According to Hillel Italie of the Associated Press, novelists are going to have to step up their game in the future. The old plots of political intrigue are no more. Reality has intruded in the world of fiction.
You can't just insert a black man in the Oval Office anymore and use it as a plot device. And if you don't want the Secret Service knocking on your door, you definitely can't have that black man the object of some believable assassination plot.
What's a thriller writer to do? You can't write about a President of color in danger. You can't have him at the head of some devious Islamo-fascist plot to overthrow the government, unless of course you have Jesse Jackson ride to the rescue with Al Sharpton riding shotgun.
Author Richard North Patterson has already shifted gears, using racial themes in his works to reflect the changed attitudes that an Obama presidency represents. Like many readers, it is his hope that all the post-9/11 scenarios are played out, to be replaced by the aura of vibrancy and youth that will soon radiate from Pennsylvania Avenue.
Comedians are on edge, afraid that a policy-wonk type of administration won't provide them a crumb of material to work with. The incoming crew is all intense and professorial, and where's the humor in them?
There's still an opportunity for writers who are fond of conspiracies and devious plots, along with comedians who require objects of mockery. All they have to do is research Chicago politics, the Machine that gave sustenance and strength to Barack Obama, and there's more than enough material to last for the next four years.
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