For those who may recall, the television sitcom "Ally McBeal" portrayed Calista Flockhart as a comic/ ironic young lawyer at the Boston law firm of Cage, Fish, and Associates, which also employed characters portrayed by Lucy Liu and Robert Downey Jr.
Now if an attorney were to meet Calista Flockhart today, perhaps at a Los Angeles area Aston Martin dealer, he might at first think he has finally found an attractive, well dressed, successful attorney with whom he can discuss the implications of the Supreme Court's MedImmune v Genentech decision. He would be astonished to learn that she in fact has no law degree or formal legal training of any sort. Further, she in fact has no material knowledge of, or interest in the practice of law. Strange, you might think- on the show she appeared to be a practicing attorney. But this is the nature of a fictional character- it doesn't really exist, except in a work of fiction as portrayed by an actress or actor functioning under the instruction of a director with a supporting cast and crew, writers and a script.
The Obama presidency stands apart from any other presidency in recent history (and perhaps in the entire history of the country) in that the Barack Obama elected to serve as President is in fact the first fictional character elected President. Just as Calista Flockhart is not really Ally McBeal, the character elected President is not really Barack Obama but simply a fictional character portrayed by him. Let's compare:
Ally McBeal (as portrayed by Calista Flockhart)
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1. Attorney
2. Employed by Cage, Fish, and Associates
3. Resident of Boston, MA
Actual Calista Flockhart
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1. Actress
2. Employed by David E. Kelley and FOX network
3. Resident of Los Angeles
Likewise, we can compare the "Barack Obama character", as seen on television, with the actual person:
Barack Obama President Character
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1. Patriotic post-partisan post-racial centrist
2. Genius intellectual
3. Cosmopolitan
4. Ciceronian Orator
5. Principled leader
Actual Barack Obama
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1. Leninist ideologue class and race warrior- recall his friendships with domestic terrorist William Ayers and racist demagogue Reverend Wright.
2. Buffoonish imbecile- witness his bumbling ineptitude in addressing the countries critical economic issues
3. Xenophobe- his DVD box set gift to the visiting head of state of our staunchest ally speaks volumes
4. Experienced tele-prompter reader- even American Idol contestants must learn the words of the songs written for them
5. Management trainee- witness his hapless attempts to fill his cabinet
Appropriately, Barack Obama in fact has an IMDB page listing his various roles and theatrical appearances. Unfortunately, just as Calista Flockhart would have little chance of beating an experienced litigator in the courtroom, the actual Barack Obama can only play the character of a great statesman and leader. In retrospect, a better casting agency might have selected Martin Sheen, Dennis Haysbert, or Harrison Ford to lead the country in these difficult times given their success in portraying excellent Presidents on screen. May the next President be an actual one.
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