Will Obama be bad for cartooning?

Editorial cartoonists Mike Peters of The Dayton Daily News and Mike Luckovich of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution were on NPR this morning talking about drawing the election campaign.

The voluble duo yucked it up with reporter Renee Montagne and shared their fears that an Obama victory will be bad for the business of cartooning. A similar theme runs through a poorly argued Gawker article that contends that Obama's race will be a stumbling block for caricaturists. (Thanks to Daily Cartoonist for the latter link.) The author, Alex Carnevale, accuses cartoonists of "overreaching" in their attempt to draw Obama, citing Barry Blitt's New Yorker cover and this cartoon by Glenn McCoy.

I find nothing objectionable about this drawing. I disagree with its political point of view, but it's a funny piece of satirical nastiness. Further, I think the "end of cartooning" fears are overblown. Expectations for Obama are so high and the state of the country so dismal that a widespread letdown is inevitable. Assuming he wins, the competing constituencies of the Democratic Party will be tugging at his sleeve, his new administration will suffer the same kind of growing pains as those that preceded him, and the right will be hysterical no matter what he does. I'm not worried that his election would put more cartoonists on the unemployment line and predict an ample supply of grist for the satire mill.

The Mike 'n Mike radio interview can be heard here. Luckovich's cartoons appear frequently on the Globe opinion pages and in boston.com's Ink Tank.