The West Wing and The American President Are Liberal Wish-Fulfillment But Not In The Way That So Many Conservatives Believe

 

 

"You have devoted yourself to a way of life that perished long before you were ever born."

 

That line of dialogue from Elaine May's A New Leaf was one that Roger Ebert was forever fond of quoting in many of his reviews. Like so many movie and TV quotes, it has the added benefit of being relevant to so many real-life situations.

Aaron Sorkin has to be familiar with this line of dialogue even though all of his films and television do take place in the real world or at least a version we can identify. But in Sorkin's TV shows in particular and at least one or two of his films you can see that his characters are trying their hardest to do their jobs as if this were a driving philosophy. The fact that the rest of the world doesn't live by those rules is a wall that many of them keep running up against -  to Sorkin's credit most of the time he acknowledges the folly of those characters for trying – but you can't help but wonder given its frequency, particularly in comparison to so much of the television that was airing on network and cable during that period, that Sorkin really wanted it to be true despite that.

That's far from the worst sin of a writer or a human being, honestly: part of the reason I have turned to The West Wing and The American President so many times in the last quarter century is because they represent a world that I really do think we as a country and democracy would be better off if we all followed that philosophy.  I grant you it's not the real world and it is a fantasy but that's what entertainment is supposed to be, particularly if it's done well.

What troubles me, frankly, is how both Sorkin and many of the cast members have become increasingly cynical and nasty in their politics. Members of the cast have increasingly chosen to look at real world politics as not only something to look down on but as if the Bartlet Administration not only happened but should have been the real world model for all Presidencies before or since.  When they acknowledges its lack of reality it is solely to argue as to just how unreasonable Republicans have become in the twenty years since the show aired, ignoring the fact that during George W. Bush was President during the overwhelming majority of its original run.

More significantly is the fact that Jed Bartlet was as Josh himself described him: "a liberal Democratic governor from New England," and that the Democrats would be dumb to nominate. That is the reason I use the above quote in regard to The West Wing as well as why that Jed Bartlet was the definition of wish fulfillment on the part of Sorkin.

Because when the show was greenlit Bill Clinton had brought the Democrats out of the wilderness after twelve years by arguing that the kind of liberalism that Bartlet embodied was dead and that for Democrats to win the White House they had to embrace 'a Third Way'. He'd won election and reelection based on that process, as well as a decision to move more to the right. This had been a decision made by both parties ever since Jimmy Carter's election in 1976 and had been reinforced by Mondale's brand of liberalism being landslided by Reagan in 1984. (The show would acknowledge that point in Season 6 by saying that two Republicans had won 49 out of 50 states.) Liberalism itself had become a dirty word by the time Clinton won the White House.  The first sign that The West Wing was a fantasy was that it was still a badge of honor for the administration.

To be fair to Sorkin and the show the lion's share of the period it was on the air The West Wing didn't lean into the idea of the traditional left-wing ideology and all of the bad ways it could be read to America. And to be just as fair Sorkin went out of his way to point out the worst parts of both the left-wing aspects of the Democratic Party both in office and regard to its membership. But the thing is every so often – not much but occasionally – you could see the worst aspects of the liberal wish fulfillment flaring its ugly head. It's that part I wish to talk about in this article.

And I think the best way to talk about is to start with The American President. Now I still think its one of the best movies I've ever seen from the perspective of a screenplay, performances and dialogue. And I do understand how much of it is supposed to be a romantic comedy with politics thrown in. But every so often in that film, usually through the dialogue Andrew Shephard says, you get a sense of what Sorkin really does think of the political process because it's so keeping with how the left sees it overall.

There's the fact that Bob Rumson (Richard Dreyfus) for all his true villainy has a clearer understanding of the electorate that Shephard does from the start. It may be a cynical view – "newspapers like circulation and network likes ratings" – but it's an accurate one and few who look at America both before and in the thirty years since can argue it.

Shephard spends almost his entire courtship with Sydney believing he can be above the fray.  Even before he asks Sydney on a date he says it's not the American people's business. "With due respect, Mr. President, the American people have a funny way of deciding what their business is or not," AJ (Martin Sheen) accurately foresees.

He then spends the majority of the movie ignoring the warnings of every member of his staff who tell him just how much Bob Rumson's poll numbers are rising and the feast the media is making out of Sydney. These are noble characteristics in the hero and romantic lead of a film. For the President of the United States, it's almost dereliction of duty.

