Thanks, Dennis Haysbert

I'm thrilled that Obama won, I'm thrilled for everything it says about this country, but this is primarily a pop culture blog, so I have just one thing to add to what's going to be a lot of discussion about the implications of Obama's victory: thanks, Dennis Haysbert!

While people have rightly blamed 24 for inuring us to the idea of Americans torturing--remember how often Jack Bauer was invoked in the Republican debates?--I think 24  also may have gotten people used to the idea of a black president.

I remember watching season 2 of 24  and wishing that President Palmer was real--that we had a smart, decisive president at the helm instead of the boob we actually had.  And President Palmer was black.  The show, to its credit, never made a big deal of this--it just so happend that this strong leader was black.  The guys who were out to kill him in season one weren't deranged racists--they were Serbs or something.  

Anyway, so whatever harm 24 did, I do think Dennis Haysbert planted in America's collective consciousnes the idea that we could have a competent, intelligent president who was also black.  And now we really do!