If the Shoe Fits……..

Even though the task would be made daunting by my inability to draw, creating a comic strip for political satire has become an increasingly attractive idea. It would feature a fictional President named B.S. O’Dramma.  Readers could offer suggestions for the appropriate middle name depicted by the “S”.  For this particular caricature, the “B” and “S” seem to go well together.  Aided by an omnipresent teleprompter, B.S. O’Dramma would lead from behind and deliver stunningly good speeches brimming  with focus-group tested words.  Fair. Balanced. Open. Transparent.  Investing.  Biparisan.   Sometimes two words would have the greatest impact. Fiscally responsible. Deficit reduction. Green energy. Balanced budget. Children’s future. These are all wonderful words, which could often be grouped together in the same sentence. “As we continue our fiscally responsible approach to deficit reduction by investing in green energy for our children’s future……”  Hosannas would be in order.  From the people as well as the press.

President B.S. O’Dramma  would do our country’s business at $179,500 per hour by traveling extensively in the Presidential air ship, called the Sea Quester. He would travel to places like Ohio and Florida and other places that have never heard of video teleconferencing.  His motto would be “No pain, no gain.”  Or perhaps it would be “Maximum pain for maximum gain.”  He would take the air ship for an expensive golfing trip that cost the U.S. taxpayer $920,000 but he would save money by causing prisoners to be released and stopping White House tours.  Maybe this would be too unbelievable, even for a cartoon. Typically he would be unchallenged by a sycophantic news media whose tingle in their legs has resulted in intellectual paralysis or at least in nearly total loss of objectivity. Perhaps we could call their malady “liberalitis.” It manifests itself by an unwillingness to ask a liberal President tough question or to scrutinize the President’s actions or policies, thereby minimizing the possibility of Presidential accountability or embarrassment.

In our totally imaginary comic strip, really good reporters with impeccable credentials would not be threatened when they document President O’Dramma in a bald-faced reinterpretation of the facts.  That would be too over the top.  But such a reporter might be informed by the President’s minions that he “Will regret what he is doing”.  Coming from the office of the most powerful man in the world, how could that possibly be interpreted as a threat or be intimidating?   A major news agency such as Box News, should it make the mistake of seeming too critical, would occasionally be “forgotten” in the list of attendees to important functions. President O’Dramma would insist that we not inconvenience terrorists (freedom fighters to the politically correct) by a dreaded technique that temporarily interferes with their pursuit of happiness.  However, he would initially refuse to rule out the use of drones in the United States to kill American citizens without the nicety of a trial or even the inconvenience of reading Miranda rights. In a sense of supreme irony, President O’Dramma would supposedly have been trained as a constitutional lawyer. Just in case the President changes his mind on the drone thing and this caricature is deemed in any way critical, rest assured that it is being written deep within the bowels of the local Democrat headquarters for which the gps coordinates would be readily available.

The entire story would be a tragedy.  The bright, young, likeable President had potential and skills that could have made him great. If only he had been held accountable by the press. If only he actually meant  the words he used or at least ascribed to those words the commonly used meanings found in a dictionary.  Because he was never actually asked to produce his many plans for the transformation of the country, those plans remained an unwritten and changing figment of his imagination. Ephemeral. Illusionary. They were readily championed by the news media and swallowed by a gullible and poorly informed public.

Perhaps requiring that the President put his ideas in writing would have helped. Perhaps he had his fingers crossed when his words were delivered. In spite of everything, President B.S. O’Drama would be given the benefit of the doubt. Bipartisan does sound a lot like “buy partisan” and maybe he has always meant the latter.  Those near majority of citizens who were not represented because “elections have consequences” and “he won” may just have been poor losers;  they certainly were not within that 47%  scandalously suggested to support the President no matter what.  Sadly, President O’Dramma in this cartoon strip would be seen as a politician rather than as a statesman. That could still change. The country could awaken and demand it. For the many whose source of information remains late night shows and political comedy, such an awakening seems unlikely.

Maybe they could learn from a cartoon.

***Gary A. Howie MSc, PhD*** is a business owner/rancher and a Life & Liberty News contributor