Wednesday, November 26, 2008

24: Paving the way for an African-American President?

Did the TV series 24 allay the doubts of most Americans with regards to the idea of an African-American or black president, which culminated in the Obama victory?


By: Vanessa Uy


The idea of an African-American president had since been a frequent staple in fictitious US government scenarios in TV and movies. Remember the famous actor Morgan Freeman as the US president on that comet bound for Earth movie Deep Impact? But in media exposure and popularity terms, the hands-down winner is probably the one on the TV series 24. President David Palmer – who is played by Dennis Haysbert – not only paved the way that the idea of a black or African-American US president is not just plain plausible, but also to heal the rift of a race-centered culture clash that divided the American society since the Civil War.

The TV series 24 is indeed groundbreaking not just because of the aspect of the idea of an African-American being elected as the president of the United States. It even spawned a college course for law students in the US that’s centered around the legal aspects law enforcement statutes – often being violated – on various episodes of the TV series. And even before the one millionth surfer checked out on Wikipedia about what is the “Posse Comitatus Act”, the series spawned legions of fans who are ever glad that it is not their own civil liberties that is violated by CTU agent Jack Bauer. At least 24 did made America less skeptical about the “idea” of an African-American president. Maybe President-elect Barack Obama should invite the main cast of 24 to his January 20th Inauguration this coming 2009.

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