From Reno, Associated Press reporter Scott Sonner reported actor Dennis Haysbert likes to believe his portrayal as the first black U.S. president on Fox's 24 may have helped pave the way for Barack Obama:
''If anything, my portrayal of David Palmer, I think, may have helped open the eyes of the American people,'' said the actor, who has contributed $2,300 to the Illinois Democrat's presidential campaign.
''And I mean the American people from across the board -- from the poorest to the richest, every color and creed, every religious base -- to prove the possibility there could be an African-American president, a female president, any type of president that puts the people first,'' he said Tuesday.
But that might inspire comparisons of Michelle Obama to Sherry Palmer, not a desirable comparison. NPR tackled this in January on All Things Considered:
MICHELLE NORRIS: Of course, Hollywood has produced all kinds of presidents we've yet to see in real life - women, Latinos, handsome, single dads who date beautiful, brainy lobbyist. But we wanted to test the question about a black man in the Oval Office. After voters have seen several black presidents on screen, are they more likely to elect one in real life? We put this to Todd Boyd, professor of critical studies at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
TODD BOYD: I'm a bit hesitant to say that because James Earl Jones or Morgan Freeman, you know, or Dennis Haysbert played a president in a television show or in a movie, that, you know, it means Barack Obama can be president. I think that's a bit of a stretch.
NORRIS: When it comes to presidential portrayals, does it make a difference if we're talking about portrayals in film or on television, on television, in particular, in the case of "24," for instance, where David Palmer and later his brother Wayne Palmer were portrayed in that series as black presidents beamed into people's homes every week for a period of time?
Prof. BOYD: When you talk about, you know, a popular television program, it's not, you know, simply the representation on "24," but it's that representation in a larger context where we've seen African Americans do things in the last 10, 15 years that we've not seen before. For people watching a program like "24," perhaps this representation, you know, may have unconsciously made some things in society seem less troubling than it may would have been had this representation not beamed in in the first place.
But this logic was also discussed with Hillary Clinton and the flopped Geena Davis ABC drama Commander-in-Chief. Hollywood has certainly telegraphed to those rubes in Flyover Country that they ought to expand their racial and gender horizons for president. But would anyone admit that TV made all the difference?
—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center.
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Hollywood sniffs its own tailpipe again and calls it roses
July 2, 2008 - 14:46 ET by wizardjrThis insane view of the world that life immitates fiction is just too much. Is there anyone in Hollywood whose ego is small enough to fit through a standard sized door?
Charlie Chaplin
July 2, 2008 - 14:49 ET by GothampcActually I think Charlie Chaplin paved Obama's way in "The Great Dictator".
Obama
July 2, 2008 - 14:57 ET by PurdueMattThe fact that Obama is a socialist and the most liberal senator in Washington is much more significant than the color of his skin. I don't care that he is black.
you know
July 2, 2008 - 15:02 ET by red_dragon311this Boyd guy, you know, i can't take any thing he says seriously, you know, because he, you know, can't make a complete, you know, sentance without, you know, saying" you know", you know.
A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.
-Gerald Ford
They are alike
July 2, 2008 - 18:28 ET by Eileen Rightboth need teleprompters.
If anyone paved the way
July 2, 2008 - 15:06 ET by MidAmericaIf anyone paved the way for barack it was Colin Powell but barry better not stand next to General Powell as the contrast will be dramatic.
Morgan Freeman was President in Deep Impact
July 2, 2008 - 15:06 ET by QueasyHe was also the Director of Central Intelligence in Sum of All Fears.
Can we really afford an Obama Presidency using this logic?
It's the new Paradigm
July 3, 2008 - 08:45 ET by ahusserIn stereotyping. Bossman is black or a woman or both, loose cannon operative/Detective etc. is a white guy. If a caucausian is the boss then he is stupid/evil and/or corrupt. See MI III, Matrix most TV detective shows et al.
Obama is no David Palmer
July 2, 2008 - 15:09 ET by Adam_MEPalmer routinely sanctioned torture on 24. He ordered the death of a government agent to buy time during a terrorist attack. He scoffed at a couple of kids who asked him what he'd do for them as President. And if you include the 24 novels as canon, he allowed drilling in ANWR.
Sounds a lot like someone the GOP would put up for office. Not a Marxist like Obama.
No It Didn't
July 2, 2008 - 15:13 ET by SquonkamaticThat's like saying the Roadrunner opened the door for the widespread use of anvils in our culture, or Gilligan opened up the door for coconuts, or Captain Kirk opened up the door for shameless overacting, or that Roswell opened the door for space aliens abducting our cattle, or that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles opened up the door for pizza, or that Mr. Green Jeans opened up the door for green jeans, or that the Cookie Monster opened the door for cookies, blah blah blah. It's just TV, the purpose is to sell toilet paper and underarm deoderant and breakfast cereals and frozen dinners. God how I loath pompous, self important Hollywood celebrities who have convinced themselves that they have "made a difference" rather than just working another meaningless job. I've known parking lot attendants that have more of an influence on how people think, and you never hear them crow about it.
