"Bendib is an equal opportunity skewer. The more a subject or victim is ignored by the mass media, the more he infuriates, informs, and intensifies the reader's attention. Cartoons need to jolt. Bendib obliges page after page."

—Ralph Nader

In a time when America may see its first woman president or the first Black leader of the free world, what are the odds that a Muslim could make it to the White House? This is one of a mezze of controversial questions satirist and political cartoonist Khalil Bendib will pose to an audience of Americans on Sunday, October 28, 5-8 pm in Beverly Hills. Bendib, who relishes skewering sacred cows, will ask "what if" a Muslim candidate made it to the Oval Office? "Turning swords into ploughshares" would be at the heart of his presidency, he says, one that would prize peace over aggression. "We will disarm the enemy through the power of laughter." View Bendib cartoons.

An award-winning cartoonist, Bendib will present his latest book, Mission Accomplished: Wicked Cartoons by America's Most Wanted Political Cartoonist with a humorous talk and slide show. His cartoons provide insights into the political challenges faced by Arab/Muslim Americans and people of color in post 9/11 America. As an immigrant to the U.S. from Algeria, Bendib found humor in the ironic "land of the free" American democracy. His cartoons cover an array of issues, from corruption to immigration, environmental degradation and labor and class struggles. Having sought refuge from political censorship from Algeria under French occupation, Bendib offers a non-Eurocentric outlook on world affairs through his cartoons.

As presidential campaigns continue to occupy the minds of Americans with elections coming soon, Bendib proposes his take on the presidential elections as The Prez in Fez candidate; "after all," he says, "how many Muslims or Middle Easterners have run for U.S. president, especially in post 9/11 America?" The answer to America's problem of being the laughing stock of the world is simple to Bendib. "Make the world laugh with us, rather than at us."

On a serious note, Bendib worries that, "Islamophobia runs deep in America today and it has been cultivated as an excuse for preventive wars, domestic spying, torture, the suspension of Habeas Corpus and the erasure of so many of our most treasured constitutional freedoms. What better way to bring back our precious liberties and to rid us once and for all of the exaggerated fear of Islam than to elect America's first Muslim president? In 1960, President Kennedy did not bring the Vatican into the white House, as initially feared, and in 2008 the Prez in the Fez will not bring Mecca into the Oval Office!"

"Drawing While Brown," Sunday, Oct. 28, 5 pm, Beverly Hills Library Auditorium, 444 N. Rexford Drive, Beverly Hills CA 90210. Admission $10, $8 students/members, includes light hummous reception. RSVPs are strongly recommended as seating is limited. Call 310.657.5511.