If Obama wins on Super Tuesday, thank/blame David Palmer
-
- January
- 30
When I first read this article on about actor Dennis Haysbert saying he believed his character of President David Palmer on 24 made it possible for Barack Obama to be the first mainstream black presidential candidate, I have to admit I thought, “Ego much?”
Haysbert told TV Guide in its Jan. 21 issue (excerpted via BuddyTV.com) that viewers liked what they saw when they saw David Palmer as president and that made it possible for some folks to accept a black man in charge of the United States.
As far as the public is concerned, it did open up their minds and their hearts a little bit to the notion that if the right man came along… that a black man could be president of the United States. … People on the street would ask me to run for office… when I went to promote [24].
Then I thought about it some more and I’m not convinced so much that he’s completely wrong.
Buddy TV did point out that Morgan Freeman once portrayed a president, in Deep Impact, and people liked him for the job, too.
But let’s face it. Morgan Freeman was a known and well-liked quantity long before that role. Who had really heard of Dennis Haysbert before a young senator running for president of the United States was targeted for an assassination attempt, only to be saved by a federal agent named Jack Bauer? (Don’t even tell me you remembered him from his days as Coach Duane Johnson in that “classic” TV series, Just the Ten of Us (you know you watched it!). I do have to admit, though, I never knew he played the Imperious Leader in one episode of Galactica 1980.)
Is there a direct corollary? I can’t really say that. But does seeing a capable, confident, intelligent president who also happens to be black make folks, maybe, a little more color-blind? Maybe. The interesting thing about President Palmer (David, not Wayne, of course) is that both liberals and conservatives love him. He never got weighed down by having to opine on traditionally liberal or conservative issues. The country or, alternately, his life and/or career was at stake and in that 24-hour period, he truly was everybody’s president.
So, if Obama wins, should he thank Haysbert?
Haysbert is, in real life, a big Obama supporter (he chartered a helicopter to head to an Obama fundraiser at Oprah’s house after a shoot). Here, he told the Los Angeles Times:
I think we both have a similar approach to who and what we believe the president is. Barack doesn’t get angry. He’s pretty level. That’s how I portrayed President Palmer: as a man with control over his emotions and great intelligence.
Still, you have to keep this in mind: America’s still only elected one president in our 225 years who hasn’t been a white Protestant man. And even Kennedy fit two of three of those criteria.
Photo courtesy of FOX.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, January 30th, 2008 at 12:12 pm by Amy Vernon.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Print
| 
Email
Funny, you don’t hear Gena Davis saying stuff like this in relation to Hillary… Sure, Cerrano’s character on “24” was terrific. But I kind of doubt the outcome of the presidential election will be swayed by the words of the Allstate insurance spokesperson.
(Everyone knows the gecko is where true political progressive thought comes from).
haha, this article made me laugh so hard… and the first thing i thought of before i read the part about Morgan Freeman was that he played a black president first! I guess Morgan should look for a public thank you from Obama also.
My godness, if Obama comes out ahead after Super Tuesday maybe David Palmer should think about running for Vice President
I’ll be following along on Http://www.fantazsports.com and rooting for my man palmer… i mean obama.
I actually write about this very topic in my post on The Weekly Rader yesterday. NPR ran a short essay on the Palmer/Obama connection, but, as Nick notes, few have explored the representations of female presidents in popular culture. I wonder if this means we are more accustomed to that possibility than to the Palmer/Obama one.
The essay is here:
http://weeklyrader.blogspot.com/2008/02/has-tv-paved-way-for-hillary-more-than.html
More food for thought: black men were given the right to vote (technically, even though it didn’t work out in reality most of the time, admittedly) in this country decades before any women were.