Tongue-in-Cheek: Hail to the new commander-in-chief
by Ariel Carmona Jr.
OK, someone tell me why we should give a rat’s you know what about our current lame president whose approval rating points are falling faster than a shooting star, especially when we have a perfectly good fake president occupying a fake white house to keep us entertained.
I am of course referring to McKenzie Allen (Geena Davis) of ABC’s "Commander in Chief." The 45-year-old Independent Vice President of the United States who last week assumed the presidency when President Teddy Roosevelt Bridges died following brain surgery.
Forget desperate housewives and hospital interns, I want to watch a drama with political intrigue with a strong lady in the lead role. In the pilot, Allen is in France to seek assistance in preventing the execution of a Nigerian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery. Returning to the United States after Bridges is hospitalized, Bridges asks her to resign, reminding her that he had only asked her to be his running mate as a publicity stunt, never intending for her to assume any position of power. Allen shuns resigning in favor of the Speaker of the House and instead decides to become the first female president in the history of the United States. Is it a “West Wing” clone with a twist? I’m not sure, but I’m willing to give it a chance. We need more female positive role models on the boob tube since Buffy and Xena vacated our lives and Mrs. Davis is a talented actress, she might just pull it off.
Lest you think being the leader of the free world isn’t tough enough for a woman, Allen also has to deal with her children, six-year-old Amy and twins Horace and Rebecca, the latter a rebellious teenager with rampaging hormones. By the time you read this, Allen will have assumed her post in the white house and will have averted the crisis of her daughter losing her diary.
I think that the producers of this show should seriously consider giving her a pet. All the best presidents had pets, Clinton had Buddy, Reagan had Lucky, there’s even a museum dedicated to presidential pets! (Check them out online at http://www.presidentialpetmuseum.com) In fact, I want you all to put down this newspaper and email the producers and suggest a pet for President Allen. I’m thinking something along the lines of a pug. A few weeks ago I went camping with some friends and I found out that girls are crazy about small dogs. I suspect that President Allen may warm up to a nice furry companion for her fake white house.
President Allen will also have to battle history. I did some research and found out that shockingly this is at least the second time the same TV network has placed a woman in the white house. 20 years ago the good folks at ABC brought us a sitcom entitled “Hail to the Chief” and in the role of the president? Veteran television actress Candice Bergen? Nope, though I suspect she would have been a good casting choice given her portrayal of sarcastic newscaster Murphy Brown. Angela Lansbury? No! Our commander in chief was none other than that queen of comedic timing Patty Duke. Her character, President Julia Mansfield had a husband who cheated on her, (That Girl's Ted Bessell was her First Gentleman) a son who knocked up the chief of staff's daughter and dealt with a band of zany cabinet members. Unfortunately, President Mansfield’s term ended after only six episodes. I guess the tv watching world was not ready for a woman in the white house (neither was the real one considering Geraldine Ferraro failed on her bid for the Vice Presidency the year before) Here’s hoping that President Allen’s term lasts a while longer.