Thanks to Farai Chideya for sending this to me:

News & Views

Welcome to the official companion blog of “News & Notes.”
September 10, 2008
What John McCain Could Learn From Omar Little

Our online series, “Speak Your Mind,” continues: What do Sen. John McCain and Omar Little of HBO’s The Wire have in common? Nothing … and that’s not necessarily a good thing, writes R. Corey Richardson, an advertising account planner from Austin, Texas.

Sen. John McCain and “Omar Little”

If you’re like me and were an avid fan of HBO’s series The Wire, you’re no doubt familiar with the character of Omar Little. For those unfamiliar with the show, Omar was creator David Simon’s anti-hero in a sprawling pastiche of flawed individuals.

He was a trench coat clad and shotgun-toting homosexual man who made his living robbing Baltimore’s drug dealers and, occasionally, dispatching of those who would attempt to do him harm. Hardly the type of character you’d think to invite into your home every Sunday, and even more uncommon a character for people to root for.

But, amidst all of his contradictory character flaws, there was something about Omar Little that made him admirable … he had a code. He never cursed, never raised his gun to children or anyone not involved in selling drugs, didn’t work on Sundays, and even made it a point to take his grandmother to church every week. Beyond the not so nice qualities that made him a thug, there were these few qualities that made him honorable.

I wish John McCain watched The Wire.

Not because it would give him a better sense of what’s going on in urban America, or because it would give him a better grasp on law enforcement, school, or other municipal services that are suffering in our inner cities. Not even because it was just a really good show. No, I wish he had watched it to learn the lesson of Omar Little and what life is like for a man with a code.

I saw John McCain’s new campaign ad today, where he attacks Barack Obama on his stance on teaching sex education to kindergarteners. The image is, to put it quite bluntly,

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