Is 'West Wing' idealistic or realistic? Updated 5/10/2006 9:54 PM ET
By Jill Lawrence USA TODAY http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-05-10-west-wing-main_x.htm WASHINGTON President Bartlet is leaving office, taking his tart tongue and Nobel Prize in economics, his principled stands and arcane musings, his wise, feisty wife and his witty, attractive, smart staff. Really smart. Also, really Democratic. And did we mention high-minded and idealistic and looking out for the common good? NBC's West Wing, which ends its seven-year run Sunday (8 ET/PT), often had the feel of wishful thinking especially for Democrats who haven't controlled the White House for six years. Yet "for all the leaps you have to make in TV land," as former Bill Clinton aide Gene Sperling puts it, Democrats and even some Republicans say the show offered a fairly accurate picture of how the White House works. "It was very realistic, and that's why people liked it," says Marlin Fitzwater, a press secretary to Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush who became a consultant to the show. "They wanted to see good government. They appreciated people who were trying to do the right thing for the right reasons. That was common to both parties." Among its many legacies, The West Wing offers cautionary tales for politicians with secrets (Bartlet was censured for hiding his multiple sclerosis) and for strategists looking toward the next election (Nevada was the pivotal state and nuclear power the pivotal issue in the campaign that made Democrat Matt Santos president-elect). Some scorn The WestWing as a liberal fantasy, despite Bartlet's hawkish foreign policy. "It was a place (liberals) could go and have everything that they wanted reinforced," says Marshall Wittmann, who worked for the Christian Coalition and Republican Sen. John McCain and is now at the moderate Democratic Leadership Council. Bartlet strikes Democrats and at least one academic observer as a contrast to Bush. "His character has thought through all kinds of issues in deep and admirable ways," says Eric Miller, a historian at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pa. With Bush, "you don't get that sense of profound engagement with philosophical questions." The show also opened a window on the agonizing decisions presidents must make. Does Bartlet leave astronauts trapped in space, or rescue them and reveal the existence of a secret military shuttle? Assassinate the defense minister of a fictional Middle Eastern country or let him continue to orchestrate terrorist attacks? And it would take a hard-hearted viewer of either party not to suffer with him when his daughter Zoey was kidnapped by terrorists. A distraught Bartlet stepped aside and temporarily turned over the presidency to House Speaker Glenallen Walken, a conservative Republican. Al Auster, who teaches courses on TV and film at Fordham University, calls it a wimp-out. "Presidents have had all sorts of personal crises but did not step aside. Lincoln's son died when he was in office. He did not step aside. And this was in the midst of the Civil War." Other analysts point to the incident as an example of the show's tapping into public yearning for bipartisanship. "The writers uncovered a genuine longing within the American people," Wittmann says. "They would love a moment like that where one party reaches across the aisle to the other party." Bipartisanship wasn't the only unrealized dream. West Wing also featured an empowered feminist press secretary (C.J. Cregg) so sharp that she rose to chief of staff. In real life, many a press secretary has briefed reporters without knowing what's really going on. Dee Dee Myers had such problems in the Clinton White House. Later, as a West Wing consultant, "I got to take things that happened to me and change the ending a bit." In one episode, C.J. realizes she knows less about an issue than the reporters questioning her, and confronts the president. In another, C.J. has a root canal and Josh Lyman, the deputy chief of staff, substitutes at the daily briefing. "He makes a total hash of it" and creates an economic crisis, Myers says cheerfully. Revenge? "Absolutely," she says. C.J. was one of the show's many passionate, well-intentioned, hardworking aides, a portrayal people of both parties say is close to the truth. "The people who work there really believe in what they're doing," says Paul Begala, a Clinton adviser. "It is not a cynical place, and West Wing is not a cynical show." The West Wing was, in that respect, a seven-year ad for public service. But anyone who heeds the call should know that life won't entirely imitate TV. "We don't walk as fast," says Sperling, who consulted for the show. "We're not as funny. And we're not as good-looking." ================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 antunes at uh dot edu Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post. _____________________________ MEDIANEWS mailing list medianews@twiar.org To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
