http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/16/snl-situation-room-obama-stand-up_n_862372.html

This video is showing that Obama used the news of killing Osama Bin Laden as his new catch phrase and escape to avoid addressing the issues at hand currently in the United States. The idea that killing Bin Laden will lead him to his next term as president rather than his accomplishments while in office. While many people can look at his term and evaluate what his pros and cons truly are, other will look at this one event and it will lead them into making a decision based off of an irrelevant induced patriotic stimulus. The news of Bin Laden’s death was alive in the media but this clip generalizes the idea that Obama lived on the news and spoke of nothing more than this one event. This could become a factor in the 2012 presidential election and may drive some undecided voters in favor of Obama.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-january-12-2012/indecision-2012---black-to-the-future

This video focuses on the idea of Newt Gingrich running a campaign and the idea that polls do not reflect proportionately and accurately the outcome of the election itself. In the beginning of the clip the idea that Newt was ahead in the poll and yet he came in fourth both times. This demonstrates the differences in winning a poll and in fact winning the election. Polls can be misleading and this is just a satirical example of the misleading information they can yield. The video then goes into Newt’s comment against African Americans and portrays it as a racist comment from a republican. Newt defends his comment but the generalization is clear that Newt believes that they are the majority receiving food stamps instead of getting pay checks.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/99945/saturday-night-live-obama-address

In this video the idea that Obama has not done anything with our economy since taking office is the main theme. The video focuses on his promises before taking office and the check chart shows how much of it he has actually accomplished. The video poses that Obama has not done anything at all to stimulate or boost our economy. Making jokes that he could not even get the Olympics in Chicago but he can stimulate Japans economy by cash for clunkers. This is the main theme of the GOP race right now, finding someone that will replace Obama because he does not get anything done and he’s more involved with social media and attention rather than the economy and fulfilling the promises he made before he was seeking a second term.

This cartoon shows the satire behind republicans and Obama. When Obama puts forth a stimulus plan and it is not approved, mainly due to the high majority of republicans that vote against passing the bill simply because Obama is a democrat, the republicans celebrate as if they scored a touchdown.  The idea that republicans are acting as if the economy is just a football game and scoring is just beating Obama. This will be important in the upcoming election in determining the right path to reform our economy. If republicans do not want to work with a democrat nothing may change in terms of reform and if a republican takes office there could be drastic changes in our economy.

In this cartoon the idea of hypocrisy within the republican party with moral standards is represented by vault jumping. The idea of the setting the bar as literally setting a bar of moral standards at different height and living up to the parties expectations. The democrats, constantly being criticized for setting low moral standards yet the republicans set the bar high and fail to meet them. The idea expressed that democrats are constantly criticized for moral values by republicans is apparent. This is an issue with the republican GOP race, finding a candidate willing and able to contend with Obama and some of the issues that will become of high importance for both parties is the issues of moral values.

The image here is showing the Supreme Court engraving standards of American justice and law into stone, such as sending someone to war or killing them yet Obama is asking to pass the healthcare reform and the court is saying that is too much to ask. The satire behind this cartoon is the fact that as Americans we accept certain norms into our society such as the draft, eminent domain, and exaction but when it comes to buying healthcare we are opposed because we feel as though it infringes upon our rights. The idea that going too far is making people buy healthcare but yet we don’t think being able to send someone to death is a violation of human rights. This is important to me personally because growing up in a bad economy I will be presented with difficult decisions and expenses. Healthcare will be an important step in my life and having to pay for it will be a major expense. So weather its free or mandated to have I will eventually be presented with the issue of healthcare.

This image displays the Supreme Court with two sayings outside engraved on the statues. Money is speech and corporations are people. The supreme court ruled that money is your speech and basically cooperation’s can give and endorse their candidate of choice by providing them with as much money as they want because it’s their right under the 1^st amendment, freedom of speech and that money is their speech in this situation. The idea may seem ludicrous to people that do not have money or large amounts of money to give to their candidate because who is to say someone with more money has a greater level of speech. If everyone is equal than why is it okay for someone to say more or have more of a say based on the amount of money they have. The idea that corporations are people may seem odd as well because corporations will never be representative of an individual, rather they will represent the best interest of their profits and what will be best or who will be best for their company to succeed.

This image is showing Uncle Sam playing the drums that say Iran and war while a women is saying that he doesn’t learn. Basically this image is indicating Americas continuous course for destruction and bad decision making. By indicating what previous mistakes we have made in the past and how there may soon be more to add to this resume the idea that America in general will not realize the mistakes and yet continue to make new ones. This can be displaying of Americans inability to adapt to new situations and times as issues become more diverse but with similar stems to all these issues. There are several ways to interpret this image but the main gist of the meaning is that the war or future war we may have with Iran is just another mistake in the making and should be prevented.

