Preliminary sketch for The Grip of Despair

Working in the tradition of the great 19th-century French caricaturist Honoré Daumier, Kal’s political cartoons combine insightful wit, biting political criticism, and masterful draftsmanship. This cartoon depicts the impossibility of President Obama’s exit strategy from the Iraq war. Using Obama’s body as a metaphor for the conflict, Kal depicts the president stretched across the paper (or the world), with his feet stuck in Iraq and his hands gripping an exit sign on the other side of the sheet. The pose is exhausting and unsustainable for the president, so his expression is weary and fatigued. Despite his efforts to lead the U.S. out of Iraq, Obama cannot extricate himself.