Crown o’ thorns, maybe? (At least after the first sign of scandal or serious criticism somewhere*)
*Not a dig on the man—but we all know the media and the public when it comes to politics. Fickle, and eager to jump on any sign of metaphysical impurity. It sells.
The earliest icon I can remember being used was a cigarette butt for William Bennett (Drug Czar for G.H.W. Bush).
Are you sure you’re not thinking of Mr. Butts?
I remember at one point Dukakis was shown as a figure covered in mud (which had been slung at him). (I’m only 31, honest! I’m not old just because I remember this!)
Does anyone remember how Trudeau introduced the point-o’-light for Bush or made it clear that it wasn’t just a voice emanating from an empty chair?
That was a Newsweek cover from 1988, with Trudeau (uncharacteristically) drawing recognizable images of Dukakis and Bush41 in a battle titled “Here’s Mud in your Eye!”
Either that, or a superhero costume. With big ears.
On further research, it was the October 31, 1988 issue, but I can’t find an image of the cover online.
I’m pretty sure it was in a strip as well.
I could have sworn he did Nixon once or twice (although many years after he resigned) as a reel of tape, but maybe I just dreamed that…
A good hunch: it’ll be Shades. Cool Obama, and easy to have some fun with: lense cracked, armpiece askew, what others?
The way I remember it, this started when Bush was Reagan’s VP. The joke was that you never saw him. I’m pretty sure it predates his “points of light” speech, too (wasn’t that from the '88 campaign?) - he was just supposed to be invisible.
I think I’d like to see a triangle. In physics, it’s considered a change - Delta V = change in velocity.
Maybe an Escher triangle?
Just sayin’…
Or maybe throw some kind of hat in there. If Obama makes some kind of gaffe somewhen.
How about a blank slate?
A basketball?
Does he have one by now? I haven’t been able to find it.
According to the wikipedia page;
“No symbol for Barack Obama has appeared in the strip; the May 30, 2009 strip showed Obama and an aide wondering what the reason for this might be.”
Pretty sure he hasn’t had one. He’s always gets the “voice bubble over the White House” treatment.
Ah well, guess we’ll have to wait for his second term.
To clarify, the strip in question doesn’t show Obama, it shows the White House, with text bubbles for Obama and the aide emanating from it.
Manduck:
No, the joke in that is that he had no personal identity other than being part of the Reagan administration; it’s a comment on how he totally threw away any differences of opinion he and Reagan once had once he became VP. When he was running in 1988, there was one strip where he seemed to be about to say something that didn’t parrot the Reagan line, and a human outline began to form in the place where his voice was emanating from, and then in the last panel, he said something like, “But then, I decided the President was right,” and the outline vanished, to the disappointment of the assembles journalists.
There was a series of strips during the Reagan years in which Bush placed his manhood in a blind trust.
It started with Reagan as Max Headroom.
