It isn’t particularly common for a sitting president to weigh in on a senatorial party primary, but that’s what Barack Obama did when he recently backed incumbent Sen. Brian Schatz in a tight race against Rep. Colleen Hanabusa for the Democratic nomination. The president cited the first-term senator’s “effective leadership in the Senate and his work to protect Social Security, promote clean energy, and fight for middle-class families.”

Political cartoonist John Pritchett sees this endorsement by the president, who remains very popular in Hawaii, as an unexpected and potentially devastating blow to Hanabusa’s hopes of ousting Schatz.

About the author: John Pritchett is a longtime award-winning political cartoonist. He has been penning artwork in Hawaii for decades, including 20 years at the Honolulu Weekly. Find more of his work on the web at pritchettcartoons.com.