Here’s what I wrote to cartoonist Mike Lane about his cartoon (right):

Hi Mike,

I was looking at your cartoon today, with the Pentagon General in the toilet, saying “We’re hoping to keep a lid on the situation here” between Pakistan and Afghanistan.  I thought it was interesting that you chose to put a generic general in that spot, rather than Obama – since it is Obama that is making the decision to send all the troops to Afghanistan, after having been a hawk on Afghanistan throughout the campaign.

There’s been a lot of talk about cartoonists going easy on Obama.  Some say the cartoonists like Obama and want to avoid bashing him.  Since this toilet looks like such an obvious spot for Obama, I wondered – why the generic general?  Why not Obama?

Best,
Daryl

Here’s Mike’s response:

Dear Daryl

I think Afghastly is a serious mistake, but Obama’s ONLY serious mistake so far. With everything else on him, I’ll cut him some slack, yes, but each U.S. death from here on in (13 in Iraq so far this month) are his, admittedly inherited. But I’ll be on him the deeper he gets.

Our Gilbert and Sullivan Generals, however, the very model of modern careerist ““pension and perks protecting generals conduct wars from cushy bunkers in Kuwait and Florida while sending future statistics (for that’s what they are to Modern Major Generals) out to die.

I only regret that it’s only a cartoon toilet.

Regards,
Mike