Political Cartoon Analysis

                

               This political cartoon was sketched by cartoonist and blogger David Fitz Simmons. I found it on another blog titled "The Social Poet", in an article with a series of cartoons depicting the current aspects of politics in the United States. Known as one of the fastest draws in the business, Mr. Fitz Simmons currently works for the Arizona Daily Star, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1988.

                The cartoon illustrates the present American crisis with the "ObamaCare", a proposal of health care insurance for the totality of the American population. In the picture, we can see Obama pulling a belligerent elephant, symbol of the Republican Party, with the help of the Democratic donkey, up a Health Care Summit. The dialogue in the cartoon features Obama saying "What a view! From up here I can see a system that needs to be fixed and 46 million Americans who need insurance. What do you see?" The last question was addressed to the elephant, who answers: "The next election, ya socialist." 

                In this drawing, the cartoonist is making a statement about a current political issue, namely the proposal that Obama's administration has made to provide health care insurance to the country, which has received vehement opposition from the Republican Party. From the tone and stance of the elephant, as well as the fact that in the picture, Obama is very civilized and seems to have successfully accomplished his goal, it can be inferred that he is pro-ObamaCare. The cartoon is therefore attempting to persuade its audience of just how beneficial the program could be if ratified, and how the petulance of the Republicans is slowing down the progress being made towards that greater good.