More
July 2, 2008 - 15:36 ET by GothampcThis is fun:
Sally Field opened the door for Flying Nuns
Elizabeth Montgomery opened the door for sexy witches
Lucille Ball opened the door for screwy redheaded housewives
Jackie Gleason opened the door for fat bus drivers
Bill Cosby opened the door for black doctors with lawyer wives
Shirley Booth opened the door for live-in maids
This IS fun
July 2, 2008 - 15:56 ET by red_dragon311David Hassolhoff opened the door for talking cars
Lost in Space opened the door for old gay men to run around with young boys and robots
Lee Majors opned the door for bounty hunting stunt men
3rd Rock from the Sun opened the door for dumb aliens to rent shitty attic apartments
Desprate Housewives opned the door for housewives to be whores
Weeds opened the door for suburban moms to sell pot
A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.
-Gerald Ford
More
July 2, 2008 - 16:35 ET by GothampcJohn Ritter opened the door to living with two women
Andy Griffith opened the door for widowers with small children and maiden aunts
Florence Henderson opened the door for women with big families to have a maid and lay around the house reading magazines
Robin Williams opened the door for relationships between aliens and humans
Mary Tyler Moore opened the door for women news workers
Sherman Helmsley opened the door for black men to move to the Upper East side
Carroll O'Connor opened the door for men with dingbat wives
Greg Evigan opened the door for truck drivers who have chimps as companions
Gary Coleman opened the door for black midgets
WOW I need to get a
July 2, 2008 - 16:53 ET by red_dragon311WOW
I need to get a Miss Cleo 1900 number l
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/kyle-drennen/2008/07/02/cbs-s-chen-talks-weeds-actress-about-legalizing-pot
A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.
-Gerald Ford
Amos and Andy paved the
July 2, 2008 - 17:04 ET by ConservativeRexAmos and Andy paved the way for....aww never mind.
One more
July 3, 2008 - 06:45 ET by Seabeach4348Toto opened the door for mangy little dogs?
Boo Hiss
July 2, 2008 - 15:48 ET by mytwocentsI love Dennis Haysbert as an actor, but I'm sorely disappointed in his choice for CIC.
Oh man. I loved David
July 2, 2008 - 15:50 ET by Cureboy675Oh man. I loved David Palmer. I remember when his old friend Mike Novick double-crossed him in Season Two and helped temporarily remove him from office. And Novick said something like, "David, I'm doing this for the good of the country". And President Palmer said, "I'm the President, Mike. You don't call me by my first name". I absolutely howled with approval at that jab. That was classic!!
But his wife. Sherry Palmer. Man, was she a piece of work. A Lady MacBeth for the the modern age. I actually approved of her decision to risk Kim Bauer's life in order to save her husband's presidential campaign. But that was out of pure selfishness because Kim Bauer was the worst character in television history (and I think she holds the world's record for encountering the greatest number of psychos in one lifetime).
But Wayne Palmer? What a lame president he was!! Ugh, he paled in comparison to his brother David. I hope he's still not the president when they start the new season.
(Okay...I will now de-activate my 24-fanboy mode)
I never understood exactly
July 2, 2008 - 18:33 ET by mibrilaneI never understood exactly how Wayne Palmer became POTUS... what exactly would he have run on? "I was Chief of Staff for my brother, who you all really liked and who was assassinated after he left office." That's about it. He had never held any kind of elected political office before running for President, and yet there he is. It just didn't pass the "somewhat believable" test.
What happened to Ray Wise's VP from the previous season? But, that would have meant keeping a Republican in office, can't have that. The two Republican presidents (John Keeler and Charles Logan) were underhanded weasels who could probably be considered evil within the context of the show.
Season 7 of 24 has a female president. Television makes liberal wishes into reality, if only for a short time.
I hear you. I always
July 2, 2008 - 21:44 ET by Cureboy675I hear you. I always thought they were going for the JFK/Bobby Kennedy comparison with David & Wayne Palmer. What's weird is, if I remember right, the guys who run the show are big time conservatives (and I think Dick Cheney is a big fan of the show and John McCain had a cameo appearance on one episode), which surprises me that Democrat David Palmer was portrayed as very forthright and decent while Republican Charles Logan was, at first, a total nimrod and then a criminal mastermind.
It always cracks me up. They've had how many different presidents. President David Palmer, President Prescott (for about 3 or 4 episodes when Palmer was briefly removed from office), President Keeler, President Logan, President Gardner (though he was only president for about 5 minutes onscreen), President Wayne Palmer, and now this female president in Season 7. Not to mention that Season One had an unnamed president (since David Palmer was still a Senator at that time).
