Political Cartoon: Obama struggles to face the many Mitt Romneys

        For this weeks TOW I chose to do a political cartoon because I think it is very relevant due to the upcoming presidential election. This cartoon, which was taken from the Houston Chronicle,  shows one President Obama playing basketball with many Mitt Romney's. Each Mitt Romney has different words written on his shirt like "moderate Mitt", "severely conservative Mitt", "pro-regulation Mitt", and "anti-regulation Mitt". 

        The clear purpose of this text is to show how Mitt Romney is a new person every day. The cartoonist shows this by the different writings on Mitt's shirt.  One day he is moderate the next day conservative. One day he is pro-regulation the next day he is anti-regulation. Obama doesn't know where to throw the ball with all of Mitt Romney's hands up in the air calling for it. This shows that Obama is struggling to face the different Mitt Romney's. The exigence of this cartoon is the approaching presidential election and also the debates between President Obama and Mitt Romney, which have been all the news lately. The audience of this cartoon is people who understand politics and who are able to vote in the election. I would also assume that the audience is democrats because this political cartoon favors Obama showing that Mitt Romney is wishy-washy. 

        This political cartoon uses many rhetorical devices. One of the devices that stands out is contradiction for affect. This cartoonist contradicts himself by putting on one shirt "moderate Mitt" and on another "severely conservative Mitt". However, this cartoonist utilizes contradiction to instruct his argument. The whole point of this cartoon is to show that Mitt Romney has many sides. By putting drastically different statements on each of his shirts helps the reader to see the authors point. Another rhetorical device this cartoon uses is placement. The cartoonist purposely placed Obama so the reader can only see his back side but not his face. The cartoonist placed every Mitt Romney so the reader can see his face, arms, and read his shirt. The reason each Mitt Romney is facing forward is not just to the statements on his shirt is visible; it serves a deeper purpose. I think the author did it because it is easier for the reader to put themselves in Obama's shoes. When you look at this cartoon, you are looking at what exactly Obama is looking at because he is faced forwards. It creates a more overwhelming and believing message. I think this placement really works to help the cartoonist get their message across. 

        I do think that the cartoonist accomplished their purpose through the text. This cartoon is easy to understand and shows a clear message. Although it would help to know politics, it is not necessary to understand this text. Besides the message being clear, the rhetorical devices the author uses enhances the readers ability to understand what the author is trying to get across. The statements the author puts on each shirt are clearly contradictory, and it does not take long to realize that this is for affect.  I immediately understood this cartoon and realized its purpose. That even furthers my opinion that this cartoonists clearly accomplishes their goal.