VIDEO: David Petraeus' bright (and fictional) Call of Duty future

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last updated 8 January 2015

The video: "This is awkward," says Stephen Totilo at Kotaku. In real life, David Petraeus just stepped down from his post as head of the CIA due to an extramarital affair, but in the latest installment of the mega-hit Call of Duty video game franchise, the disgraced general has a bright, fictional future as secretary of defense. In Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, released nationwide Tuesday, Petraeus is shown aboard an aircraft carrier — which happens to be named the "USS Barack Obama" — in the year 2025. In another scene, he's shown aboard a military plane with a President Bosworth — a fictional character who looks an awful lot like Hillary Clinton. (Petraeus' character is voiced by an actor, not by the general himself.)

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The reaction: In the game, Petraeus serves "under a Hilary Clinton-style female president," says Megan Garber at The Atlantic. "Insert your preferred joke here." Well, jokes aside, the video game makers probably thought Petraeus was "a safe pick for real-life-hero-turned-futuristic-video-game-politician," says Kotaku's Totilo. And though the general didn't offer his vocal talents to Call of Duty, maybe spending his off-hours with the folks at Activision instead of biographer/mistress Paula Broadwell "would have helped him avoid his current jam."