 One could allow this to happen were it not for the fact that he spends the majority of the movie, mocking Rumson's campaign appearances.  Every time Rumson ends his speeches with: "My name is Bob Rumson and I'm running for President,"  almost always to tremendous applause from a crowd, Shephard almost seems to mock it. "That's a good thing," he actually tells Sydney, "because these people were here to buy Amway!" When Sydney tells him Rumson's numbers are going off, he laughs it off: "His numbers have nowhere to go but up!"

Now I'm all for a President who chooses to ignore poll numbers in favor of political issues, even at a cost. The problem is while this is going on we are constantly given reminders as to how Shephard's major legislation 'the crime bill' is bleeding support no matter how much of the teeth his staff takes out of it to get it, largely because they are concerned about his falling poll numbers.

The most political scene in the movie comes when the staff confronts Shephard about how the crime bill doesn't have enough votes. They're urging Shephard to make a deal and bury the GDC's legislation (known as 454) in order to get the Crime Bill passed. Shephard is angry about it and seems unable to separate his job from his girlfriend. And he's angry about the poll numbers though it's hard to blame him. "This poll is not talking about the Presidency!" he shouts. "This poll is talking about my life!"

Lewis (Michael J. Fox) then lets loose what has been building the whole film and when he shouts and AJ tells him the President doesn't own him anything: "Yes he did AJ, I'm a citizen!" he shouts. He makes it clear the poll is painting a picture because he has yielded the fight to Rumson the last three months. "Americans want leadership and in the absence of real leadership they'll listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They'll walk through the desert chasing a mirage and when they don't find anything, they'll drink the sand."

Through Lewis Sorkin is making a pretty persuasive argument as to how politics works. No doubt he is speaking his own frustrations as a liberal. The problem is Sorkin negates it by the next lines Shephard says:

"Lewis we have had Presidents who were beloved who couldn't find a complete sentence with both hands and a flashlight. People don't drink the sand because they like the taste. They drink the sand because they don't know the difference."

It is one thing to criticize the kind of leadership we've had. In those last two sentences Sorkin is having his President basically say that the only reason people vote for Republicans is because they're dumb enough not to recognize the good things about liberalism.

This can be overlooked for The American President  because Shephard knows that he has to do something that politically disgusts him (he makes the deal right after this) and that immediately afterwards Sydney breaks up with him as a result. And let's face it the speech he delivers before the State of the Union is one of the most extraordinary monologues Sorkin would ever write in his long career.

Yet I can't help think that Shephard's behavior towards everything and his reaction to playing politics is how Sorkin, like so many liberals then and now, truly wish all political figures should act. It's more important to do the right thing then the popular thing because the electorate is essentially not smart enough to know what the right thing is. To be fair Sorkin balances it with the idea that being above the fray is not the way for politicians, much less Presidents, should behave.

As I've written in multiple articles during his tenure on The West Wing Sorkin very much believed in the idea of 'practical idealism' and spent a lot of time pushing back at the left wing aspects of their party for being more than willing to cut their noses off to spite the country's face. But the fact remains so much of the Bartlet White House was built not so much as an antidote to partisan politics but Democratic politics.

This was a President, who in his first State of the Union, was talked out of saying things like 'the era of big government is over' as well as other very Clinton like statements. At one point Toby said that he used in a campaign speech but then says: "We're in the White House now and they should be saying that the government regardless of past and future failures, should be the space where people come together and no one gets left behind." This is the polar opposite not just of how most Democrats run – go to the left and then move to the center – but argues that one should go further to the left because it’s the right thing to do.

Note also that in 'The Short List'  Bartlet is criticized by a retiring Supreme Court justice for running a great campaign 'and then went  to the middle of the road. I waited four years to retire for a Democrat to become President. And instead I got you."

To be clear this is the Supreme Court and it's just as likely that they didn't get the message as how much both parties were moving to the right starting in the 1970s. Nevertheless this accurately describes how so many left-wing figures have been unable or unwilling to acknowledge the difference between campaigning and governing. Sorkin can make a persuasive argument as to why this is a good thing – he does so brilliantly in an argument between Leo and Jed near the end of the season  - but it's always done in the context of a brand of liberalism that had been dead for at least twenty years and wasn't popular at the time.

And The West Wing really doubles down hard on that point when Bartlet is running for reelection against Governor Rob Ritchie of Florida, a Presidential candidate who the Democrats think is an intellectual lightweight who can't possibly resonate with the general public. Later on they acknowledge his nomination will guarantee Texas and Florida for the GOP and that there's a reason the Republicans are running them.

The problem with much of the fall campaign – part of the reason so much of the reelection storyline is such a drag – is that because Sorkin knows that Bartlet has to win this election because there won't be any show if he doesn't. As a result he can use the campaign to live out the ultimate liberal fantasy: an intellectual candidate wiping the floor with a Republican halfwit.

