This tendency is puzzling indeed. After all, this country does have a rich, often hilarious history of representing its politics in cartoon form. Thomas Nast (1840-1902) is credited as the father of American political cartoons. Nast made his reputation during the Civil War and created our rudimentary cartoon symbols; Uncle Sam, the Republican elephant, and the Democratic donkey all flowed from his imaginative pen. Nast was followed by visual commentators such as Bill Mauldin, Pat Oliphant, Herbert L. Block, Jeff McNelly and Garry Trudeau, to name but a few.

Even the smallest of hometown newspapers makes room for a daily editorial cartoon, and frequently one good panel is worth a thousand filibusters. So...after 140 years of political cartooning, 100 years of animation, and 60 years of creative animated advertising only Citizens for Eisenhower and the UAW saw fit to run an animated cartoon spot?

The first assumption we could logically make is: Animated spots have been proven to lead to a candidate’s defeat. Not! Both FDR and DDE won their respective elections in ‘44 and ‘52; if anything, animated commercials would seem to boost a campaign. Dead end here. Could it be that the Presidency is too serious a subject to be associated with animation? That might have made a more valid point; historically, the President was rarely shown in American cartoons. The aforementioned FDR was caricatured several times (he even sang in the 1933 Walter Lantz cartoon Confidence), but by and large the Chief was shown from behind, sitting imperiously at his desk or depicted in shadow, suggested only by the presence of an arm or hand. Even the great iconoclast John Kricfalusi (in his 1992 short Powdered Toast Man) did not opt to depict Ronald Reagan nipped by his own pants; a generic stand in took a zipper for the Gipper.

Roosevelt’s rugged image is played up in "The Champion Rough Rider of the World." Political cartoon by Albert W. Steele (1898).

The New Presidential Image
On the other hand, over the next few years Presidents were recognizably animated, especially after Steven Spielberg got into the cartoon game. Not only did Bill Clinton play the sax for the enjoyment of Wakko, Yakko and Dot Warner, but rivals such as Ross Perot got the ink-and-paint treatment as well. Spielberg was following the Warners tradition of celebrity caricature and these actions certainly did nothing to damage or belittle the Presidency. Today’s Presidential candidates do the late night talk show circuit, yakking it up with ex-comedians. Besides, from the halls of the Hasty Pudding Club to the set of Saturday Night Live, the Oval Office has been the subject of hearty lampoonery for decades. How could a simple animated spot with a positive spin on the candidate hurt any ambitious pol? No, the reasons we seek must lie elsewhere.

Well, if not the candidates themselves perhaps the bugaboos are the Presidential campaign platforms and the weighty decisions we are asked to make about them. One should be well-informed, take these national issues seriously, and then make sensible and sober choices for the good of one’s country, right? This stance still does not preclude an animated pitch. Didn’t the public respond to such crucial matters as supporting the nation during WWII...even when it was Bugs Bunny who enjoined us to buy war bonds? What about the response from the American people when they were asked to pay their income taxes...by Donald Duck? According to Time magazine 37% of those questioned after seeing the Donald Duck short The New Spirit (1942) said that the film increased their willingness to pay "Taxes...to beat the Axis!" It has been reported that after these two spots hit the theaters during the war years Americans bought more bonds and paid their taxes in greater numbers than ever. John McCain and Bill Bradley should have had such luck.

Any contention that animation and politics simply don't belong in the same boat to D.C. can also be dented, if not seriously damaged, by that old fave of Gen X, Schoolhouse Rock. It was proven to thousands of children and parents that the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, female suffrage, and the passing of bills into law were fitting subjects for animated discourse. If government, civics, and political history can be taught in such a sprightly and memorable manner (Schoolhouse Rock has remained a favorite through five Presidencies), why can’t candidates and their issues be as indelibly presented?