And we're back! Yes, a full year since my last post, your favorite Cafe for cyber commentary is open for business. I have no reason to expect that there will be much time for more than a post every week or so, but I will do what I can. Also I'm not even going to try and recount what all has happened over the past year, suffice to say I've been busy. If a post needs some recent background info then I will try my best to provide it, but to much has happened in the last 365 days for me to even try and summarize it all. Now, on with the posting...
I actually wrote this essay as a 'note' on Facebook after Barack Obama won the election a few days ago (!!!!!) but it's also what inspired me to get back into the blog, so I thought it would be fitting to make it my first new post. Enjoy!
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THE PROPHECY OF THE WEST WING
What with all this talk of President-elect Obama being the anti-Christ, and the near obsession in some circles with prophecies that supposedly told of his coming and Armageddon, etc. etc., I wanted to take a moment to bring up another much more fascinating prediction that also came true on Tuesday night. You won’t find it recorded in any ancient texts, copies of Nostradamus’ predictions or any holy books; it's not even in the Farmers Almanac. But it did happen. It was made in the spring of 2006, to our entire country by the writers of The West Wing, during a time in which it seemed an almost laughable impossibility; a fairytale at best. But the show’s writers saw beyond their present and into our future, to a time when a young, relatively inexperienced, minority candidate would seek the office of the President, and, in doing so, would change the world. And then they put it on television for everyone to see.
First off, if you’re not familiar with The West Wing, you should be. It’s as fine a television show as has ever graced the air waves --- a brilliant mix of deep drama, witty banter, truly hilarious moments, and deeply moving characters. It began in the fall of 1999, a few months before George Bush took office, and ended in May of 2006, only a year and a half before its final prophetic story arc would become a reality. The 7th and final season of the show focuses on the presidential candidacy of Matthew Santos (played brilliantly by Jimmy Smits), a junior member of the House of Representatives, and a man of Hispanic heritage, who is convinced by a close advisor to the sitting President to seek the nation’s highest office.
Ethnicity aside, from the outset the parallels between Matt Santos’ fictional campaign and Barack Obama’s historic journey to the Oval Office are simply remarkable. Both men are in their late forties, with strong, beautiful, assertive wives by their sides. Both began their campaigns humbly and as decided underdogs to other candidates seeking the Democratic nomination. Initially, both men depended on a simple grassroots campaign to build support among average, working class Americans, while their in-party opponents courted major power brokers in Washington. Both men were gifted orators, and had a series of defining moments (often speeches) that would later be pointed to as turning points for their candidacies, and each ultimately traveled to the Democratic Convention with splintered party support, and no clear plan for unification. Meanwhile Republicans both on the show, as well as their real world counterparts in 2008, enjoyed a relatively smooth, high-energy convention that ultimately raised serious questions about the Democrats ability to bring their party together.
Even the Republican candidate on The West Wing bears a striking resemblance to John McCain. Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda) is an elder statesman in the Republican Party, well-respected by his peers, with a reputation for leaning more to the center than to the right. In fact, it is his appeal to moderate voters that initially makes him such an attractive candidate for the Republican Party. Remarkably, as the series’ final season plays out, Vinick is forced to align himself with the far right of his party, for the same reasons that John McCain eventually was. A growing sense of distrust in the conservative base ultimately forced both Vinnick and McCain to take far right-wing stances that they had historically rejected, and to ally themselves with the very people they had carefully spent their entire careers distancing themselves from. Even Vinick’s age eventually becomes as issue on the show, as he is shown gradually wearing down on the campaign trail, getting sick and becoming prone to angry outbursts and other signs of both physical and mental stress.
It’s not just the Presidential candidates that are reflective of each other; their running-mates show remarkable similarities to their 2008 equivalents as well. Matt Santos taps former White House Chief of Staff Leo McGary (John Spencer), who is significantly older and a long-standing figure in Washington, in order to bring more “experience” (specifically foreign policy) to his ticket. McGary is constantly portrayed throughout the show as a “salt of the earth” kind of man, with real flaws who has fought real personal battles. The overall character resemblance to Joe Biden is simply uncanny.
