I see via Mike that Obama's favorite character on The Wire is Omar. Mike says this is the sort of thing that endears Obama to journalists, but, I don't know, isn't Omar a bit of a predictable choice? I mean, who doesn't like Omar? Obama would have endeared himself more to this Wire-watching reporter if he'd named Bunk or Prop Joe or Bunny Colvin. And I think he really would have endeared himself more to David Simon, who in a long harrangue against a couple of writers dialogueing about The Wire for Slate, recently complained:
And in all instances when people come up to me to discuss how much they love them some Omar and how he's the bestest character ever, well, okay, my eyes do glaze to the point of distraction and I do desperately try to change the subject back to whatever the collective conversational zeitgeist might be at a given gathering.
Then again, I'm the genius who said Obama was lame to do the Monday Night Football intro. So maybe his judgment about the intersection of politics and pop culture is a bit better than mine.
--Jason Zengerle