Political Cartoon Comparison

Avery Herbon
Mrs. Ogborn
AP Lang and Comp
26 October 2012

Political Cartoons

It is 2012, and the next presidential campaign is around the corner. In these two political cartoons of the candidates running for president, the second one portrays a better example of pathos. In the cartoon to the left, it displays the differences between Romney and Obama as leaders. It depicts negative things that Obama has done during his presidency; and positive things Romney has done and is most likely to do in the future if he was made president. While in the cartoon below, it depicts the two candidates running in the upcoming election. It describes some of the awful things they have done in their past. The author is trying to portray the fact that no matter who you vote for, we will have an unsuitable president in our midst.

Both of these cartoons portray the negative sides of our economy and how no matter what, something bad will happen in the future. The first one shows the negative qualities of one candidate and how if you choose him, things will continue to become worse. It says that he (Obama) has brought the economy down and is decreasing the amount of jobs and wealth. They even put a pin on him that says, "Bane," which is defined as a cause of great distress or annoyance. It portrays Pathos in the fact that people everywhere are losing jobs, and can make people feel that if they give him their vote, that the economy will continue to decline. While in the second it shows that no matter who you vote for, you're stuck with a man who decided to make bad choices in his past. How Obama used to smoke and only care about playing basketball. While it also shows that when Romney was in college, him a gang of his friends had pinned down an innocent homosexual man and cut his hair because he had what he called, "an unacceptable haircut." This is a perfect example of Pathos due to the dramatic portrayal of each person's past decisions they have made. It can make people who do not like those who have done drugs, lean towards Romney. While it can also make people who believe in gay equality, lean towards Obama.

Although a difference between the two is that in the first one, it shows the bad things that only one person has done. Even though Obama was president during a bad time in the economy and all of those facts might not necessarily HIS fault. It's hard to change an entire economy in one term as president. While in the second it shows some of the bad choices they both made before they were president. Although, their past choices should not dictate how they will be as a president. But it can change how you feel about them as people, which could ultimately change their opinions on who they would like to vote for.

I believe the second cartoon can sway people's opinions with Pathos so much easier than the first due to the equal negative representation of each person. The first one will make you lean towards Romney as a leader due to some of Obama's downfalls; while the second will change your opinion depending on your views of each of the topics shown. The first one not only depends on Pathos, but also another strategy called Logos; it uses the facts to make you feel differently about Obama's leadership skills. When the second one relies only on Pathos to possibly change your opinions on each candidate as a person, not a leader.