Whiners in Washington

The title of the cartoon is "Tired of the Whining", the words are being used to describe the action taking place in the cartoon. The Elephant, symbol of the Republican party, and the Donkey, symbol of the Democratic party, are used to symbolize their respective parties in this cartoon. The artist means that the people who are in control in Washington are stressing out the tax payers, making them tired and annoyed. Let us take a closer look at the cartoon, we see the two parties, in a high chair, usually used by a baby. Also, the objects that are falling off of the high chair in the cartoon are usually used by babies. I think the cartoon's message is that the tax payers of the country are tired of all the whining that takes place in Washington, and instead of being productive they are too busy bickering like babies over budget blunders. This seems to come from the moderate perspective, not taking any side, but displaying a common wrong in the country. This cartoon relates to the near shutdown of the government and the budget debates that have been taking place to prevent it.
The ironic part of this cartoon is that the policy makers in Washington that are so quick to bicker like children are the exact opposite, they are adults that continue to debate and whine like babies without producing results.


This Cartoon was published by Randy Bish of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review on 8-April-11
I found it on: http://www.politicalcartoons.com/cartoon/013833ed-9bca-4421-b9be-7e61c87e2ba0.html

Doppleganger Dilimmas

The title of this cartoon is "Barack vs. Obama"  The words of the title describe the two characters that are the focus of the cartoon. President Obama is used as a symbol but he is used to represent two different times. The Obama shown without the suit jacket is used to portray the current President Obama, and the foreign involvement, and the Health care bills, and the budget crisis that followed, while the other is used to portray President-elect Obama with progressive promises of prosperity. The previous synopsis of the symbols in the cartoon  is what I believe is the artist's meaning is. In the cartoon, the President seems to be choking a clone of himself. The message here comes directly from the short passage above the picture, "teaching a lesson". The artist believes that the President needs to be taught a lesson in order to improve his approval by the people. This cartoon is related to our in-class discussions of the role and powers of the president. Through our discussions we have learned that the president does not have half as much power as his constituents believe he does, and is responsible for half of the problems with this country. The irony of this cartoon stems from the fact that President Obama is being shown here as if he was a different person with different policies before assuming office, when in reality he had the same values, stressed the same policies, and had the same progressive views before he gave his inaugural speech.

This Cartoon was published by Dwayne Booth of Mr. Fish on 9-April-2011,
I found it on : http://www.politicalcartoons.com/cartoon/43b1d3d4-70e0-4d87-aed9-03430bcb876b.html

The Blame Game

The title of the cartoon is government shut down, it describes the recent talks of government shut down that has been going on in Washington. The artist uses the symbols of the Democrats (Donkey) and the Republicans (Elephant). The cartoon depicts the two parties blaming each other for the government shut down that is believed to be upcoming if the budget crises cannot be resolved. The message is that the two are spending more time blaming one another for the shutdown rather than putting all their effort into fixing it. This cartoon comes from the moderate point of view, favoring neither party and depicting each one equally guilty. The Irony of this cartoon is that they actually are equally guilty. If both parties could simply agree then the shut down most likely would not occur. Also, the two seem to be engaged in a childish blame game of sorts, depicting the two as immature, which could be a reference to the behavior of our esteemed leaders.

This Cartoon was published on the 6th of April, at 12 Pm by Daryl Cagle on MSNBC.com
I found it at : http://www.politicalcartoons.com/cartoon/a084de61-eb90-4746-9319-e5ec24bf57a7.html