The book series is much better than the movie(s). I liked the books, except the last one, but didn’t care for the movie. I will be seeing the new one and hope if follows the book better.
But yes, the parallels are interesting. The first book was published in 2008, so considering the author is a woman, I would guess she was writing it from a “Bush” prospective. It’s just a happy accident that it really parallels the Obama administration better.
Yes, it was written from a Bush perspective. The author said it was inspired by a combination of the Iraq war and game shows. The theme is this: poor and middle-class people, dooped by faux patriotism, go against their own class interests and send their children to die in conflicts concocted by the fascistic right-wing overclass for purposes of entertainment, profit, and control. In other words, a pretty obvious lefty message about class exploitation.
John Nolte at Breitbart and Ed Morrissey at Hot Air both picked up on this and skewered the film in their reviews, and rightfully so in my opinion. I thought it was clearly written from a left perspective though with enough ambiguity that a conservative interpretation is possible if one insists.
Certainly that is what the publishers believed. You can see that in the special features on the DVD. More here
The story also parallels the Japanese Battle Royale series of novels, manga, and films. The Japanese movies are more straightforward without all the futuristic hoo-hah (outlandish costumes, etc.) of The Hunger Games.