and unemployment headed in the president’s direction, that option doesn’t appear that it’s likely to happen.

In addition, with President Obama now in 100% “Campaign Mode”, which is his most effective position as a politician, his approach is much more positive when compared to his opposition’s positions.

As expected, the Republicans basically want to keep the status-quo. But in addition, they are demanding the following:

>>> The GOP wants to make the tax-cuts for the rich permanent.
>>> To get rid of the Affordable Health Care Act (Obamacare) of which American’s are just now starting to see that it is for their benefit.
>>> To drop the new regulations on Wall Street that will prevent a repeat of the devastation that happened back in 2008.
>>> To falsely deny that the gap between the rich and the poor was due to their direct efforts of the past two decades.
>>> To get rid of the EPA and the Department of Education.
>>> To keep the poor, the elderly, the younger voters and the minorities from voting.
>>> To get rid of all labor unions, including those for police and fire departments.
>>> They are against upward mobility for any hard working poor Americans working their way into the middle-class.
>>> They are against all Americans having a minimum or a living hourly wage.
>>> And they want to keep government subsidies going to the oil and coal companies.

As Obama tours the country he is making it clear the differences between the Democrats and the GOP.

Obama continues to sound his theme, perhaps most effectively when he decried policies that allow billionaire Warren Buffett to pay a lower income-tax rate than does his longtime secretary, Debbie Bosanek. And he made this point even more clear when the president asked Ms. Bosanek to sit with the first lady, Michelle Obama, in her box during the SOTU address.

The other item that the president is making clear as he tours the country is to stress what happened in the past that made this country great and what needs to be done again.

The following is what the president presented while visiting his American supporters in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“We don’t begrudge financial success in this country. We admire it. When Americans talk about folks like me paying my fair share of taxes, it’s not because they envy the rich. It’s because they understand that when I get a tax break I don’t need and the country can’t afford, it either adds to the deficit or somebody else has to make up the difference — like a senior on a fixed income, or a student trying to get through school, or a family trying to make ends meet."

“That’s not right. Americans know that’s not right. They know that this generation’s success is only possible because past generations felt a responsibility to each other, and to the future of their country, and they know our way of life will only endure if we feel that same sense of shared responsibility.”

The president went on to stress that this sense of community in the country is what needs to be accomplished again, not the “everyone is on their own” or the GOP’s position of, “you must pull yourself up by your own boot straps”, even if you don’t have any boot straps. This is the consummate conservative Republican position.

But from the GOP’s point of view, Obama’s position on shared responsibility is considered ridiculous. The Republicans instead seem very eager to double down on their “greed is good” mantra and their, “you shouldn’t expect any help from anyone else”..

Indiana Governor, Mitch Daniels, who delivered the Republican response to the SOTU, offered nothing positive as an alternative to what the president’s speech offered. He provided no new ideas and he basically supports the same laissez-faire policies that got the country into this mess.

Where the Republicans are coming from can be summed up by a statement from the columnist Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post when he said, “The Republicans, who are running their party, they laugh at the concepts of fairness and collective responsibility. They may soon find that the joke is on them.”

I totally agree.

Copyright G.Ater 2012

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