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November 5, 2008

Obama victory a victory for democracy and Doonesbury

Can we kick it? Yes we can!
 
So, Garry was right. Doonesbury retains its credibility. The United States of America has a new president (or will have in a few months - Obama's President-Elect til then). The world feels a swell of hope.
 
 
Hyperbole? Over-egging the presidential pudding? Take a look at Obama's victory speech on BBC News and tell me it isn't an exciting prospect to have a lucid, literate, charismatic leader in the White House. A man for whom 210 years of history has particular resonance as he stands at the podium tracing the immense arch of the USA's democratic history of civil wars, slavery and oppression, all the while able to press his palm against the recurrent keystones of hope, progress and change and feel its strength, feel its bold and noble foundations, and take that palm and press it then to his own chest and speak sincerely and passionately of a government of the people, by the people, for the people.
 
The hope and the promise will doubtless subside and be subsumed into the reality of politics and compromise, but today, if no other day, just for today - whatever you do - do it better. The world deserves it; you deserve it. Do it better.
 
Keep th' faith,
Article Dan

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Filed under  //   America   Doonesbury   Election   Obama  

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November 4, 2008

Doonesbury counts Obama's chickens early

Ooooooh. Now THAT'S a risky little number.
 
Garry Trudeau, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist / author of the Doonesbury strips has submitted his strip for Wednesday 5th November 2008, the contents of which depict a scene in Iraq as soldiers witness and celebrate an Obama victory. Today's strip 4th November 2008 - a prelude - resides below:
 
 
This potential hubris in the face of the Fates has some of the strips syndicated newspapers (of which Doonesbury features in hundreds worldwide) understandably jittery. Afterall it could look a tad out of touch come 5th November if John McCain has taken the vote. But Trudeau says that "From a risk-assessment viewpoint, I felt comfortable with the odds."
 
A McCain camp spokesman has reportedly said that the strip proves to be as 'predictive as it is consistently lame.' Ouch! Scratch your eyes out!
 
In more measured retorts, McCainers point to an amusing precedent for early editions famously calling victory and falling flat on their faces - siting the Chicago Tribune's ill-fated 1948 headline 'Dewey defeats Truman'. See below a victorious President-elect Truman crowing some over said headline.
 
Which way is it going to go? I don't know. Is Doonesbury's calling for Obama a jinx or is it Fox News calling for George W Bush; Warner calling for Blu-ray; Oprah calling for the Kindle (another blog to follow on that one)...?
 
Either way, in about 24 hours or so, we'll know. And those cartoon soldiers sitting round the TV in Iraq shouting "Son of a gun! What a great day! We did it!" will either represent a precient, poignant echo of a worldwide sense of something phenominal occuring, or will just be another bitter little pill amidst a debris of ugly medicine many folks have to take that day.
 
Article Dan

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Filed under  //   America   Doonesbury   Election   Futurology   Obama  

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