Obama's Opening Pitch

In this cartoon, Obama is about to pitch a flaming baseball; from the smoke of the flames appear the words "Mitt Romney", "Supreme Court", "Health Care", and "House GOP". The flame is fueled by the "Election Year", in the form of gasoline, and Obama looks, if anything, calm. The expectation among some people is that Obama will most likely win re-election this year. The resources he commands far exceed those of the Republican candidates, he has a good head-start over the Republicans due to the prolonged primary, and he is looking at a full-slate of political ventures that will keep him in the public eye. If he succeeds in his efforts, he will likely be able to improve on his less-than-worrisome public opinion rating, and will hard-press the other candidates to try and beat him, which the author shows here. It is ironic that Obama douses his baseball in gasoline, what with the raising gas prices recently, which perhaps the author was considering; but then, Obama has protective gloves on, so the author may believe that the issue will not majorly affect him, if at all.

Republicans on Board

In the above cartoon, someone who looks to be a Romney Campaign staff member comments "great - we finally got that tied down", referring to a giant elephant (labeled 'GOP') that is tied to the top of a car ("Romney '12"). After a protracted primary process, it looks as though Mitt Romney has become, or is very close to being, the "inevitable" nominee for the general election. The main problem for Romney, who is otherwise an electable candidate with solid credentials, has been that he is not conservative enough for the Republican party to get behind. This has been one of the main attacking points by his Republican Rivals, but now he appears to be pulling away. The whole message does not seem biased; anyone paying attention to the race could understand the tough job of selling Romney's campaign to the GOP. The author depicts this by showing the GOP as a gigantic elephant, possibly a symbol of the effort or burden required to get the party on-board with his campaign. It's interesting to note the size of Romney's car compared to the rest of the "party" - it is much bigger. Many have opined that Romney is a rather weak choice for a front runner, and lament that some other high-profile Republican did not run; the race is about more than just Romney, it is about the Republican party, or rather which party is running the country. And some just don't believe Romney is up for the task of knocking off Obama.

This is another cartoon about the Obama Care debate. This one struck me, though, because it related to our recent discussions about the Supreme Court justices, particularly Justice Kennedy, with the Penn law students. Here, "The Court has heard the Obama Care case", and says "Now What?"; in a bedroom somewhere else, a group of politicians on either side of a sleeping man, with one commenting "Now we wait to see on which side of the bed Justice Kennedy gets up!". The debates have been rather split, and many see it as a party issue more so than a problem with the bill itself, though there are points that have been important in this disagreement, such as the mandatory payment requirement for health plans. Justice Kennedy is known for being a tie-breaking vote at times in the Court, and the author depicts him almost as if he's like the Groundhog's Day groundhog, randomly deciding to adopt either a Democratic or Republican stance depending on the day.

"Testing the Reflexes of Obamacare"

This Cartoon is about the debates over Obama Care between Republicans and Democrats in the Supreme Court. The "Court Liberals", "conservatives", and a man resembling Obama are all at a doctor's office. The Liberal is checking Obama's reflexes calmly, and with a small gavel. The Conservative has a look of sneaky anticipation, and is about to "check" Obama's reflexes with a large mallet. The cartoon echoes the real-life proceedings of the debates on the merits of Obama's proposed program. Liberals have shown much support for it, but conservatives have been vehemently opposed to it, which has been shown by this year's Republican presidential candidates. The author seems to see the Conservatives as being biased based on party, mostly; there is no other distinction between the two other than their political stances, illustrated on their suits. Indeed, many issues seem to be debated over simply because of the parties of the involved politicians, not the issues themselves.

The Stand Your Ground Before He Stands His Ground Defense

A man with a recently fired gun is being questioned by a police officer; "I had a reasonable fear the neighborhood watch guy following me was going to fear for his life and shoot...so I shot him first.", which the cop replies to affirmatively: "Makes sense to me." The author of this cartoon is showing the absurdity of the situation and laws surrounding the Trayvon Martin case, where a neighborhood watch man though a young black teen was suspicious (for no real reason other than, maybe, race), chased him, and shot him while claiming self defense; and, thanks to a strange Florida self-protection law, the man was not taken into custody, despite his being told not to pursue the teen by the police, which he did anyway. The man instigated a quarrel with the boy, who noticed his pursuer and was scared himself, and then shot him dead. This cartoon also shows a possible repercussion from this situation; the author asserts that it would not be too strange for someone, in a similar situation, to shoot a neighborhood watch person who makes them fear for their own safety. The Florida law makes no sense here, and the man who killed Trayvon had no good reason for doing what he did, which the author makes very clear here. The case has garnered international attention, and the law will be seriously questioned as people worldwide call for the shooter's arrest.

Etch-a-sketch



In this Cartoon, "Shaken Mitt", Mitt Romney is shown shaking some random person in the air, asking "How do you make this darn thing work?", to which a Romney Campaign advisor replies, "Sir, I believe that's called a 'person'". Romney has long been criticized for his inability to connect with middle class values, since he made his living in the private sector with corporations and stocks, which the author notes here. The main idea, though, has to do with the recent comment by a Romney campaign advisor, who said Romney's campaign itinerary was as erasable as an etch-a-sketch. This reinforced what many people believe about Romney, about how he changes his ideology and policies in order to gain favor with voters. Romney later explained that the advisor only meant that a different campaign strategy is used, and that the policy stays the same, but the damage is done; more people will remember the first thing they heard, which was about the changing-ness of Romney's policies. The author clearly believes that Romney doesn't understand middle class people, and also flip-flops, which is clear by the ignorance of Romney and his advisor in this cartoon.

"Lines"

The president arrives somewhere in a limousine, and asks the large line of people "Is this the Line for March Madness Tickets?", to which they respond "This is the unemployment line." The author seems to believe that the President is out of touch with the problems of the not-upper-class citizens. He also seems to be taking a shot at the President's affinity for basketball and his annual March Madness predictions, which are aired on television; the author obviously thinks the president should be focusing on more pressing issues than March Madness, like unemployment. The unemployment rate is still very high, and, obviously, will be a deciding issue in November's election, which the author makes clear with the giant line of unemployed people in the cartoon.