Eight presidents in seven years! :) By the way, I still haven't forgiven them for killing off Tony Almeida. Yeah, Jack Bauer is cool and all, but Tony Almeida was the best.
Tony Almeida
July 2, 2008 - 23:09 ET by shawn228No worries cureboy. Tony is will back in season 7
Some folks can dish it out but cannot take it
Black, white, brown, yellow
July 3, 2008 - 04:23 ET by Jack BauerBlack, white, brown, yellow ... I don't the United States people would EVER vote in as President a person with the first name of WAYNE!
Master Thespian Haysbert
July 2, 2008 - 15:51 ET by SickofLibs"...to prove the possibility there could be an African-American president, a female president, any type of president that puts the people first.''
Just anything but another white guy.
Thanks for establishing your place in history for us - now go back to practicing your "craft".
Hollywood Still can't
July 2, 2008 - 15:59 ET by exLibcreate a likeable, conservative President.
At least I don't remember one.
All i seem to ever see in movies and tv are cariactures of the left's view on what a conservative is. See/or don't for that matter "The Contender".
Oh dude. I hear you on
July 2, 2008 - 16:09 ET by Cureboy675Oh dude. I hear you on "The Contender". The only part of that movie I really enjoyed was the sub-plot of the FBI agent investigating the car crash and the plot twist at the end involving the car crash.
But the rest of that movie. I didn't like it because all the Democrats were the salt of the earth and all the Republicans were just eeeeeevil. Do these people really think the world is like that?
But I think it did win a special academy award for being the most transparent movie of the last 20 years.
It's propaganda, not
July 2, 2008 - 16:11 ET by mattmIt's propaganda, not entertainment. This guy is basically admitting it.
Weird
July 2, 2008 - 16:19 ET by ToddonCapeCodIt's not like this guy is the only black president to ever come out of a Hollywood production -- movies or TV.
What about Morgan Freeman's portrayal of the president, in "Deep Impact" back in 1998?
This is just a case of a
July 2, 2008 - 16:31 ET by ForeverOnTheRightThis is just a case of a narcissistic actor thinking it's about him.
Socialism doesn't put the
July 2, 2008 - 17:52 ET by wiwfSocialism doesn't put the people first, you idiot, it puts the government first.
The Rocky Mountain Collegian: Illustrating Idiocy
Sherry Palmer
July 2, 2008 - 18:57 ET by MikeknaJ>>But that might inspire comparisons of Michelle Obama to Sherry Palmer, not a desirable comparison.
LOL. Hilarious.
President Palmer was awesome. I'd vote for him (the fictional character) in a second. And I also find myself thinking about buying All State insurance from time to time...
"The shadow proves the sunshine" - Switchfoot
http://www.xanga.com/mikeknaj
More like President Wayne Palmer
July 2, 2008 - 19:52 ET by Cho Yi FanBHO will be more like President Wayne Palmer.Tenative when hunting terrorist like Abu Fayed.Undecided if and when he needs to use a nuke.Surrounded by weasles that look out for their own interest his tenure will be a most depressing era..
"A man may be killed but never humiliated."-Shaolin proverb
Model for President
July 3, 2008 - 01:34 ET by jaywlThe truth is that only once has this happened. A rather mediocre actor more or less played himself in films and on television. What you saw really was what you would get. In that respect then, Reagan paved the way for Reagan.
Remember Geena Davis in her
July 3, 2008 - 02:05 ET by Rush FanRemember Geena Davis in her role as President Mackenzie Allen in the TV series Commander in Chief (2005-2006)? Although the series was intended to be a sequel to his movie The Contender, I believe the creator and writer of the show, Rod Lurie, a liberal Democrat, intended to showcase how a woman president (can you say Hillary Clinton) could be just as strong a leader as a man; moreover, the MSM made a point of comparing this woman president to Hillary.
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I'm voting for Barack Obama now that an AP poll shows people would rather barbecue burgers with Barack Obama than with John McCain. http://news.yahoo.co...
Ah yes... TV's first black
July 3, 2008 - 04:29 ET by Jack BauerAh yes... TV's first black First Lady:
Sheri 'Michelle' Palmer.. the greatest unhinged female villain since Glenn Close boiled the bunny.
She could have taught Lady McBeth a few tricks.
She was played by the most excellent Penny Johnson, Larry Sanders long-suffering assistant.
Is it just me...or
July 3, 2008 - 06:52 ET by theduck6does it seem that Sen Obama's only qualification is that he IS black? ...sort of.
Pretty much every hit squad's ammo aimed at McCain would be more aptly aimed at the Obamessiah.
"Getting a sweetheart deal on your mortgage doesn't necessarily qualify you to be President"....
Anon.