Disagree. Sorkin and his team created a naive version of what a moderate liberal presidency ought to be. The show keeps on emphasizing that they are the good guys when many times they ARENT or they get facts wrong. Yet no one changes. Don’t believe me? Well there’s the time that Bartlet berates a gay activist for demanding a public declaration of acceptance. There’s the time Bartlet lies about his medical problems which SHPULD have resulted in his impeachment. Also, what does this White House accomplish? Nothing really. The show keeps on breezing by without further emphasis on the issues an episode looks at. Voting rights for chidlren? Next. The don’t say, don’t telll law? A brief mention in an episode. Also, the show gets many factors wrong-like how the White House somehow keeps many of tits employees over the eight years when that’s really rare. Or how it’s employees like Sam, Tony, cJ, all participate in election planning except they ACTUALLY cannot by law (hatch act). The White House was supposed to be a celebration of the Clinton heard and American president t, except today we know know that dark side of that view; an all powerful president with no safeguards, a reluctance to tackle social issues wholeheartedly, complacency with status quo even when it harms ppl (remmeber how Clinton expanded police power on ghettos?). And perhaps even worse-a sense of entitlement that allows them to brush aside real issues because it didn’t fit their ideas. The White House of the west wing, had it been portrayed in universe with two of the greatest shows in TV, the wire and the sopranos-WPULD be the exact institution that enables many of the problems shown on those shows. I’d argue that the sopranos and the wire were more of an honest look at American society. The sopranos dealt with the post Cold War malaise, and the emerging war on terror combined with bad capitalism. The wire was both a horrific look at the cities that a president similar to Bartlet would have failed to understand or solve due to years of partisan politics, trickle down economics, and an inability to stem both the war on drugs and the lack of jobs in industrial areas;, yet a celebration of how city is itself a character.
Saw this episode the other day, it had new meaning this time around.
Sorkin needs to get back on the horse, we need some optimistic views of what government can be, in the public eye.
Oh yes totally agree. Wish to god that Bartlet was the U.S President and Sam and Josh -ad Toby were his actual advisors.
... boy howdy ... a little too much new meaning. Such a fine line between towering women/men and ... well, ... you know.
Dang. We REALLY need Aaron Sorkin to come back and do a reboot of this.
Like, literally, this is what the American public desperately needs right now.
Disagree. Sorkin and his team created a naive version of what a moderate liberal presidency ought to be. The show keeps on emphasizing that they are the good guys when many times they ARENT or they get facts wrong. Yet no one changes. Don’t believe me? Well there’s the time that Bartlet berates a gay activist for demanding a public declaration of acceptance. There’s the time Bartlet lies about his medical problems which SHPULD have resulted in his impeachment.
Also, what does this White House accomplish? Nothing really. The show keeps on breezing by without further emphasis on the issues an episode looks at. Voting rights for chidlren? Next. The don’t say, don’t telll law? A brief mention in an episode.
Also, the show gets many factors wrong-like how the White House somehow keeps many of tits employees over the eight years when that’s really rare. Or how it’s employees like Sam, Tony, cJ, all participate in election planning except they ACTUALLY cannot by law (hatch act).
The White House was supposed to be a celebration of the Clinton heard and American president t, except today we know know that dark side of that view; an all powerful president with no safeguards, a reluctance to tackle social issues wholeheartedly, complacency with status quo even when it harms ppl (remmeber how Clinton expanded police power on ghettos?). And perhaps even worse-a sense of entitlement that allows them to brush aside real issues because it didn’t fit their ideas.
The White House of the west wing, had it been portrayed in universe with two of the greatest shows in TV, the wire and the sopranos-WPULD be the exact institution that enables many of the problems shown on those shows. I’d argue that the sopranos and the wire were more of an honest look at American society. The sopranos dealt with the post Cold War malaise, and the emerging war on terror combined with bad capitalism. The wire was both a horrific look at the cities that a president similar to Bartlet would have failed to understand or solve due to years of partisan politics, trickle down economics, and an inability to stem both the war on drugs and the lack of jobs in industrial areas;, yet a celebration of how city is itself a character.
So much wisdom
Not anymore.