V and President Obama

Yes I know I'm a week behind but I watched my DVR version of V's premier last night and I absolutely loved the show.  While watching it I called my wife over to see certain plots in the show that reminded me of President Obama's campaign (before you liberals and Obama apologists jump on me, let me finish) - specifically the message of hope, change, universal health care, the use of technology, and the grass roots networking of the youth.  

Out of curiosity, I wanted to see if anyone else noticed the connection, so I went to Google and found there was a bit of a controversy brewing especially from conservative commentators.  I was on vacation in Disney World so I missed the initial push and even if I was home I probably would have missed it anyway because believe it or not, I don't spend a significant amount of time listening to talk radio unless it is on ESPN. Here's my take on this:

1. Any conservative cheering this show on as a commentary of President Obama is off base; there are similarities but I'll get to that in a second
2. Obviously this plot line has been done many times in science fiction before and I'm not talking about the original series.  Most recently the plot line was featured in Marvel Comic's Secret Invasion where alien Skrulls previously invaded the Earth and kidnapped many of Earth's heroes to help facilitate a take over.
3. The idea of a utopia without disease or death reminded me of a Star Trek Episode called This Side of Paradise.
4. Heck one could even revisit parts of Germany in the 1930s as a parallel story line.
5. Now what every one of these story lines usually has is a charismatic leader and here's where they definitely borrowed traits from President Obama's campaign.  These include:

• Savvy dealing with the media; including the part of tantalizing the reporter with making him famous for the interview (I don't believe Obama ever promised this, but it makes for good conspiracy talk)
• Use of grassroots organizing (Peace Ambassador) including setting up area captains and offering rewards (Again there weren't monetary rewards from Obama's campaign, but more name recognition and the sense of making lifetime contributions to the campaign)
• The promise of the use of better and more modern technology (there was quite a lot of time spent with tagging on the show)
• Universal health care
• The if you are not with us, you're against us mentality; this actually could have been borrowed from not just Obama but politics in recent memory.  For an interesting read on a Who Are "They" in the Obama Administration read this post on the National Review (BTW - the "They" the author refers to is anyone on the opposite side of the President).
• The message of hope and change

There are so many easy to spot references that it didn't take non-politicos much time to make the link.  I don't believe it is a commentary of the Obama Administration because the plot is almost Science Fiction 101, but the writers definitely borrowed themes from the Obama campaign.  

I enjoyed the show.  I don't believe it is politically charged and certainly not a commentary against the Administration.  Enjoy it for what it is - a well done remake of Aliens trying to take over the world.

PardonMyFrench,

Eric