What If: Barack Obama Talked With Jed Bartlet

Of all the reasons I was disappointed when West Wing went off the air, watching a fictional president I could believe in was number one. For that hour watching the show, I lived in my dreamland of having a president that inspired me, was a great leader and had the knowledge to carry out policies that had the best interests of the country as a priority. In real life, I had a president that time and time again demonstrated mismanagement instead of leadership. With Obama I see that inspiration and leadership.  With the McCain/Palin ticket (and the Bush machine behind it), I feel this surreal confusion at why others don't see right through what will be another mis-managed administration if they are elected. I was ready for Jed Bartlet to step in..

Luckily, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd had the same idea when she contacted the creator of West Wing Aaron Sorkin to create a fictional meeting with Jed Bartlet and Barack Obama.

Jed Bartlet would help everyone spot the error in the statement that Sarah Palin made when she said "Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had gotten too big and too expensive for the taxpayers" when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac aren't funded by taxpayers!

Jed Bartlet would remind everyone that when Bush said "This frightens some in Washington because they want the federal government controlling the Social Security, like it's some kind of federal program" - that it is a federal program.

Jed Bartlet would go on one of those articulate rants if he had a fantasy discussion with Barack Obama about the McCain/Palin ticket in a way that would describe my own anger, including:

(excerpts from Maureen Dowd's NYT Op-Ed powered by Aaron Sorkin's wise words):

• You (Obama) were raised by a single mother on food stamps — where does a guy with eight houses who was legacied into Annapolis get off calling you an elitist? And by the way, if you do nothing else, take that word back. Elite is a good word, it means well above average. I’d ask them what their problem is with excellence.
• While you’re at it, I want the word “patriot” back. McCain can say that the transcendent issue of our time is the spread of Islamic fanaticism or he can choose a running mate who doesn’t know the Bush doctrine from the Monroe Doctrine, but he can’t do both at the same time and call it patriotic.
• McCain decried agents of intolerance, then chose a running mate who had to ask if she was allowed to ban books from a public library.
• It’s not bad enough she thinks the planet Earth was created in six days 6,000 years ago complete with a man, a woman and a talking snake, she wants schools to teach the rest of our kids to deny geology, anthropology, archaeology and common sense too?
• It’s not enough that a woman shouldn’t have the right to choose, it should be the law of the land that she has to carry and deliver her rapist’s baby too?

Little did I realize in the end, watching Obama speak and reading about his issues gave me real inspiration and hope. Calling him "President" Obama would enable me to stop dreaming, and live that reality.

Update 9:30pm... While watching the Emmy Awards I happened to see Jed Bartlet (Martin Sheen) himself appear, telling us to vote for the candidate of my choice...I am sure he meant to say "Vote For Barack Obama!".

Comments

[Lawyer Mama]

SIng it, sister! I, too, mourned the passing of the West Wing. (Actually, I mourned when Aaron Sorkin stopped writing it as well.)

[Jill]

I miss President Bartlett so much. I miss everything about that show! And I too got a pang of sadness when I saw him on the Emmy's last night. If only our real presidents were even half as good as the pretend ones.

[Wendy]

I've been missing and quoting West Wing a lot lately myself. Let Bartlet be Bartlet (and Obama be Obama)!
And of course, like the sticker I have says, Don't blame me--I voted for Bartlet!

Now does anyone have a secret plan to fight inflation?

[Donna]

Someone way back commented that this year's election was even more exciting than that last season of West Wing, when Jimmy Smits' liberal Latino candidate was pitted against Alan Alda's compassionate conservative.

Aaron Sorkin is one of my heroes. I love the way he uses language. And I love the way he gets to the heart of the issues I care about.

And yeah - old lefty Martin Sheen was definitely talking Obama. And I think Tommy Smothers' admonition about "truth" was a dig at McCain.