On the Republican side, Vinick chooses Ray Sullivan, a much younger, less experienced and much more radically conservative Governor from West Virginia as his potential V.P. Sullivan of course, immediately pushes the ticket significantly further to the right. On the show, this caused many of the same reactions as the selection of Sarah Palin did in the real world in August --- the fictional far Right was immediately energized, while at the same time the Santos campaign began to gain the support of suddenly concerned moderate and independent voters.
The last great similarity is the national crisis that ultimately turns the tide of the election. I won’t go into any great detail here, in case someone wants to watch the series without knowing exactly what happens (in which case I apologize for spoiling the whole Santos’ winning thing) but suffice to say the Santos campaign is trailing in the polls until a national crisis arises from which Vinick cannot distance himself, in much the same way that John McCain couldn’t escape his own ties to President Bush and the financial meltdown the U.S. is currently experiencing. Both disasters dramatically shifted the focus, tone and course of their respective elections.
So now you know the similarities. It’s as uncanny a projection as I have ever seen (Biblical, psychic or otherwise), but what I find absolutely amazing is how these writers could find it in themselves to project such a hopefully scenario given what the political landscape in late 2005 (when these episodes were written) looked like. The memory of John Kerry’s drubbing at the hands of George Bush II was scarcely a year old, and Barak Obama then was nothing more than a starry-eyed footnote from the ‘04 Democratic Convention. Even more daunting to think about - the 2006 elections hadn’t yet occurred. There was absolutely no reason to assume that the Republican Party was going to continue to be anything less than totally dominant.
Maybe that’s how the story-line actually came about. Maybe the writers really were just creating pure fiction --- maybe they were just sketching out dreams that really never had any chance of becoming reality - except that they did. Except that, even as the fictional Representative Santos was being sworn-in as the nation’s first Latino President, a young black Senator from Illinois was standing in his kitchen or living room, talking to his wife about this ridiculous notion that he had. He wanted to run for President. Who knows, maybe Senator Obama was a West Wing fan, and maybe he saw the possibility of a black President in the remarkable and inspiring story of Matthew Santos. Regardless, as Obama’s story continued to unfold and the world began to take notice, I couldn’t help but feel as though I had seen all this before. And yet some part of me refused to accept that it could ever actually be a reality.
Ultimately The West Wing was an uplifting show, about our countries better side, and the passionate potential of America and its’ leaders, but it was just fiction. It was a weekly feel good story that allowed those who watched it feel a little bit better about the land they lived in, even if it was just for an hour. To my astonishment, when Barack Obama declared his candidacy in the winter of 2007, this best parts of this “feel good story” became very real. An underdog candidate striving to reach a goal never before achieved in the history of a country? A black man, overcoming racism, prejudice and ignorance with nothing more than a message of unity and the hope of a brighter future for a nation? Surely these were things that could happen only on television. Surely no audience that was not paid to be on a set could be moved to tears by the uplifting words of a man daring to strive for the impossible. Could they? And surely no junior Senator from Illinois could challenge history, as well as an establishment that had been in power for almost 30 years, and in one momentous, historical, uplifting night disprove cynics across the country, and reaffirm the belief that the greatest democracy in the world exists upon our shores? Could he?
You all know the answer. The prophecy of The West Wing was fulfilled Tuesday night by a resounding “yes”, spoken by millions across America. “Yes we can.” Yes, we can turn the idealistic dreams of a simple television show into a soul stirring reality. Yes, we can dare to believe that our government is not as broken as we once had thought. Yes, we can come together as one nation to achieve something unheard of in our history. Yes, we can make a difference. And yes, even though it does not often happen, we can and we have made a reality that is better than any fiction.
