Kerry Washington stars in “Scandal”

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. So what happens when you are in the position of helping the United States' most influential politicians bury their skeletons?

Kerry Washington ("Django Unchained," 2012) headlines the cast of "Scandal" as crisis management specialist Olivia Pope. While running around D.C. helping her clients hide or overcome their own less-than-exemplary behavior, Pope also has to keep her own indiscretions under wraps. She's an influential character not only in the show, but also in the eyes of TV audiences, and it's proving to be rather revolutionary. "Scandal" airs Thursdays on ABC.

Washington is the first black female to have a lead role in U.S. prime-time network television since "Get Christie Love!" in 1974, and she's bringing a character into the public spotlight who, while she has her own personal issues, is a strong and powerful role model. But while the show itself is groundbreaking in a sense, the world within "Scandal" is oblivious to Olivia's skin color, and the fact is rarely if ever brought up by any of the characters.

In fact, the entire world in which "Scandal" takes place is, on the whole, a more inclusive and less judgmental one than the world we live in. At the start of the show, there was a female vice-president (Kate Burton, "Rescue Me"), and the president's chief of staff, Cyrus Beene (Jeff Perry, "Grey's Anatomy"), was a married gay man who had adopted a child. Additionally, Republican President Fitzgerald "Fitz" Grant (Tony Goldwyn, "The Last Samurai," 2003) tried to pass an act that would ensure permanent residency for certain people who immigrated as minors.

The real question, though, was if this was something viewers would be ready for and willing to ingest on a regular basis. In speaking with the "New York Times" in 2013, Washington said the show's success answers this question with ease and also shows the general trend towards our society becoming more accepting.

"The question was: Are audiences ready to have the stories that we tell on television to be more inclusive? Are we ready for our protagonists to represent people of all different genders and ethnicities?" she said. "I think the success of the show speaks to how we have become more inclusive as a society because the fans of the show span all different races and ages and genders. It's very exciting."

Having a woman of color in such a prominent role and playing such a powerful character is definitely influencing popular attitudes as "Scandal" continues through its fourth season. A couple months after her "New York Times" interview, Washington sat down with "Vanity Fair" to discuss how her role is proving to be an inspiration for the show's fans all over the world.

"One of the most profound things for me about the show is the number of white women of all ages who come up to me and say, 'I want to be Olivia Pope,'" Washington said. "It is especially profound in a place like South Africa. It's called 'The Fixer' over there. ... The fact that white women can see this woman of color as an aspirational character is revolutionary, I think, in the medium of television. I don’t think white women would feel that way about Olivia if her identity as a woman, period, wasn’t first in their mind."

Bellamy Young as seen in “Scandal”

It helps, too, that the real person on whom the character of Olivia Pope is loosely based, former press aide Judy Smith, is also a black woman. Serving as deputy press secretary under former president George H.W. Bush, Smith reportedly played a key part in the handling of several scandals and problematic PR issues, such as the Gulf War.

For someone who spends so much time covering up other people's mistakes, Olivia's own life is surprisingly full of missteps. Perhaps the most potentially problematic of these is her on-again, off-again affair with Fitz. The president's marriage to Mellie Grant (Bellamy Young, "Last Day on Earth," 2012) was never really a marriage of love. The match was set up by Fitz's father for political convenience, and the couple's icy interactions were hampering Fitz's run for election until Olivia stepped in and coached them.

Mellie found out fairly early on what was going on, which caused several issues as Fitz and Olivia continued to work closely. The love triangle goes through various iterations throughout the show, swinging from hostility to a workable situation and back as Fitz dithers between the women and Mellie considers leaving more than once.

Washington leads the charge in this high-octane political thriller, and she's making waves. Her strong, powerful character Olivia Pope is influential on screen, and Washington is proving influential off screen, too. See what all the hype is about as "Scandal" airs Thursdays on ABC.