In this image there is a student standing on top of a pile of student loans reaching out to get his degree with a hand holding it. The hand in this picture is supposed to represent budget cutting and how the government is cutting back on spending for education making it harder for students to pay off their college debt and obtain a degree. This cartoon is directly aiming at government and their inability to control the recent rise in costs for a college student to obtain a degree. The cuts in budgets have decreased the amount of scholarships and money given to students to help pay for college and make college less expensive. However today obtaining a degree becomes very expensive with little to no help at all from the government. This cartoon is significant to me specifically because I will be attending college soon and will have to take student loans out to pay for my tuition. I will need to find a way to pay off these loans and keep them from getting out of control.

This cartoon addresses a serious concern in modern day society and an issue that everyone should take notice of. The cartoon depicts a female, middle to young of age, at a voting booth. The ballot says president, congress, and American Idol. The caption reads, “How to Increase Your Turnout”. The problem today is voter turnout, and the fact that more people vote for American Idol than the president of the United States. Why are people so driven to vote for such a minimal and tedious reality T.V. show but yet find no interest in deciding who will run the free world. To me this is a disgrace on American lifestyle and gives a bad image all over the world. To be more enveloped by a mindless show rather than be interested in what or who will be in charge of your own personal freedoms is down right ignorant. Weather its convenience or some other personal desire, people should not be more anxious to vote for a reality T.V. star and take no interest in the leader of their country. 

The idea of “Don’t vote, don’t complain” is a common idea among Americans in my personal opinion. I feel as though if you’re truly connected to your countries politics and what voting really is all about then voting is the least you can do to express your opinion. It’s the easy method of just choosing a candidate who will best fit your ideology and give yourself the chance to be represented the best. For people not to vote but complain is very hypocritical. The idea of taking action to blame someone yet not taking action to appoint someone that is the root of the problem. The problem doesn’t start when the elected officials make mistakes; the problem is when the elected officials are wrongfully appointed because people feel as though they don’t need to vote. In the cartoon the message is simple, don’t vote don’t complain. Straight forward attitude with a just cause. There is no reason or excuse for a person to complain but not vote, why you would express your voice by complaining when you can express it by voting.

The satire in this cartoon is to focus on how the safety net the Mitt Romney proposed is not safe at all. The poor fish caught in the net with the other fish mentioning how this so called safety net does not feel safe is to display how the Mitt solution of having a safety net is actually sending us to danger. Fish that get caught in a fishing net will be killed for food, although we will not be killed its to show how his, Mitt Romney, plan for his safety net is actually dangerous for the American economy and especially for the poor. This relates to the topic of GOP presidental nomination and when people look at this they see danger for the fish in their future. People may use this as an example and stray away from backing Mitt Romney.

In this politcal cartoon the satire is obvious. The idea that left wing and right wing ideology has been slowly seperating over the past years up to currently in 2012. The ideology of both sides and their politcal views once has something in common but by 1992 the center ground was nearly separated and by 2012 it is completly apart. The common grounds of both party's politcal views have significantly changed since 1982, mainly due to the difference in political figures and their opinions. How they relate to personal interest can be a primary focus point of this distance. In class we cover how the politcal ideology of both parties has changed over the years and how this influences people that vote. In 2012 this can mean less people are likely to vote and be less represntative of American issues.

This image is to direct satire on budget cutting in America. Our economy is at risk and is a big issue this year in the upcoming elections. On the left, democrat, has a small knife and represents a surgeon. On the right a republican, holding a sife to show how he is prepared to make huge cuts. This means that with the American budget situation the democrats want to make little cuts while republicans are prepared to make huge cuts. With GOP canidates fighting for a chance to beat Obama this year, the American budget crisis will be an important topic, especially in the primary election. When people look at this they will see a representation of the differences between the two partys and ask what are they prepared to support.  This is pro democrat in my personal opinion because the democrat in this cartoon is obviously taking the safer approach to the surgery while the republican is using a sife for operation.

In this politcal cartoon the satire focuses on Obama creating jobs as being as though he is just a sales man selling a faulty or cheap product. If you have ever seen the comercial sales man they tend to be enthusiastic and focus on being the coolest and best thing to have with the addition of another product absolutely free. This would be directed from Republicans because it is poking fun at Obama almost saying he has false promises with really no more assurance than a sales man on television. This is showing how the Obama campaign is nothing more than an offer with a free yard sign full of false promises. This could impact peoples opinions on Obama by making them look closer at his proposals on the job crisis in America and how is prepared to deal with the situation and in the 2012 elections could have a huge impact on his performance record.