Question of the Week #1: Is there hope for Rick Perry?

     Although GOP candidate Rick Perry has been the forerunner in election polling in the past couple of months, the support has severely dwindled. At this point, he doesn't seem as if he stands a chance against any of the candidates: certainly not Romney, but even Cain and Gingrich have rallied up support despite their recent political scandals.
     However, one thing is true, and it's that Rick Perry is incredibly charismatic. He's relatively attractive, he's tall, he has that southern Texan twang. During the past Republican debates, he's also been a little sassy, which I'm sure some (myself included) find annoying, but many find that it's amusing, genuine, and make him more relatable. In addition, he's the governor of Texas. Although the residents of Texas are majority conservative, the state is gigantic, meaning that he has a lot of support just by being from that state.
     His policies are rather average; there's nothing incredibly appealing except his proposal on a flat tax. However, lately he has received  much criticism about how he's a more moderate Republican, based on his immigration policies. On other issues, he's incredibly conservative. This wishy-washiness is not a good start at getting a nomination- he should have stuck to one set of political ideologies till he was chosen as the GOP presidential candidate, then he could probably afford to branch out in beliefs.

Political Cartoon #1:

1. Tom Toles drew this cartoon for the Washington Post.
2. Key objects:

• Two Chinese men: The one with the label that reads "China" is most likely Hu Jintao, the president of the People's Republic of China. The other man is most likely an advisor. Evidently, both men represent China. 
• A kangaroo with boxing gloves: The kangaroo represents Australia, where President Obama recently established a military presence to keep tags on China. The kangaroo reads, "Australia Military Base."
• President Obama: The man in the pouch of the kangaroo is clearly President Obama. He is extending his arm out towards the Chinese men as a sign of peace, despite the fact that there is a kangaroo with boxing gloves (a sign that it could attack) and underneath, someone commanding to "Release the platypuses!" Obama is putting on a front of peace, but at the same time, he's putting up his guard against a possible threat of China. 

3. Tom Toles uses caricature to exaggerate all the motions of Obama (an extremely outstretched arm) showing that the action is forced and not entirely genuine.
4. The cartoon deals with Obama's recent decision to establish a military presence on Australia to keep China in check.
5. The cartoon's message is that we're openly being suck-ups to China.
6. The cartoon doesn't contain any evident bias, though it seems as if Toles is over-exaggerating the actions of Obama to show that the friendship with China is forced and not entirely genuine. He doesn't seem overtly critical of either country.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/tom-toles-cartoons-for-november-2011/2011/10/17/gIQA1iutZM_gallery.html#photo=1