Editing Doonesbury (section)

===Use of real-life politicians as characters===
Even though ''Doonesbury'' frequently features real-life U.S. politicians, they are rarely depicted with their real faces. Originally, strips featuring the President of the United States would show an external view of the [[White House]], with dialogue emerging from inside. During the [[Gerald Ford]] administration, characters would be shown speaking to Ford at press conferences, and fictional dialogue supposedly spoken by Ford would be written as coming "off-panel". Similarly, while having several characters as students in a class taught by [[Henry Kissinger]], the dialogue made up for Kissinger would also come from "off-panel" (although Kissinger had earlier appeared as a character with his face shown in a 1972 series of strips in which he met Mark Slackmeyer while the latter was on a trip to Washington). Sometimes hands, or in rare cases, the back of heads would also be seen.

Later, personal symbols reflecting some aspect of their character came into use. These included:

* [[Ronald Reagan]] as "[[Ron Headrest]]," a computer-generated video character in imitation of [[Max Headroom]]
* [[George H. W. Bush]] as a disembodied voice, indicating a lack of personality
* [[Dan Quayle]] as a talking [[feather]], both as a pun on his name and representing him as a political lightweight
* [[Bill Clinton]] as a talking [[waffle]] in reference to his [[triangulation (politics)|triangulation]] strategy
* [[Newt Gingrich]] as a talking fragmentation bomb, referring to his reputation as a political bomb-thrower
* White nationalist [[David Duke]] as a talking [[swastika]]
* [[George W. Bush]] initially as a disembodied voice wearing a [[Stetson hat]], since he had been [[Governor of Texas]]. After his [[2000 United States presidential election|controversial election]] the voice became an [[asterisk]], and during the [[War on Terror]] the hat was replaced with a [[Galea (helmet)|Roman military helmet]] that grew increasingly worn.
* [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] as a large hand due to accusations that he had groped women

The long career of the series and continual use of real-life political figures, analysts note, have led to some uncanny cases of the cartoon foreshadowing a national shift in the politicians' political fortunes. Tina Gianoulis in ''[[St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture]]'' observes that "In 1971, well before the [[Reagan Era|conservative Reagan years]], a forward-looking B.D. called Ronald Reagan his 'hero'. In 1984, almost ten years before Congressman Newt Gingrich became [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker of the House]], another character worried that he would 'wake up someday in a country run by [[Newt Gingrich]].{{'"}}<ref name="stjames">Tina Gianoulis, [https://web.archive.org/web/20041224123707/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g1epc/is_tov/ai_2419100358 "Doonesbury"], ''St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture'', 2002</ref> In its 2003 series "[[John Kerry]]: A Candidate in the Making" on the [[2004 United States presidential election|2004 presidential race]], ''The Boston Globe'' reprinted and discussed 1971 ''Doonesbury'' cartoons of [[John Kerry#Anti-war activism .281970.E2.80.931971.29|the young Kerry's Vietnam War protest speeches]].<ref name="globekerry">Michael Kranish, [http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061703.shtml "Part 3: With Antiwar Role, High Visibility"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061205062042/http://boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061703.shtml |date=December 5, 2006 }}, ''The Boston Globe'', June 17, 2003</ref>