I must object to the editorial cartoon created by Jake Thompson on Friday November 14. There are two main factual errors in the “letter” he has written to President-Elect Obama.

First off, Mr. Obama is not the current President, and such he is not empowered to carry out the selected duties of the office. In America we have one president at a time, and from today until January 20 it is George W. Bush. In fact, Mr. Obama has resigned his seat in the Senate, which means until January 20 he is not even a member of the U.S. government. The powers of the President are not transferred until inauguration, a point that Jake Thompson ignores or doesn’t understand. Either way it is both untrue and not funny.

Secondly, to suggest Mr. Obama “intends to solve all the world’s problems,” is a gross misrepresentation of his agenda. Never in the course of a 20 month campaign has Mr. Obama ever said he knows how to and can fix all the world’s problems. In his victory speech on Tuesday November 4th Mr. Obama said the complete opposite. He stated that government couldn’t be the solution to everyone’s problems. Again Jake Thompson ignores or misrepresents the facts in order to create a joke that is not funny.

Political cartoons and political satire are funny because they take something that is true about the government and point out the absurdity inherent in it. In this cartoon the only thing that is absurd is the abuse of commonly known facts. If one wants to criticize Mr. Obama for a lack of action as President it would only make sense to wait until he is President.