I am the most powerful man in the world

　　Of the American cartoonists who excoriate President George Bush, it would be hard to find one who exceeds Ted Rall in venom. Among left-wing cartoonists contempt for Bush is common, but what grips Rall is more akin to hatred. Using a crude drawing style, he makes no effort to achieve a convincing likeness of the president, instead portraying him as a goggle-eyed ogre with a mouthful of fangs, a drooling oaf or a half-crazed fanatic -- sometimes all three in the same cartoon!

　　Rall's cartoons normally tell a story in several frames, complete with title, here "The Day He Became Generalissimo No Mojo". In English "generalissimo" is a comically exaggerated rank, the sort of thing only an insecure third-world military dictator of fascist proclivities would hanker after. And the nonsense name "No Mojo" does indeed suggest some barbaric potentate, though it is actually just a respelling of "No more, Joe!" (meaning something like "You've reached your limit, man!") as a black hiphop singer might pronounce it.

　　President George W. Bush (notice the W above the bed -- "W" is a disparaging nickname for the president among his critics) awakens to enjoy another day of "absolute power". His "yee-ha!" is something an excited Texas cowboy might shout. Oddly, lying next to Bush is not his wife Laura but a leaking bottle of vodka; Rall depicts Bush, a reformed alcoholic, as a booze-soaked degenerate.

　　Alas, the prez①is in for②disappointment. Each of his knavish ambitions for the day is thwarted by one or the other of his assistants. Start another war -- in Iran, say? "Rummy", i.e. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, nixes that idea. Another round of tax cuts for rich friends? The treasury is empty and budget deficits tower. Name more "psychos" like John Bolton to prestigious positions? No more slots to fill. Get rid of America's social security system? Bush is sinking in the opinion polls already.

　　By the end of the day the president is weeping tears of frustration. "But I'm the most powerful man in the world!!!" he cries, unable to believe he can have been reduced to such impotence. "Of course you are," another advisor reassures him, and then orders him to bed like an impatient parent. From Rall's left-wing perspective, Bush is no leader: instead he is a puppet controlled by the corporate interests that Rall believes got Bush elected in 2000 and 2004.