Where reality and fiction blur

Time to address the biggest story of the new year so far (and no, I'm not talking about The Return Of Jon).

Barack Obama won the Iowa caucuses and appears to have big mo in the upcoming New Hampshire primary. The reasons why are complex but fascinating. Yes, as an Illinois senator he had an advantage in Iowa. Yes, he put together a great ground game with highly disciplined field organizers. Yes, Clinton and Edwards each have significant deficits of one sort or another that handicap their ability to sustain momentum.

What seems to be driving the Obama surge, though, is something so unimaginable in postmodern, hyper-cynical, 24/7 ironic America that it has columnists as sage and grounded as Frank Rich and Bob Herbert sounding positively giddy.

Obama seems to inspire people.

Yes, he's young and less experienced than many of the other candidates. No, he doesn't have all the answers. But unlike his competition, he doesn't necessarily pretend to. He doesn't claim to be more than he is -- a man whose profile embodies the multiracial nation America has become, and whose vision seems grounded in genuine affection for and belief in its promise. And that, coupled with a flair for self-deprecating humor and his notable skills as a public speaker, seems to be generating a wave of affection and yes, inspiration with him at its center. People really are tired of slimy lowball negative politics, and Obama offers a breath of fresh air.

There are of course still plenty of doubters, but really, the question of experience seems to have more traction than the most obvious question Obama's candidacy has presented to America -- the question of race.

And here's where my train of thought takes a turn for the fantastic. I decry the dumbing-down of television-sedated middle America as much as anyone, but really, you discount the pervasive nature of pop culture at your peril. I believe Obama has more than just Oprah to thank, though, for the fact that his appeal is reaching middle American homes that might not have been open to the idea of a nonwhite president just ten years ago.

Back in 2001 the producers of the TV drama 24 were searching for an actor who could project real moral authority in the role of Senator David Palmer, who during season one was was running for president. They probably already knew he would win the race and become president in season two and beyond. And they couldn't have chosen a better actor for the role than Dennis Haysbert.

It's tempting to think a co-starring role in an over-the-top spy thriller TV serial couldn't possibly change that many minds. But can anyone really doubt the role Will & Grace played in acclimating middle America to the idea of gay men as three-dimensional human beings deserving of fair and equal treatment? In the case of 24, for four years one of television's highest-rated dramas featured, with virtually no self-consciousness, an upright, eloquent and often formidable African-American president as the show's conscience and moral center.

There's no way to measure the effect that portrayal had on the nation's consciousness. But as one who believes in the power of our society's storytellers to influence not just the imagination, but our collective reality, I think Obama owes the 24 team as big a debt as he does Oprah. As for Haysbert himself, now there's a celebrity endorsement that would be rich with layers of meaning...