EDWARD ROTHSTEIN ESSAY

A bumbling president, a rube candidate, a greedy politician - such are the caricatures of political life. Whether accurate or not, they can be more powerful than any argument.
During the recent vice presidential debates, for example, one candidate, boasting of a “mavericky” perspective, when asked about how to deal with the world economic crisis, said: “We’re gonna ask ourselves what would a maverick do in this situation, and then ya know, we’ll do that.” That same candidate, asked about global warming, said: “We don’t know if this climate change whosiewhatsit is man-made or if it’s just a natural part of the End of Days.”
Oh, wait a minute. That wasn’t Governor Sarah Palin in the debate. That was Tina Fey doing her impression of Ms. Palin on the sketch comedy television show “Saturday Night Live.” The impersonation was so resonant, it almost displaced Ms. Palin’s own performance as herself. Is Ms. Fey’s Sarah Palin destined to be the defining caricature in a campaign of exaggerated postures and caricatures- It may be.
So what gives caricature its unusual power- The word comes from the Italian “caricare,” meaning “to overload.” The art comes from connecting physical characteristics to character . For a great caricaturist, physiognomy is a reflection of the hidden soul: by showing us something exaggerated, something overlooked is revealed.
In the New York Observer in early October, Jason Horowitz compared the supposed emotional style of John McCain with the apparent unflappability of Barack Obama . The essay’s focus came from an intellectual caricature, a portrait of exaggerated temperaments, reproduced by Drew Friedman in a color drawing. The candidates are portrayed as “Star Trek” archetypes: Senator McCain the demonstrative, emotional Captain Kirk; Senator Obama, the coolly detached Mr. Spock.
Of course caricature is never truly accurate; its job is to exaggerate . This also makes it immune from easy challenge. And now that pictures have become central to political life, caricatures have grown even stronger, and caricatured images are joined by caricatures of ideas.
That is one reason why, though debate and disagreement abound during this election season, there’s remarkably little argument; postures and personalities are engaged in battle, not clearly defined policies or political ideas.
Ms. Palin seems prepared to offer a countercaricature. As the governor - who appeared on “Saturday Night Live” on October 18 - said in September of Ms. Fey: “It would be fun to meet her, imitate her and keep on giving her new material.”