Thursday, November 06, 2008

Congratulations Barack Obama


I have been following closely the US presidential election for almost two years. I am very glad Barack Obama won and will become the first black president of the USA. What I know about him is he is an excellent writer (Dreams from My Father is an great autobiography) and orator with a fascinating life story. I like his liberal instincts, the way he ran his campaign and his apparent calmness and good judgement and I think he has the potential to be great statesman. Although I don't expect him to reach the sky high expectations that people have or to be able to solve all or even many of the myraid problems facing the USA and the world, I am genuinely optimistic for his presidency and wish him good luck.
I wrote before about how, by coincidence, my internet alias Matt Santos, who ran for president in the TV show The West Wing, was based partly on Barack Obama. The casting of Jimmy Smits meant he was a Latino-American and not African-American but they share many similarities. Both are former community organisers recently elected to congress with a skill for public speaking casting themselves as post-racial unifying candidates. The storyline of the West Wing series 6 and 7 were remarkably predictive. Matt Santos fought a gruelling primary campaign before eventually beating the party insider and favourite ( although admitedly Bob Russell in the West Wing is nothing like Hilary Clinton). There was even a third Democrat candidate called John who (like John Edwards) was revealed to have an affair during the campaign. Matt Santos's rival is an aged maverick Senator very similar to John McCain. Matt Santos's running mate was a veteran democrat similar to Joe Biden. The economic crisis that triggered Obama's final and decisive rise in the polls was mirrored on the TV show with a nuclear power plant meltdown that helped Santos to win. On the TV show, Matt Santos's running mate, Leo McGarry, died of a heart attack on election night. I was therefore concerned, literally, for the health of Joe Biden on Tuesday. However, he seems in good health so no worries there. Neither did the West Wing writers predict the batshit insanity that is Sarah Palin but still not bad going on the life imitating art stakes.
The West Wing finished with Matt Santos's inauguration so I need another TV show or movie to predict Obama's presidency. Will he perhaps share the fate of 24's David Palmer. If this is the case, Obama can expect an assortment of terrorist related threats orchestrated by Kosovans, Islamic extremists, Russian ultranationalists and corrupt US businessmen and military. His wife, who in reality seems like a thoroughly decent person, will show herself to be devious and manipulative and double cross him and eventually force him to resign. He will finally be assasinated by his successor. Lets hope none of that actually happens!
The only other fictional black president I can think of is Morgan Freeman in Deep Impact. I don't want to be killed by an asteroid here. Help me out! Does any know of a fictional black president who doesn't suffer a terrible fate?

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