Tuesday

Political Cartoons Surrounding President Obama

President Obama faces an array of problems in our modern times. In this cartoon, the "party crashers" and the smaller man on the white house states, is all of Obama's challenges. The party crashers are larger, signifying the importance of the problems and how large each problem presents it self. The party party crashers represent Obama's challenge the economy, Afghan War, and a new Health Care Bill.

The war in Iraq began when President Bush declared war on them during his presidency. Previously, the United States had been Alli's with Iraq even under their dictator, Saddam Hussein. The United States even provided weapons for the dictator, who killed thousands of his own people. The United States however, began to realize that Saddam Hussein needed to be taken out of power. When September 11, 2001 occurred, with the Twin Towers collapsing, the United States felt that this was the time to eliminate Saddam Hussein. At the time then Senator Obama opposed the war and found no sense going into combat with them due to the fact that 9/11 had not been proven to be a plan schemed by the Iraqi's. During the Bush Administration however, the United States attempted setting up a democracy in Iraq. Now it would seem senseless to pull out of Iraq because then the progress would disappear, but staying does not promise any progress as well. The cartoon above depicts this situation. The two characters walking by are talking and say "The White House is changing their policy", as a man changes the marker to "We can't leave Iraq because it's going ... Well". Obama receives much criticism on his decisions on Iraq for this very purpose. Recently he announced that he will be sending more troops in hope of starting to deploy them back to the United States by 2011.

Another topic among the American people and politician's, including Obama, is his decision to release the detainees from Guantanamo Bay. Guantanamo Bay stands as a American detainment camp in Cuba, used for prisoners captured in Afghanistan. President Obama wants to close the camp down for numerous reason. First off, the detainees that are held in Guantanamo Bay are not on American soil, therefore they do not hold the same rights as an American. Previously, the detainees were also brutally tortured during the Bush administration. Some detainees have been in the prison for over 7 years and have not seen trial yet because they are not on American soil. Obama's proposal is that he wants to move them to a prison in Thomson, Illinois. The people of Thomson do not show fear and have faith that the detainees will not escape. Other political figures strongly disagree with Obama's proposal because they think closing Guantanamo, also known as Gitmo, poses dangerous situations for the American people. The cartoon to the left shows Uncle Sam, a political symbol of the United States, pondering about human rights. He muses "Human rights? What human rights... I can't see a problem.", as the detainees (depicting Gitmo) stay trapped inside his hat. The cartoon shows how some political figures of the United States see the ending of the prison facility. Although the detainees have been captured, is it fair to hold them without any proof or without and trial? President Obama's decision in the future can only spark more political art and disagreement.


President Obama was recently rewarded the Nobel Peace Prize by Norwegian Nobel Committee. Only after 12 days in office he was rewarded the prize. Obama was "deeply humbled" by prize, and he did not expect it. Obama received a lot of mean criticism for his commendation because he had not "done anything" yet. The Norwegian Nobel Committee recognized Obamas efforts to solve complex global problems, including working toward a world free of nuclear weapons, especially in Iran. The cartoon above mocks his award because of the fact that he sent more troops to Afghanistan as well. His decision to send more troops goes back to the vacillating problem of whether occupying the middle east will help our relations.

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