TOW #10 - Visual

Gary Varvel, artist of the political cartoon shown below, is a political cartoonist for the Indianapolis Star. He has been the editorial cartoonist since 1994, and was the chief artist for The Indianapolis News for 16 years before he began work with the Indianapolis Star. Varvel is known for his political cartoons, as many of them address very controversial topics in the political world. In this particular cartoon, he addresses the issue of spending of the United States' budget by President Barack Obama. It depicts the president sitting back in his office chair while saying, "We don't have a spending problem," as the walls of the White House behind him are burning down.
Symbolism is a very prevalent rhetorical device used in this cartoon. Varvel helps the viewer to know that spending is represented by the fire by clearly writing "Spending" on the fire. The walls are also a symbol, and they represent many things: the infrastructure of our government, the country's and our well-being, our own freedoms, and so on. This depiction of fire implies that the spending in our country is destructive and counterproductive to the infrastructure of our government, our well-being, and our freedoms. Meanwhile, President Barack Obama, who is responsible for spending our money and causing this uncontrollable fire, is relaxing in his seat as if nothing is going wrong. He's either completely oblivious to the damage he's dealing, or he is choosing to ignore it, but either way, Varvel is not portraying a good image for the president.
Meant for the citizens of the United States, Varvel drew this political cartoon to raise awareness of the destruction that is being caused by Obama's actions of spending the country's thin budget. I believe that Varvel was accomplished in revealing that destruction because of how successful his use of symbolism was. Fire is a very straightforward symbol: devastation, havoc, ruin. There was no question as to what it was doing, and who was responsible.