If this is the case then we do have a lot of concidences: 1. Joke: President blames any opposition on the other party. 2. Two-panel format. 3. Each panel is advisor + President. 4. Topic could be anything to make the joke work but in both cases is offshore oil drilling. 5. President’s reply is always .

Obama is allowing new oil exploration in order to drive the cost of speculation on oil futures down. That’s why you’re now paying $3 a gallon.

Bush wanted to allow exploration because his buddies in the oil business wanted to make more money.

Simple as that.

Caricature has always been a feature of political cartooning, and has always seemed unfair to the targets. But it allows the first one to get by without the namelates gimmick. (Though the Presidents are recognizable enough thru their caricatures in the second one as well that the nameplates seem otiose.) On the other side of the comparison, it’s odd that the first one lets the advisors look identical.

Bringing in the birthday paradox is a good move for explaining why the coincidence would seem more unlikely (hence striking) than it would really be if you carried out some calculations. [Though we don’t have the inputs as clearly specified as when posing the puzzle.]

GP and Dyfsunctional - Bush was often shown as being very short and often dwarf-like. It went along with him being called Shrub and being considered too small for the office by many.