Putting aside the fact that Republicans were complicit in the demise of Detroit by protecting them from progressively higher MPG standards – The Big 3 being lectured by newly electorally challenged Republican leaders on the subject of responsibility for one’s actions, and building a product that people want is an interesting concept. Not that they aren’t 100% correct, mind you.

This cartoon is sort of a sorry adjunct to the previous cartoon. I don’t know about you, but I have become a bit numb when it comes to the concept of trillions of dollars lately. It all starts seeming like so much Monopoly money, doesn’t it?
I was speaking to a good friend last night who heads up a charitable foundation in DC. He described a paper loss of about half the value of the entire foundation in a period of less than six months.

More Play money.

Yesterday morning I dropped off my wife’s station wagon at the dealer for its 15k mile service and their lot, brimming with hundreds of shiny new vehicles twelve months ago, was conspicuously only one third full. According to the head sales guy, the credit freeze is affecting their ability to cycle stock, and also their ability to get customers approved for loans. And I don’t even want to talk about what that does to their newspaper ad buying budget.
It’s hard to contemplate, but there is probably no entity that hasn’t been heavily affected by the financial black hole.

At least with Monopoly money, after some fun, the dopey game ends, and you can pop the lid back on the box.

I am generally agnostic when it comes to present day Unions. I believe they can be both good and also incredibly stupid. I understand why NY State’s public school and health care unions are girding themselves for a fight to retain their raises and budgetary promises. They have to rally the membership. State tax revenues are tanking and, as Governor Paterson is reminding them, their income source is threatened. But placed in context, private sector incomes (and the source of all the revenue) are threatened too. The cash cow of Wall Street tax revenue has evaporated. Unions want to raise taxes on the rich, but, all together now: the cash cow of Wall Street tax revenue has evaporated. And the rest of your average wage-slave New Yorkers are cripplingly over-taxed as it is.

The services these workers provide is vital and affects all of us. Normally I’d be lining up to defend them, but they have to acknowledge the reality of the financial situation. It’s tough to do, but if they are willing to allow give-backs and other concessions, they may actually help out their employers (you and me) and simultaneously save their jobs.

Knowing there are readers of this blog who are from every continent on the planet – and might therefore not get this cartoon – I should mention that “Like a Rock” is the chorus from a schmaltzy Bob Seger song that was co-opted by the GM ad department and used as the tagline for Chevy truck ads. And for all my American readers, I apologize profusely for ruining your day by embedding the song in your mental audio loop for the rest of the day.

On the issue of bailouts to US carmakers? They fought tooth and nail for years to keep inefficient federal mileage standards on the books so they could dismiss their critics and continue to sell large amounts of oversize, crappy trucks at an astonishing profit to people who should’ve known better. Now their business model has predictably collapsed, and they want taxpayers to bail them out. That’s just plain irritating. If this was the seventies, a Big Three bailout would be imperative for the US economy, but Japanese and European automakers employ as many American workers here as the US Automakers do and they’re not asking for a nickel. Instead they have invested in a revolutionary business and marketing strategy, which is known in industry-speak as “selling cars that people wish to purchase.”

Sorry for the radio silence. Our tech department just finished a server/system switchover. Everything should be smooth sailing from here…Except, I can’t seem to get my superfly star rating system back online. I’ll get back in there and start clicking on some more technical and mysteriously named buttons to see what I can cook up.

The cartoon is self-explanatory (hey, aren’t they all?). Republicans are going crazy trying to figure out where they went wrong. The economy simply went really bad in September and that was, I believe, it. Enter President Obama.
Establishment Democrats who are chomping at the bit to overreach and think this was some type of glorious mandate to transform the country in their ideologically purist image run the risk of making the same mistakes the Bush administration did. Conversely, Republicans who think the party needs to move further right on social issues to win back American voters are just plain crazy.

That said, I don’t plan to hold my breath waiting for some newfound transformational aptitude on either count.

California’s approval of Proposition 8 – enshrining the unconstitutional denial of civil rights to a specific set of people into state law – stands in stark, ironic contrast to its overwhelming electoral support of Barack Obama.

My editorial page editor, Herb Pinder, tried to talk me out of using the term “We shall overcome” in this cartoon. This almost went to press with Obama thinking “we must move on.” As astute readers of this blog may recall, Herb is African American, and a former lawyer, so his opinion (which I value greatly on all issues) is exceptionally important to me on matters of civil rights. His contention was that the former phrase was tantamount to sacred text (which it is.) But the more I thought about it the more appropriate the phrase became in the context of the cartoon. What is sacred is that the words embody the idea that democracy would one day include all of us equally. It confers sacredness on the idea of a working democracy. While President-Elect Obama is a symbolic embodiment of the successes of the civil rights struggle, he has not made his race the focus of his political career. During the campaign he spoke of his admiration for Ronald Reagan and of the burning need for political unity. For him, as President, that is the struggle of his time.

Obama’s election to the highest office of the most powerful nation in history has in a single sweep, profoundly changed the boundaries of race relations. Many of our problems won’t go away – There’s still stubborn, racially defined economic disparities – but a basic argument of the Civil Rights movement, has been gratifyingly vindicated.

Another oddly formed glimmer of hope is it does seem that most of the opposition to Obama is based on his policy ideas (or at least a cartoonish version of his policy ideas) and not the color of his skin. In the context of “judging a man by his character,” and him being excoriated for being “a Democrat,” that is a huge step toward the destination that MLK dreamed of.

I had to have some sketches ready for election night deadline. Here’s the one I had ready for a too-close-to-call evening.
At this point…I have to confess…I never prepared a McCain upset win cartoon.