Barack Obama, Wire Fan

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


obama_omar300.jpg

So Barack Obama says his favorite TV show is The Wire. And his favorite character, he tells the Las Vegas Sun, is Omar Little, the charismatic, sawed-off shotgun toting, Honey Nut Cheerios-eating, gay stickup artist. “That’s not an endorsement. He’s not my favorite person, but he’s a fascinating character,” says Obama, displaying both admirable honesty and pop-culture cred, yet risking alienating the demographic (i.e., women) that will never forgive Omar for helping set up Stringer Bell. And all the culture warriors who will take issue with Obama calling the gangster “sort of a Robin Hood.” But picking your favorite Wire character is all about moral ambiguity—a real minefield for a politician who thinks the answers to these kinds of questions really matter. All the cops are corrupt or boozers or philanderers. The politicians are weasels. And the drug dealers and journalists? Enough said. The only mildly politically safe Wire character I can think of is Lester Freamon, whose biggest sin is a love of miniature furniture. If you want to get a little more daring, you could go for rookie middle-school teacher and ex-police Roland “Prez” Pryzbylewski—but don’t forget that he’s an accidental cop killer.

No wonder most candidates’ professed favorite TV shows are pretty unoffensive. Hillary tells TV Guide she likes Antiques Roadshow, American Idol, and “HGTV makeover shows.” Mitt Romney claims he watches The Office. Dennis Kucinich says his all-time fave is The Lone Ranger. And John McCain says his favorite TV character of all time is Maverick—get it?

If you’ve got ideas for which Wire character each candidate should endorse—or even better, which character reminds you of which candidate—leave a comment.

WE'LL BE BLUNT:

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate