Obama in the West Wing
It's Inauguration Day, and reality has finally caught up with The West Wing.
I thought it would be interesting to compare the election campaign and transition portrayed in the last two seasons of The West Wing with the events of the last year. The parallels are striking - even though The West Wing was done two and a half years ago. You may have read about this, particularly when Barrack Obama first came to prominence. But the parallels have continued, and I'd like to document the ones I've noticed or heard about. Although it's fun to find similarities, it's also interesting to note the differences.
Warning: the following contains major spoilers for The West Wing, right to the series finale.
Some of the parallels are deliberate. The character of Matt Santos was based on a younger Barrack Obama. At the time, Obama was just a State Senator and his only national exposure had been that speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Santos was a charismatic, but pragmatic, Hispanic politician, who "didn't want to just be the brown candidate [but] the American candidate." (Was that an Obama or a Santos quote?) Santos's wife and Obama's mother were white.
Of course the backgrounds to the campaigns could not have been more different: in The West Wing, there had been eight years of a fairly popular Democratic President. Criticisms that Republicans might make of Bartlett: too engaged in the middle east at the expense of domestic issues, overly intellectual (a Nobel Laureates who speaks Latin), he lied about his health.
If I had emily_shore's skilz, I'd have footnotes. In lieu of that, here are a few articles I've found: The Guardian and Politico in February, the BBC in September, and The New York Times in October. I haven't seen it yet (just found it), but President Hollywood looks like it might be fun.
I may have been obsessing about this for some time, but I'm sure there are many bigger West Wing and Obama fans on my flist, who can provide more examples. Please help!
I thought it would be interesting to compare the election campaign and transition portrayed in the last two seasons of The West Wing with the events of the last year. The parallels are striking - even though The West Wing was done two and a half years ago. You may have read about this, particularly when Barrack Obama first came to prominence. But the parallels have continued, and I'd like to document the ones I've noticed or heard about. Although it's fun to find similarities, it's also interesting to note the differences.
Warning: the following contains major spoilers for The West Wing, right to the series finale.
Some of the parallels are deliberate. The character of Matt Santos was based on a younger Barrack Obama. At the time, Obama was just a State Senator and his only national exposure had been that speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Santos was a charismatic, but pragmatic, Hispanic politician, who "didn't want to just be the brown candidate [but] the American candidate." (Was that an Obama or a Santos quote?) Santos's wife and Obama's mother were white.
Of course the backgrounds to the campaigns could not have been more different: in The West Wing, there had been eight years of a fairly popular Democratic President. Criticisms that Republicans might make of Bartlett: too engaged in the middle east at the expense of domestic issues, overly intellectual (a Nobel Laureates who speaks Latin), he lied about his health.
- Obama and Santos both started their Presidential runs from the US Congress (Santos was a Congressman, Obama a Senator). Their Republican rivals, John McCain and Arnold Vinick, were both US Senators.
- Obama and Santos both had long and hard-fought Primary campaigns against White House insiders (Bob Russell was Vice President) who, prior to the campaign, were considered shoe-ins for the nomination. Both Primary campaigns were undecided until after the final state voted. In The West Wing, there were three candidates (the third was also an ex-VP), none of whom had a majority so the nomination was decided at the convention. Although Hilary Clinton had conceded by the time of the convention, there was some uncertainty as to whether her supporters would support Obama. Hilary Clinton is also quite a different character from the dull Bob Russell.
- Both McCain and Vinick are fiscally conservative, socially liberal, Republicans from Western states (Arizona and California, respectively). Both had had long careers in the Senate and were well-respected within the Party, had reputations as straight-talking mavericks (did we hear those exact terms used in The West Wing?), and were not popular with the base. Despite this, both won their Primaries against a large field, relatively quickly. Both had criticised the religious right, though (I think) Vinick only did this in private and McCain publicly recanted. Vinick, it is revealed to us if not confirmed for the voters, is an atheist; McCain has claimed a deep faith (eg. this often-told story).
- Both Obama and Santos chose much older running mates (perhaps not surprising for a young candidate) with the gift of the gaff, eschewing their Primary rivals. Leo McGary had been White House Chief of Staff. Both McCain and Vinick chose running mates from the religious right (again, not surprising to pick a candidate from the other wing of the party). This seems to have helped Vinick: his running mate, Ray Sullivan (another governor), didn't seem much noticed except by the base; compared to Sarah Palin's strongly-polarising influence.
- The shape of the General Election was quite different. Despite a deeply unpopular Republican incumbent, Obama and McCain were neck-and-neck until the final few weeks of the campaign, when Obama pulled ahead for a clear win. Despite a fairly popular Democratic incumbent, Vinick had a strong lead (even talking about a 50-state win) until a serious nuclear power station accident produced a big upset. The final result was a photo finish.
- On election night, Santos lost his Vice President to a heart attack. Here, it was McCain who had the health worries.
- Following their wins, Obama and Santos both appointed their biggest rivals as Secretary of State. Obama chose his Democrat rival, Santos chose his Republican rival. Obama did appoint one Republican to his cabinet (Secretary of Transportation), and kept Robert Gates on from the Bush administration.
- Obama appointed Rahm Emanuel as his Chief of Staff. Santos chose Josh Lyman. Both had been senior advisors in previous Democratic Presidents' (Clinton and Bartlett) campaigns and administrations. It has mistakenly been claimed that Josh's character was actually based on Rahm Emanuel. Rahm Emanuel was originally a Hilary Clinton supporter, while John Lyman ran Santos's campaign (and even persuaded him to run in the first place). David Axelrod (who did discuss the Santos character with The West Wing writers) is probably closer to the Josh Lyman of Seasons 6 and 7.
If I had emily_shore's skilz, I'd have footnotes. In lieu of that, here are a few articles I've found: The Guardian and Politico in February, the BBC in September, and The New York Times in October. I haven't seen it yet (just found it), but President Hollywood looks like it might be fun.
I may have been obsessing about this for some time, but I'm sure there are many bigger West Wing and Obama fans on my flist, who can provide more examples. Please help!