TOW Rewrite: Flashback to the Election

America is divided like never before. When facing the threatening fiscal cliff, lawmakers were finally forced to cooperate with one another to prevent the nation from careening into another recession. The 112th congress was ranked as the worst congress to ever be assembled, simply because they were unable to "work across the aisle". As Barack Obama is reelected as the face of the nation, he yearns to bring in bipartisanship and to get things done, especially considering there is much more lee-way with a second, term free of concern for reelection. But there is no way to ensure that this will actually happen, especially with the Republican distaste for Mr.Obama. The following cartoon was created to illustrate the divide still evident following the reelection of Obama and was published immediately following his reelection.  This cartoon was taken from the International Herald Tribune which is the global version of the New York Times, a very popular and credible source for US politics news. The author creates a very stark contrast between the Obama camp and GOP camp. He accomplishes this by juxtaposing the two images of each side. The left side is very celebratory and seems almost patriotic. In general, the sense taken from this image of Obama is one who is very positive and progressive, especially with the woman wearing the "forward" t-shirt, an allusion to Obama's '08 campaign. The GOP looks sinister on the right side of this image(note how the "left" is the liberal democrats, and the "right" is the conservative GOP) and refers to a common stereotype of the wealthy-business oriented GOP with the inclusion of the suitcase. When looking at the contrast between the two sides of the cartoon, the GOP seems very devoid of happiness without the confetti and smiles. It almost seems as if the GOP is shouting back and interrupting Obama rather than simply tacking on the statement, "of gridlock". In doing so, the author successfully creates a negative connotation of the GOP and a more positive connotation of the Obama administration, as if they are the protagonists of a situation marred with greed and failure. Following viewing this cartoon the author creates feelings of more distaste and anger towards the government, particularly towards the GOP. In this author's eyes, the future of our country and its success will be continually halted by the filibustering and political blockades out in place by the GOP, the sore losers. Only time will tell if this holds true, perhaps the 113th congress will surprise every American by lifting the nation back to its previous success.