In April Obama gave a speech on his new policy with Libya, and he sure surprised a lot of Liberals when he spelled out his hardnosed, war-like approach to the country! He defended our military escalation by saying we had to protect our own troops already there, and told us Gaddafi is a really really bad guy. Oh, and that all the other guys (UN) are fighting them, too, so why shouldn't we? Also, he told us he's not the least bit like Bush in Iraq, so don't even go there..
Obama gives a speech, and also fulfills a personal goal
I hear a different message when a politician speaks: I want to know what his agenda is, and it's much more amusing when it's personal. So much is unsaid in these Presidential speeches that one of my favorite approaches when I do cartoons on them is to figure out what he's saying in subtext - sometimes it's like his subconcious is speaking!
Apparently NPR agrees with me, in their article titled Obama Libya Speech: Striking For What Was Unsaid As Much As Said.
For instance, he didn't offer details for how much longer the U.S. military will be actively involved in the effort....
But during his presidency the U.S. will act militarily not just when its security or vital national interests are at risk but also when its "interests and values" are threatened, Obama said.
I imagine Obama wants his name attached to a war, even if it's just a half-assed one. Even if he campaigned on the Peace, Not War button. Do you think that maybe underneath the mild-mannered Democratic nice guy there lies a savage warlord?
Cartoon caption: OBAMA ON LIBYA. Obama stands at the podium with the lineup of flags behind him, each one hanging in an arrangement exactly like all of the others. His spoken words are little scratches, just typical speechwriting. But his subtext says it all: All the other guys (Presidents) got their own war. Now it's my turn.
No reproduction. All Rights Reserved. Content, including cartoon © Donna Barstow 2011
Here's another cartoon about how to understand political speeches.
