West Wing thoughts

[mbrubeck]

Via Netflix, Sal and I are catching up on the past decade of television. Here are some of my impressions while watching The West Wing seasons one and two:

• Oh, so this is what fueled my more political friends' Obama fantasies.
• So many things seem bittersweet in hindsight:
  1. An administration that considers it catastrophic to have an approval rating of only 42% (in early 2000, cf. all of 2006-2009)
  2. Space Shuttle Columbia having problems that endanger its landing (in May 2000, cf. February 2003).
  3. Saying they "still don't know where bin Laden is" (in October 2000, cf. 2001-present).
• Hopefully not bittersweet in hindsight: worries throughout season one about racially-motivated assasination attempts.
• For a show that's really quite shockingly well done in almost every way, they sure do make some clumsy use of thunder and lightning when people are supposed to feel gloomy.