Comic Book Resources

It's really cute, isn't it? It looks like Patrick Moberg drew it.

Any way to embiggen said cartoon?

Moberg nailed it.

http://www.patrickmoberg.com/blog/id:420/november-4-2008

It's funny, someone (I presume Moberg) must have made a mistake early on - I was wondering why Eisenhower looked nothing like Eisenhower!

He accidentally switched Eisenhower and Truman, but has since corrected it!

In fact, I think I'll go find the smaller version of the corrected version and put that one here.

I wasn't aware so many Presidents had bright white hair. Is this some kind of "Just For Men" ad?

Is it some political point being made or just an artistic choice to make everyone's hair white even when people like Nixon, Reagan, and Lincoln had dark hair? Heck, even JFK's hair was a sandy blonde and not white.

Nice work by the artist. Congratz for the new president elected!!!!!

someone might want to tell him he has Johnson and Nixon switched, but other than that, pretty cool!

Heh. I saw this picture before, but as a motivational sign with the added text
"C-C-C-Combo Breaker! (Somebody had to say it.)"

But then, I'm easily amused by internet memes.

[...] via Comics should be Good. [...]

While it does make the piece stronger, seeing President's with white hair that never had white hair (like Lincoln and Kennedy as mentioned) makes it dishonest. Even more funny is the fact that with the rate his hair is going President Obama isn't going to leave office with dark hair.

Looks like editorial offices across the comics industry, someone should do a cartoon on that too

I agree with the others who have said so, although more visually striking (by giving them white hair) some of those folks did not have white hair. Of course, I'm still waiting for the first jewish president

C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!

Very cool idea, but I can't agree with the decision to torque it by making all the previous presidents extra-white. It would be just as powerful with their normal hair (and mustache) colors -- and honest, to boot.

Even Lincoln -- the man who freed the slaves and got his head blown off for his troubles -- gets a dye job. RIP Abraham Lincoln, just another old, dead, whiter-than-white guy now.

On second thought, maybe this isn't a cool idea. It's simplistic.

IMHO of course. Different strokes...

I'm surprised the white hair is a sticking point to some people or that it makes the idea dishonest.
I think that if Obama's hair got de-colored the idea would remain the same and the contrast would be just as evident and true.

The point is that most of those guys didn't have white hair or even grey with a couple of them and honestly the artist doesn't do a very good likeness of them. Then again I guess all white people just look the same to some people.

My knee-jerk reaction is that people complaining about the artist exaggerating the features are being petty. And possibly missing the point of a cartoon.

No one on Earth could miss the point of the cartoon.

[...] (via) [...]

There's a good degree of equal racism in the fact that not only are all of the previous 43 Presidents the exact same shade of "caucasian" (despite varying degrees of tanning and paleness), and Obama is made twice as dark as he's ever been in his life. I guess in this artist's world of "all former Presidents seem like they're wearing those British Judge wigs", our President-Elect magically ejected his white half!

There’s a good degree of equal racism in the fact that not only are all of the previous 43 Presidents the exact same shade of “caucasian” (despite varying degrees of tanning and paleness), and Obama is made twice as dark as he’s ever been in his life.

Thank god for white people being vigilant for equal racism, or the world would crumble.

"Thank god for white people being vigilant for equal racism, or the world would crumble."

Ha!

Thank god for white people being vigilant for equal racism, or the world would crumble.

Psst! Check this out.

After T. the challenge is now to make an argument without being sarcastic - so here goes -

This piece of cartoon art seems really only has one point and drives it home simplistically. It is not a many hued, multi-faceted idea that it is trying to get across, but I also don't think that the point it is making is petty. As a person of color, in my case the son of a caucasian father and Samoan mother born and raised and still living in Hawaii, to have the people of America elect a person of color is something that is much more moving to me than I ever expected - in some superficial ways it is a validation. To say that a half-Samoan guy is equal to a half-African guy or that our experiences, even being from the same place are similar is to simplify our lives unfairly, but "people of color" are all too often simplified in that manner. Just to hear the election coverage talk about "the black vote" or "the hispanic vote" is a vast simplification of whole segments of the American populace. But those kind of simplifications happen all the time.
This piece of cartoon art turns the tables on that sort of simplification and serves as satire - emphasizing the all too obvious difference between President-elect Obama and the 42 previous guys to hold the same office. A similar simplification would work if a woman were to be elected, but that is a bridge that is yet to be crossed.
With this piece coming after the celebration of political cartoonists I am a little surprised that people seem to be taking some sort of offense at this piece of cartoon art. But maybe people aren't taking offense and I am misinterpreting their responses.

(Note being sarcastic is hard and wordy and generally less fun.)

"My knee-jerk reaction is that people complaining about the artist exaggerating the features are being petty. And possibly missing the point of a cartoon."
I'd go farther, and use much harsher words. "Petty" is far, far too kind.

"After T. the challenge is now to make an argument without being sarcastic"
Not really. That link is just to Some Guy's Blog, it's not like everyone who's ever been sarcastic has been forever put in their place by the Final Word From On High.

That's a well-thought-out point of view, Aito, and interesting reading. Thank you.

Nice work by the artist.