From Slate V: Life Imitates The West Wing
It has been said in the past that the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr, and Robert Kennedy stole hope, idealism, youthful vigour, and inspirational politics from the US in the 1960s. That has to be tempered with reality, because those three men were not the only idealists in politics but had JFK lived on, and had Robert Kennedy succeeded him, we would likely be looking at a very different world. The neoconservative mindset would likely not have been as prevalent, and government would likely have followed a more liberal course. The fictional Matthew Santos, and the real-life Barack Obama would have been mainstream politicians in this world, but history did not unravel that way; instead both men are candidates of change - with striking similarities.
In Slate V’s Life Imitates The West Wing Torie Bosch visits the fictional portrayal of a ‘Yes We Can!’ candidate and the not-so-coincidental similarities with Barack Obama. I am careful to avoid labelling things ‘best’, because such extreme phrases inevitably require compromise and future reassessment, but as I have said before, Barack Obama is the best candidate today for the United States, and as I’ll say now: The West Wing was the best TV show. What surprised me most about the video was that it refused the connection between John McCain and Alan Alda’s Arnold Vinick. Nevertheless, I hope the outcome of the election will stay faithful to the finale of The West Wing. A clue about what I mean: Find out who became Secretary of State in the Santos administration.
