When Republican Presidential nominee John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his choice for vice president — a younger, relatively inexperienced woman — the scenario seemed familiar. If you were watching ABC a couple years ago, it should. It’s essentially the backstory of Commander in Chief.
As Chief begins, Republican President Teddy Bridges (Will Lyman) dies of a cerebral aneurysm midway through his term. This leaves his female VP, MacKenzie Allen (Geena Davis), as the leader of the free world. With concerns over McCain’s health and age, is it unrealistic to think that this scenario could be mirrored in the real world?
The comparison isn’t lost on Chief’s creator, Rod Lurie. He’s an Obama reporter and recently attended the Democratic National Convention. Lurie jokingly told The Hollywood Reporter, “I think that Geena and I need to be paid royalties by the Republicans.”
Though the Chief scenario worked for his fictional Republicans, Lurie is critical of their real-world counterparts. “People who understand politics know anything is possible. Picking a woman is an absolute strategic idea from McCain’s point of view. He’s not talking about governing right now. The idea of this woman actually facing down [Vladimir] Putin and negotiating with [Dmitry] Medvedev is idiotic.”
Will the McCain-Palin ticket be able to generate more support than the cancelled-after-one-season Chief TV show did? Stay tuned! 
I agree with all you commenters *and* I think the similarities are pretty ironic – it’s like we’re seeing a prequel of the series – I have a clip on my blog from the series that’s very thought provoking. Now if we could just get the show back on the air 🙂
So what your saying is that a woman cannot stand up to a man? Obama might be the next prez, but does HE truly have what it takes? does anyone really know how to handle the problems of the world? Queen Elizabeth, Margaret Thatcher, Madeline Albright, When these “women” arrived into the world, what experience did they have?….NONE, they were very intelligent and learned. People in politics live in a fantasy world where everyone has a car and money and a home (s), they dont rummage through couch cushions looking for change, so they can ride the bus, they dont… Read more »
Amen, Kel. I scrolled down all ready to say exactly what you said, but you beat me to it. Well said!
Lurie sounds foolish assuming to know the qualities and capabilities of a woman he doesn’t even know. I’d feel much more secure having her face down Putin than some guy who’s “experience” is sitting around having committee meetings for 150 days out of the past 4 years.