Cartoon 7

I found this cartoon on http://www.cagle.com/news/GovShutdown/main.asp. The cartoon was published on April 8th, 2011.
The caption of this cartoon explains that both sides (of the government) are blatantly blaming each other for the governmental budget cut. These words are being used to describe the cartoon because they are straightforward and direct.
The animals represented in this are the elephant and the donkey. The elephant represents the Republican Party and the donkey represents the Democratic Party. Oddly enough, the elephant is standing on the left and the donkey is standing on the right in this cartoon, which is the opposite of where they should be.
The action taking place in this cartoon is the two sides are blaming each other for the budget cut.
The message of the cartoon is politics is wild and arguments can't be avoided. The ideological perspective represented by the cartoonist is neutral, since he is not taking any sides.
This cartoon relates to a current political event because it is happening right now in our country. It relates to our class discussion because we have mentioned this issue before.
Satire and irony influence the topics covered in this cartoon because it depicts both sides hating each other.     

Cartoon 6

 

This cartoon is from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15654769/ns/politics-political_cartoons/ and it was published on April 4th, 2011.

The caption here says "old hat" to represent that President's way of thinking is too imperialistic. Almost everything he does deals with foreign countries in one way or another.

The person represented in this cartoon is President Barack Obama.The artist probably included the president here to show that Obama does not know what he is doing, and he is now caught up in the Libyan conflict.

An object represented here is an old which, which has tags of former President George Bush and his father. What this probably means is Obama won't be able to solve anything if he puts on the same "thinking cap" as other the Bushes, then nothing will be done.

The action taking place in this cartoon is President Obama is frustrated with the conflict on Libya.

The message of the cartoon is it is not too late for President Obama to change his ways so he can become a better, more effective leader. The ideological perspective represented here is conservative because the cartoonist obviously does not want Obama to interfere with other countries, such as Libya.

This cartoon relates to a current political event because the United States is currently involved in the Libyan conflict. This relates to our class discussion because we have talked about ideology and the problem in Libya.

Satire and irony influence the topic here because the depiction of Obama clearly contrasts with the former Bushes, since both are of opposing political parties.