Beaver Dam, WI resident Seymour Schwarzkopf declared himself “disappointed and disillusioned” with President Barack Obama, after having had his hopes built up by the political performances of other African-American heads of state in film and television. The outburst comes at the end of a tumultuous week for the United States first openly African-American president, with his pre-election promise of repealing the military’s ‘Don Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy towards homosexual recruits blocked by Republicans in Congress and his public dressing down at a televised Town Hall by Democratic voter, black, middle class, chief financial officer, veteran, wife and mother, Velma Hart.
Said Mr. Schwarzkopf, “I always believed that when we finally elected our first black president, he’d be strong and saintly, he’d stand up for what he believed in and he’d make me feel good about myself. I allowed myself to hope that when a black man finally entered the White House, he would be better than us mere mortals, or at least as godly as Morgan Freeman.”
Schwarzkopf cites the movie Deep Impact, in which a serene President Morgan Freeman guides the entire human race through the impending disaster of an asteroid strike, and President Palmer in the television series 24 as examples of what a good African-American President should be like.
“Denzel Washington in 24 - now he was a good president. As for Obama, what am I supposed to think now? That he’s just as flawed and human as the rest of us? No, siree; no, siree Bob.”
When informed that President Palmer in 24 was in fact played by actor Dennis Haysbert, he remained unrepentant:
“Is it racist to expect super-human levels of perfection from our first black president? Is it racist to hold him up to higher standards than all them previous white guys? Is it racist to get Denzel Washington and Dennis Haysbert mixed up, even though they kinda look the same? If that’s racist then I don’t want to be not racist.”
Schwarzkopf has since moved on to fictional Hispanic and female presidents for inspiration, having just finished watching the final series of The West Wing and bought a copy of Sarah Palin’s autobiography.