Walt Handelsman hasn’t grown up yet

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By Jonathan Singer
SBU J-School Reporter

Walt Handelsman hasn’t grown up yet. At least, that’s his opinion on his own life. As a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist, Handelsman has a unique view of the world. To him, John McCain is the Planter’s peanut guy, and Ronald Reagan was all about the hair.

     But while Handelsman’s more recent cartoons may bash the Republican administration, anything that Bill Clinton did was fair game for ridicule back in the 1990s. And thanks to Barack Obama’s freakishly large ears, the Democratic presidential frontrunner could be the butt of future Handelsman cartoons.

     Speaking in front of a nearly full SAC ballroom on Feb. 20, Handelsman delivered a laugh-tracked lecture, part of the School of Journalism’s ongoing “My Life As” lecture series. Unlike other events in the series, Handelsman’s presentation featured a journalist from the opinion side of the newsroom.

     The cartoonist’s 2007 Pulitzer Prize was awarded for his series of self-branded “Walt Toons,” flash animations that feature Walt Handelsman starring as Hillary Clinton, Dick Cheney and a couple of aging baby boomers, among other public figures. He began making the Toons when, after following a steady schedule of creating one cartoon per day for years, Handelsman taught himself how to use computer animation software.

    “The more I learned about it, the more I realized I was making a mistake,” Handelsman said. Where he once had to draw one George Bush in a single-cell cartoon, now he must draw several George Bushes for an animated cartoon. Now Handelsman works at a rate of one cartoon per month, and his wife has taken over as the voice of Hillary Clinton.

    Handelsman said he started his career angering “racist pinheads” who in return assailed his Jewish heritage in an exchange involving editorials that spoofed the career of Louisiana politician David Duke. But when Handelsman was drawing cartoons for the Times Picayune in New Orleans, he watched as more than a half-million people voted for Duke, a leading member of the Ku Klux Klan.

    “These guys have no power over me, and I could totally piss them off,” Handelsman said.

    He cherishes his right to go after politicians.

     “A politician works for me,” he said. “I’m paying their salary.”

    Handelsman views this as a 007 license to kill any public figure who ends up in the newspaper. But politicians aren't his only target. Handelsman’s sarcasm has dealt with such issues as obesity in America, global warming and the recent writers’ strike (which resulted in a cartoon featuring David Letterman’s “Top Two List”).

    “Many times, sarcasm brings issues to light,” SBU School of Journalism Associate Dean Marcy McGinnis said. 

     The typical day of Walt Handelsman, according to the cartoonist himself, can begin as “early” as 10:30 a.m. But that’s only when he enters the office. Cartooning, Handelsman said, “is a constant creative energy, and there’s no off switch.” And he insisted that energy is party-agnostic. When Bill Clinton ran the nation, Handelsman produced goofy caricatures of that president on a daily basis. Now that the Bush administration is almost over, the butt of Handelsman jokes for the next four years is up for grabs.

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