Political Cartoon #5:

The title of the cartoon for the political cartoon this week is “Lipstick on a Deficit” (it wasn’t specifically written anywhere)—the cartoon speaks for itself. President Bush, President-elect Obama, and Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, are featured standing outside of the White House. There’s a humongous pig covered in filth with the words “$1.2 Trillion Deficit” on its side that’s blocking Obama’s way into the White House. Obama seems shocked to see the giant pig in front of him, and Bush explains apologetically about not having enough money for the lipstick (reference to a famous expression that was used in the 2008 presidential campaigning).

I don’t think Obama is really as shocked to see the enormous deficit that the Bush presidency is so kindly leaving behind for him. He made it clear that the felt that President Bush was a pretty big failure. Besides that, the economic crisis will be the first thing President-elect Barack Obama will have to face as soon as he takes office. The 111th Congress is already looking into his stimulus plan which has a price tag hovering around $800 billion. The stimulus plan includes public works projects (to create jobs), income tax cuts, and business tax cuts (having some resemblance to FDR’s New Deal program). A Gallup poll says that a majority of Americans support Obama: seventy-two percent support income tax cuts, seventy-five percent support business tax cuts, and seventy-eight percent support the infrastructure program. There’s definitely a sense of optimism for the new presidency, and the nation seems to be ready for a new, fresh start.

Political Cartoon #4:

The political cartoon I found this week titled “The Ball Drop, 2009” features the globe falling down along an arrow labeled “economy.” A New Year’s celebrater stands by watching the Earth falling. The cartoon symbolizes how the year 2008 was financially horrible for most Americans, affecting nations worldwide as well. Hopes are up for this year’s economy taking a rebound, and the stock market managed to close above 9,000 points (which it hasn’t in quite some time). However, it is expected to go back down as the markets usually do after some days of growing numbers. This morning, the Dow Jones was down 78 points, ending below 9,000 again to about 8872.00 (according to CNN Money).

There is a lot of optimism for the year 2009, even though this political cartoon doesn’t really show it. The political cartoon seems to have a little more of a “helpless” feeling compared to the optimism that was going around during the New Years. I remember on Fox during the night of New Years, people that were interviewed predicted that the economy would get better by Christmas or December. When ever it will, people all over the world are hoping it will be some time soon.