As a young man I learned about politics in part from the editorial cartoons of the day, some were average, others biting but they showed a point of few that while politically slanted at least tried to strive for a reasonable accuracy. Now we have Doonesbury’s beyond reality, daily screed presented as something more than the off kilter bitterness it has proven to be and it is followed by a host of others. Non Sequitur is usually one of the better ones that even while it is written with a left of center point of view; I usually find it entertaining. Today would be one of the exceptions.

We expect the mainstream media to continue giving Barack Obama a pass but when a good satirical strip gets into the misrepresentation game it is hard to take. As I learned from editorial cartooning so can the youth of today. The difference is the editorial cartooning is taking place in the main comics section and not the editorial page as it has in years gone by. The above strip would be funnier if it were based on truth but Obama’s own Pastor admitted quite freely that he meant everything he said and that it was not taken out of context. Further, the things Jeremiah Wright said may bother people but what really makes them uncomfortable is that Obama the anointed one has been unclear as to his association and true beliefs. First he looked at the man as a mentor, he spent almost 20 years in his church and named a book after one of his sermons yet now we are supposed to believe he didn’t really know this about the man that “he could no more disown than the black community”. Either Obama believes in the separatist and racist philosophy of Wright, he was only in the Church to build his creds with Chicago’s black community, or he is too dense to get what was really being said; all are problematic and a major stike against his credibility and qualifications to be the leader of this great country. And this before we even examine his political record…

Editorial cartoons lose their bite when they stretch too far, let’s hope Non Sequitur gets back on the path of the witty.