President Obama is a surprisingly good cartoonist

Aside from having access to the nuclear codes, one of the other benefits of being president of the United States is that a major publication will enlist cartoonists to analyze the seemingly meaningless doodles you leave on the margins of White House stationery.
The Washington Post put together a fascinating interactive in which they asked cartoonists to analyze the doodles of current and past presidents — without knowing which commander in chief penned each "artwork."
President Obama, whose drawing of Senators Harry Reid, Dianne Feinstein, and Ted Kennedy appears on the top row in the center column in the image above, "shows a natural ability at caricature," according to one of the Post's cartoonists. Meanwhile, one artist deduced that President Nixon's sketches of horses and cowboys are "the work of someone who sees the world in stereotypes."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
President Harding, however, may win the award for the most abstract doodles. This is "like toppled art deco," said one cartoonist, while another said his harsh geometric scribbles look like "they were inked by a 13-year-old child of a bitter divorce."
Check out the full interactive at The Washington Post to see how all the presidents' marginalia stacks up.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Samantha Rollins is TheWeek.com's news editor. She has previously worked for The New York Times and TIME and is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.
-
Marisa Silver’s 6 favorite books that capture a lifetime
Feature The author recommends works by John Williams, Ian McEwan, and more
-
Book reviews: ‘We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution’ and ‘Will There Ever Be Another You’
Feature The many attempts to amend the U.S. Constitution and Patricia Lockwood’s struggle with long Covid
-
Philadelphia’s Calder Gardens
Feature A permanent new museum
-
Primatologist Jane Goodall dies at 91
Speed Read She rose to fame following her groundbreaking field research with chimpanzees
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclub
Speed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's ills
Speed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, Stallone
Speed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's view
Speed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talk
Speed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'
Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposes
speed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle