- What do we know about President McCallister? Updated!
- President McCallister and Senator Jack Danforth (a look at similarities between President McCallister and a possible model) New!
- Running Scared (originally aired January 26, 2005) : Jack wants to compete in a track event despite concerns that his knee is not fully recovered from his recent attack. Courtney goes to a frat party to see a guy she likes. In the future, President McCallister's national security advisor remembers how McCallister resisted calls for immediate action in the wake of a nuclear explosion.
- Today I am a Man (originally aired December 1, 2004): Jack has sex for the first time. Bobby tries to help his friend Warren with a girl Warren likes. Grace asks her brother to move in but confronts him about his continuing drug use and then goes to her assistant for comfort. In the future, a speechwriter remembers President McCallister's speech on the 40th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks and also remembers the tragedy that happened the next day.
- Lost Boys (originally aired November 17, 2004)
- Chess Lessons (originally aired November 10, 2004)
- Election Night (originally aired November 3, 2004)
- Valentino (originally aired October 27, 2004)
- This episode includes several comic-book references. Tom, Grace's assistant, wants to write his thesis about the role of comic books in the 1950s. Also, Bobby has several comic-book posters in his room, including a poster for Identity Crisis, a current series written by one of the show's co-creators, Brad Meltzer, and published by DC Comics.
- An Innocent Man (originally aired October 17, 2004)
- The First Lady (originally aired October 10, 2004)
- A Man of Faith (originally aired October 3, 2004)
- References to female genital mutilation and wearing of burquas
- Reference to Sudan: Human rights organizations and the international community have called attention to the ongoing crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan, where Sudan's armed forces and government-backed militias reportedly have targeted civilians belonging to the same ethnic groups as two rebel groups. Both Sen. John Kerry and President George W. Bush called the ongoing crisis "genocide" during the first presidential debate on Sept. 30. Kerry said that he would offer logistical support to the African Union to handle the situation and would send U.S. forces to help the African Union if necessary. Bush said that the United States had committed aid and was involved with negotiations in Sudan and at the United Nations.
- The Kindness of Strangers (originally aired September 26, 2004)
- Better Days (originally aired September 19, 2004)
- Pilot (originally aired September 12, 2004)
- Links: www.jackandbobby.net, the official Jack & Bobby site
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What do we know about President McCallister? (last updated May 12, 2005) (back to top)
Here's what we know so far.
| > | He was called "The Great Believer" after the title of a poem that he received from a Vietnam veteran who lived briefly at his house.
| | > | His mother lived at least into the first years of his presidency.
| | > | He married Courtney Benedict "a while" after his brother's death and sometime into his political career. Courtney Benedict's mother committed suicide after suffering from mental illness and never told her husband that she carried a gene for mental illness. Some scientists have reported finding a link between suicide and genetic factors, and a family history of suicide is considered a risk factor for suicide.
| | > | He and Courtney McCallister had four children together, all boys. The oldest was in his teens during Robert McCallister's first years in office and was named, of course, Jack. This Jack was code-named "Valentino" by the Secret Service, which has been authorized to protect the president and his immediate family since a 1950 assassination attempt on President Harry Truman.
| | > | He was an Episcopal minister (echoing Senator John C. Danforth).
| | > | He started his political career as a member of Congress from Missouri. It was his brother's death that began his political career, as Democrats recruited him to fill out the rest of his brother's term in Congress. After finishing that term, he ran again as a Republican.
| | > | He was the governor of Missouri when he decided to run for the presidency.
| | > | He was a Republican when he began running for the Republican nomination in 2040. He lost the California primary (traditionally a relatively late one) to Sen. Dennis Morgenthal, also of Missouri, and decided to run as an independent candidate for the presidency. McCallister thus evokes strong comparisons to Representative John Anderson of Illinois, a moderate Republican who dropped out of the 1980 Republican primary in favor of Ronald Reagan, but continued his campaign as an independent candidate. Anderson participated in one presidential debate with Reagan (Carter refused to debate Anderson), and won about 6-7 percent of the popular vote, arguably helping secure Reagan's win over Carter that year.
The example of a Republican leaving the party and causing the party a significant loss also has a more recent parallel with Senator Jim Jeffords, who cost the Republican party control of the Senate in 2001 after he announced on May 24, 2001 that he was leaving the Republican party to become an independent allied with Democrats on organizational matters. Jeffords said that the Republican party under George W. Bush was becoming more conservative and that "looking ahead, I can see more and more instances where I will disagree with the President on fundamental issues."
In general, third-party candidates have never won a presidential election but have won more than 5 percent of the popular vote in 13 elections, more than 20 percent in two elections, and some of the electoral votes actually needed to become president in eight elections. For more on third-party candidates, go here.
| | > | He ran against President Eugene Lorio, a Democrat who was finishing his first term and had lost a son in the "War of the Americas," and Senator Dennis Morgenthal, a Republican from Missouri.
| | > | He faced both President Eugene Lorio and Senator Dennis Morgenthal in at least one debate. Third-party candidates have often had difficulty getting the major-party candidates to debate them. President Jimmy Carter refused to debate Independent candidate John Anderson in the 1980 campaign, though Ronald Reagan did debate Anderson with some success. More recently, Ross Perot was invited by the major-party candidates to participate in the three presidential debates in 1992, but not to the Commission's 1996 debates.
| | > | The 2040 election that McCallister won was decided in his home state of Missouri by 43 votes. This would mean that the electoral votes were nearly split between McCallister and Morgenthal, suggesting that Lorio did not win in any state. No sitting president has ever done that badly, though there were two presidential candidates in the 20th century who managed to win only one state (George McGovern in 1972 and Walter Mondale in 1984).
| | > | President McCallister gave an extemporaneous speech at the site of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2041, the 40th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The next day, an attack allegedly at the hands of the Revolutionary Fundamentalist Nation detonated a nuclear bomb in downtown Chicago. McCallister resisted calls to attack a Middle Eastern country; evidence was later found that a U.S. citizen was responsible for the attack in order to spark a war.
| | > | President McCallister campaigned on a promise to bring U.S. troops home from deployments remaining from the "War of the Americas," which apparently started before McCallister's term. As he did so in 2041, an attack on the U.S.S. William Jefferson Clinton resulted in one casualty.
| | > | His second son, Henry, died on March 27, 2042 after driving while intoxicated.
There actually are precedents for a president losing a child while in office. Presidents John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Pierce, Abraham Lincoln, Calvin Coolidge, and John F. Kennedy all had children die while in office. Coolidge and Kennedy, the only two to have lost their sons during the 20th century, had private ceremonies. Calvin Coolidge, Jr., died at age 16 of blood poisoning on July 7, 1924, and Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, died on August 9, 1963 just two days after his birth.
| | > | His vice president, Karen Carmichael, did not serve two full terms as vice president (she is identified in the first episode as vice president for 2041-46). This means that she either stepped down in her second term. Two vice presidents have resigned from office: John C. Calhoun, who resigned in 1832 after a falling out with President Andrew Jackson, and Spiro T. Agnew, who resigned in 1973 amidst charges that he had evaded paying federal taxes and received kickbacks. Carmichael's resignation may have been related to an affair that she had with the president.
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Bobby McCallister and John C. Danforth (last updated May 10, 2005) (back to top)
It seems to be just a coincidence, but there are some notable similarities between President Bobby McCallister and a real-life politician: Senator John (Jack) Danforth, a three-term Republican senator (1976-1995) who might have been in the White House himself.
Both Bobby McCallister and Jack Danforth come from Missouri, both are or were known as moderate Republicans with bipartisan support, and both are or were Episcopal ministers who expressed concerns over the role of religion in politics.
Moreover, they both have impressive siblings, though Jack Danforth had more: his oldest brother was the chancellor of Washington University for many years, and the other was an executive vice president of Ralston Purina Co., the company that their grandfather founded. Jack Danforth also has a sister.
At the same time, they arguably do not have much in common in terms of their childhoods. Most importantly, Bobby comes from a basically middle-class background, while Danforth comes from a wealthy family that has played a major role in the St. Louis area for years.
Show co-creator Brad Meltzer said that he did not have Danforth in mind as a model for President Robert McCallister. Still, it may be worth knowing a bit more about someone who must have inspired the Rev. Bobby McCallister as he pursued his political career:
- Danforth served three terms in the United States Senate. He won a 1976 election and was then appointed in order to fill a vacancy caused by an early resignation; he then won re-election in 1982 and 1988. During his time in the Senate, he was known as a moderate who crossed party lines on issues such as the death penalty and civil rights.
- Danforth's Senate career is probably best known for his efforts in support of President George H.W. Bush's controversial nomination of Clarence Thomas to the United States Supreme Court. Thomas was nominated in July 1991 and was sworn into office in October 1991 after hearings surrounding charges that he had sexually harassed a co-worker. At the same time, Danforth broke with his party by supporting the Civil Rights Act of 1991.
- Like the future President McCallister, Danforth is an Episcopal minister and has been so since 1963; he preached in Washington DC and officiated at funeral services for President Ronald Reagan in Washington D.C. At the same time, also like the future President McCallister, Danforth often has expressed concerns about the role of religion in politics. In the early 1990s, he opposed efforts to allow prayer in public schools. More recently, he wrote a March 2005 op-ed piece, "In the Name of Politics," in which he criticized the Republican party as having "gone so far in adopting a sectarian agenda that it has become the political extension of a religious movement" and wrote that Republicans' "current fixation on a religious agenda has turned us in the wrong direction."
- Danforth has continued to be active in politics since leaving the Senate. He served as special counsel investigating the 1993 Waco incident from 1999 to 2000, served as the United States special envoy to help negotiate peace in Sudan from 2000 to 2003, and then served as the United States ambassador to the United Nations for less than a year in 2004 (while Danforth's nomination went smoothly and received bipartisan praise, it was his sudden departure that opened the door for the far more controversial nomination of John Bolton as his successor). He was as of May 2005 a partner at the law firm Bryan Cave.
- Danforth reportedly was one of the final candidates that George W. Bush considered as his running mate in 2000 before Bush picked Dick Cheney. Danforth said at the time that he would have served if asked but was happy not to have been. Had he been Bush's running mate in 2000, it is possible that he could have been the likely Republican candidate in 2008.
Sources: John C. Danforth, In the Name of Politics, New York Times, March 30, 2005. John C. Danforth, Resurrection: The Confirmation of Clarence Thomas (Viking 1994). A survey of articles and headlines about Danforth in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's archives. William H. Freivogel and Terry Ganey, Decency, values will serve Danforth well, friends say, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (September 6, 1999). Susan C. Thomson, Anatomy of a city: 2 "right arms" brokers Danforth share in community award, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (December 7, 1994).
Female Genital Mutilation, or Female Circumcision (last updated August 17, 2002) (back to top)
More than 100 million women in some African and Asian countries have been subjected to a procedure known as female genital mutilation, or female circumcision, in which part or all of each woman's clitoris and/or labia minora are removed. In one form of FGM, the woman's clitoris and labia minora are entirely removed, and the labia majora are scarred and then stitched together to leave a small opening only for bodily discharges.
The practice has been condemned by international organizations such as the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children's Fund, and the UN's programs for women, and groups are working to improve women's rights and eliminate the practice. African and Asian countries where the practice is common have struggled with the issue. Top-down change, such as 1996 ministerial regulations that banned the procedure in Egypt and that was subsequently struck down by a judge, has had some success, but groups have also reported more lasting success through education and through an overall improvement of women's rights.
The issue first came up in the United States when Fauziya Kassindja, a 17-year-old Muslim woman from Togo, sought asylum on the basis of her fear that she would be subjected to female circumcision if she was returned to her home country. Her claim was initially denied as not one of the narrow grounds for asylum, but was later granted in June 1996 by the Board of Immigration Appeals, which then established fear of female genital mutilation as legitimate grounds for granting asylum. The United States subsequently established criminal penalties for performing the procedure on women under 18 years old, although the procedure is not common in the United States.
There are several types of FGM, depending on how much of the clitoris and/or labia are excised or cut. The most common type of FGM is Type II (excision), and the most extreme is Type III (infibulation).
- Type I FGM (clitorectomy). Excision of the prepuce, which is the skin surrounding the clitoris, possibly along with the excision of part of or all of the clitoris.
- Type II FGM (excision). Excision of the entire clitoris and part of or all of the labia minora. This constitutes about 80-85 percent of the procedures, although the prevalence varies by country.
- Type III FGM (infibulation). Excision of the entire clitoris and some or all of the labia minora. Incisions are made in the labia majora to create raw surfaces, which are then stitched together to cover the urethra and vaginal introitus, leaving only a small opening for urinary and menstrual flow. This is the most extreme form of FGM and constitutes about 15-20 percent of the procedures, although the prevalence varies by country.
The resulting opening is usually about 2-3 centimeters in diameter but can be as small as the head of a matchstick. The opening can be "defibulated" to allow for sexual intercourse or childbirth; this takes place gradually over time if the opening is large enough, but must be done manually if the opening is too small and before childbirth. Manual defibulation procedures provide opportunities for infection and bleeding.
- Type IV FGM. Different practices including pricking, piercing or incision of the clitoris and/or labia, stretching of the clitoris and/or labia, cauterization of the clitoris.
These FGM procedures can result in many immediate complications, including immediate shock from the procedure, infection, and death. In the long-term, women who have undergone FGM can develop excessive scar tissue, the wounds may not heal properly, and sexual intercourse can become painful and psychologically distressing. However, some studies show that women who have undergone Type II FGM can still experience sexual satisfaction and orgasm, and that for some women, other erogenous zones became more sensitized.
The practice is done in around 30 countries in Africa and Asia, with Somalia, Egypt, Kenya, Nigera, and the Sudan reportedly comprising the majority of cases. Surveys deemed reliable by the World Health Organization show prevalence rates of 95-100 percent in Somalia, 97 percent in Egypt, 89 percent in the Sudan, 50 percent in Kenya, and 20 percent in Nigeria. Although Type II FGM (excision) is generally the most common form of the procedure, Type III FGM (infibulation) accounts for 80-90 percent of the cases in Somalia and the Sudan.
Where done, the procedure is generally accepted as a cultural tradition to make a woman more desirable as a wife by preserving the appearance of virginity and then creating the appearance of virginity after childbirth, to maintain certain hygienic and aesthetic values, and to preserve group identity; in some areas, the procedure is a landmark event in a woman's life and is celebrated with gifts and parties. Some have also said the practice is required by the Islam faith and find support in sayings attributed to the Prophet Mohammad, though the Koran does not mention the practice and it is not done in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam.
FGM has often been compared to male circumcision, as both are cutting rituals performed on children that have no demonstrated impact on overall health. The differences are that male circumcision is required by some faiths and has no substantial effect on men's sexual function, and female circumcision is generally not believed to be required by any faith and has varying effect on women's sexual function.
Sources: The World Health Organization has collected resources on female genital mutilation on-line here, including a 1998 overview here. The American Academy of Pediatrics has condemned the practice, and its report on the procedure is on-line here. David L. Gollaher, Circumcision: A history of the world's most controversial surgery (Basic Books, 2000).
Veiling of women (last updated July 30, 2002) (back to top)
Often seen by the West as a symbol of the oppression of Muslim women, the veil (various types of which include the hijab and the burqua) is a complex symbol of multiple meanings. In the late-19th century, several writers began condemning the veil as a symbol of Arab culture's alleged backwardness. In the 20th century, many Muslim women have chosen to wear the veil in response to modernization and Westernization, even as some leaders have forcibly required some women to either wear or not wear the veil.
Today, some women's choice to wear the veil can best be seen as a way of rejecting Western civilization's emphasis on beauty and its arguably more casual approaches to sexuality and relationships. As religion expert Karen Armstrong writes, "many Muslim women feel that veiling is a symbolic return to the pre-colonial period, before their society was disrupted and deflected from its true course … The assumption of Islamic dress provides continuity and makes their rite of passage to modernity less traumatic than it might otherwise have been." Some explain that the veil forces men to focus on women's intelligence and skill, rather than on whether they meet male conceptions of beauty.
However, while many women have freely chosen to wear or remove the veil, some have been forced one way or the other. In recent years, both Saudi Arabia and Taliban-controlled Afghanistan have required women to wear veils. On the other hand, forcible deveiling was part of the French colonial strategy in the 1950s, and upholding the veil was a central issue in the Algerian war of independence that culminated in formal independence in 1956.
Iran has gone from one end to another. In 1936, the ruler Reza Shah banned the veil as part of his efforts to Westernize the country and ordered the police to arrest women who wore the veil and to forcibly remove it. He had earlier sought reform the dress code for men and had implemented an official hat for Iranian men based on a French form. This prohibition was relaxed once Reza Shah fell from power in 1941. The veil became compulsory once Islamic clerics took power in 1979. In 1983, appearing in public without a veil became an offense punishable by multiple lashes.
Veiling arguably was not an original practice of Islam and did not become common until a few generations after the Prophet Mohammad's death. Still, the tradition of veiling has its roots in the Koran, particularly in two suras (verses) that provide some instruction on how women should dress. One relevant sura (24: 30-31) reads:
| | Tell the believing men to lower their eyes and guard their private parts. There is for them goodness in this. God is aware of what they do.
Tell the believing women to lower their eyes, guard their private parts, and not display their charms except what is apparent outwardly, and cover their bosoms with their veils and not to show their finery except to their husbands or their fathers or fathers-in-law, their sons or step-sons, brothers, or their brothers' and sisters' sons, or their women attendants or captives, or male attendants who do not have any need (for women), or boys not yet aware of sex. They should not walk stamping their feet lest they make known what they hide of their ornaments. (emphasis added) |
What features are "apparent outwardly" and are considered "finery" are open to interpretation. One common view holds that Muslim women should cover their faces with veils, but can display their eyes and hands as necessary. Another is that the Koran's language was a reaction to clothes which, at the time of Mohammad's writing, exposed the breasts in a way that was considered slovenly, not seductive, and that the sura should be interpreted more narrowly.
Another relevant sura (33: 59) reads as follows:
| | O Prophet, tell your wives and daughters, and the women of the faithful, to draw their wraps a little over them. They will thus be recognized and no harm will come to them. (emphasis added) |
Further support for a dress code including some form of veil can be found in the Hadith, documented traditions of the Prophet Mohammad's teachings and actions. As interpreted by Muslim intellectuals, the tradition of veiling is a response to the social chaos that the interaction of men and women can create. While Islam does accept sexuality within marriage as a normal and desirable aspect of life, it holds that behavior between men and women must be desexualized outside marriage. Veiling also marks Muslim women and prevents distractions during worship.
In the late 1890s, the Egyptian writer Qasim Amin strongly came out against the veil, arguing that veiling was responsible for Egypt's backwardness and that the veil was a huge barrier to elevating women's social and intellectual status. The ensuing debate helped transform the veil into a symbol of Islamic authenticity for many Muslims, and proof of Islam's misogyny for others.
The West has also seen the veil, along with the "Arabian Nights" images of harems, as symbols of Oriental licentiousness. In The Veil Unveiled, Faegheh Shirazi studied images of the veil in American erotica and found that the veil generally conveyed images of Oriental licentiousness. This image changed, however, "into a symbol of woman's victimization whenever the United States had an enemy in the Middle East whose dark shadow had reached American shores."
Sources: Karen Armstrong, The Battle for God (Ballantine, 2000). Karen Armstrong, Islam (Modern Library Chronicles, 2000). Veil: Modesty, Privacy and Resistance, by Fadwa El Guindi (Berg 1999). The Veil Unveiled: The Hijab in Modern Culture, by Faegheh Shirazi (University Press of Florida, 2001). The Islamic View of Women and the Family, by Muhammad Abdul-Rauf (Robert Speller & Sons, Publishers, Inc. 1977). The Modest Status of Women in Islam, by Muhammad Saeed Siddiqi (Kazi Publications 1991). Passages from the Koran are from Ahmed Ali's translation (Princeton University Press, 1993). One student's explanation of why she wears the veil is on-line here, and the Institute of Islamic Information and Education provides an explanation of the veil on-line here.
How credible was Grace McCallister's story about her sons' father? (last updated September 13, 2004) (back to top)
Bobby McCallister believed that his father was an archeology professor who was killed in Chile for political beliefs when Bobby was very young. Since Bobby is 13 in 2004 and was thus born sometime in or around 1991, this alleged incident must have happened sometime in 1990 or 1991.
The press circa 2040 was right to be skeptical of the story.
Chile did see major human-rights abuses and the deaths of thousands of people for their opposition to the government, but such abuses largely occurred during the regime of General Augusto Pinochet, who held power from 1973 to 1990. In 1994, a national commission investigating human-rights abuses during the Pinochet regime reportedly estimated that more than 3,100 people had been murdered for political reasons during that time.
The murder of a professor with ties to and a family in the United States would have been especially unusual and noteworthy in the early 1990s, when the Pinochet regime was just out of power. During those years, Chile was led by Christian Democrat Patricio Aylwin, who represented a coalition of 17 political parties and served from 1990 to 1994. Human Rights Watch reported in 1992 that this coalition "had taken office on a platform of commitment to human rights, and the president in particular had distinguished himself in his pronouncements on the issue."
Abuses still happened after the Pinochet regime, but they were less common and likely would have been reported upon.
The United States Department of State reported that the Chilean government was not responsible for any political killings or politically-motivated disappearances in 1993, 1994, or 1995 (earlier reports are not available on-line). At the same time, it did report that the Chilean police was responsible for some deaths in 1993 such as a forestry professional apparently killed during the course of an interrogation and two demonstrators.
According to the State Department's 1993 report, two terrorist groups "were responsible for most political violence" that year. Such groups were accused of killed a Chilean senator in 1991 and of attacking U.S. government representatives, as well as killing two people in 1993.
As for Pinochet, he lost a 1988 plebiscite and thus was denied a second term as president. He then retired in 1990 and became "senator for life." He was arrested in Spain in 2000 for human rights abuses and was then extradited to Chile for trial on murder charges. His trial was halted in 2002 because medical tests showed that he was too ill to stand trial, but proceedings resumed when an appellate court ruled that a ruling on his medical condition was premature. The Chilean Supreme Court ruled in August 2004 that Pinochet did not have immunity as a former head of state.
Sources: Human Rights Watch's 1992 report on Chile is on-line here. The U.S. Department of State's human-rights reports on Chile for 1993, 1994 and 1995 are on-line here, here, and here.
Grace's Marijuana Use (last updated September 13, 2004) (back to top)
Grace McCallister is what would be classified in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health as a current drug user, someone who had used illicit drugs in the prior month. According to the 2003 survey, about 8.2 percent of the U.S. population aged 12 years or older (about 19.5 million people) were current drug users and the most commonly used illicit drug is marijuana, which was used by 75.2 percent of current illicit drug users.
Grace is presumably in her mid 40s, since she said she finished graduate school before meeting Jack and Bobby's father. Of people aged 45-49, about 62.3 percent had used drugs at some point in their lives, about 12.6 percent had used drugs in the prior year, and about 6.8 percent had used drugs in the past month.
Possession of more than 35 grams of marijuana (or any controlled substance) in Missouri is a class C felony which can be punished with up to seven years in jail.
Sources: The Department of Health and Human Services' 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health is on-line here.
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