Sorkin would acknowledge that he was interested in writing about a demonstration of intellect. He admits it didn't start with Bush-Gore or even Eisenhower-Stevenson but that  "being tagged as the smartest kid in the class turns into a sense of arrogance and a sense of weakness," something he considers 'peculiarly American'.  This judgment is, coincidentally, how the left tends to see politics in general and naturally Sorkin sees it as a weakness of America rather than the Democratic or liberal flaw.  To Sorkin's there's nothing wrong with being an elitist when it comes to intellect; the fact that never in politics – not merely America but most democracies – are intellectual decisions part of how the people choose leaders isn't a consideration on Sorkin's part. The assumption that if the electorate were smarter they would naturally vote Democrat has been a central fallacy of them in liberal politics in my lifetime, even before Fox News and right wing media became de rigeur.

As I've written in previous articles on the subject Toby is the most overbearing on the matter; he believes that campaigns are a reason to educate the voters to making the right decision, which is of course to vote Democrat. He never bothers to hide his contempt for both Ritchie or the crowds he draws; he's basically no different from Shephard's behavior toward the ones Rumson gets. The Achilles Heel of the Democratic Party in my lifetime and doubly so in Sorkin's is the idea the basic statement: "No intelligent person would vote for Nixon/Reagan/W" (we'll stop the discussion there because that's when the show ended).  Sorkin and Hollywood in general had seen this blow up in the faces of the left throughout the second half of the 20^th century.

The liberal wish fulfillment of The West Wing comes most into play during this period as Bartlet spends the entire fall campaign insulting Ritchie's intelligence, first subtly and then more directly until the debate where he basically lives out the left's dream of publicly dressing down a Republican candidate and not even bothering to be polite. Considering how much of the past decade has been about the death of civility in politics the fact that The West Wing's President decides to spend his campaign 'finding ways to call Ritchie dumb' (something the character outright acknowledges when they meet in person) strikes the viewer as ironic. Considering how empathetic and compassionate Bartlet has been for the three seasons to that point and basically how he'll be for the rest of the series the writing of him in this specific way and only towards a Republican that the staff feels is beneath him is the most out of character the show has ever written Bartlet. That he suffers no consequences for it – even wins in a landslide -  may be the most fantastic thing Sorkin's ever written in all his years of writing for film or TV.

I need to make clear  the consensus of the fanbase and reviewers of The West Wing both at the time and years after the fact when it came to Sorkin's tenure. When the show dealt with the Bartlet White House staff and the day-to-day business – getting legislation through Congress, the struggles the staff had to deal with, the endless news cycles and all the personal conflicts – it was absolutely magnificent, as good as the best television has ever had to offer. When the staff interacted with Congress, when it met with advisers, when it met with campaign officials, it was always firing on all cylinders.  It might very well have been an idealistic version on how government and the White House should work but it was based in the reality of the time.

But when the show tried to deal with electoral politics, particularly when it came to the fall campaign against Ritchie which took up much of Season 3, The West Wing was at its weakest as a drama. Sorkin's politics were as liberal as he was accused of being during the show's run but it was always more fair and balanced then it might have looked to the right. And while the Republicans we encountered may not have been realistic even by the standard of the early 2000s at least he went out of his way to make sure that the Democratic coalition could be just as hard to deal with.  He clearly modeled so much of what happened on the concept of 'practical idealism'.

All of that went out the window with Bartlet-Ritchie.  Ritchie was a moron, the Republicans were morons for nominating him, the people who came to his rallies and voted for him were idiots and barely human. It wasn't a campaign for the soul of America but its mind. Toby would even say that to the President: "Make this about smart…and not."

To reiterate Toby Ziegler was by far the most left-wing member of the Bartlet White House and he certainly had the greatest superiority complex, even to the President. It was easy for him to say: "I'd rather be right than be President" which has been the fallacy of liberalism for decades. He was also a speechwriter and cared more about saying what was right rather then what could be done.

None of this, I should mention, has done anything to lessen my admiration or devotion to The West Wing over the years. Perhaps its because I've always had the ability to separate artists from their art and can still do that. I agree with Sorkin that he would have a huge amount of trouble getting The West Wing made today but not so much because of how politics has changed but how television has changed.

The West Wing, remember, existed in an era where the networks still could draw twenty to twenty five million viewers a week for their shows. The fragmenting of the TV audience hadn't truly begun while The West Wing was on the air when it came to network television. The fissures and cracks that would lead a show to become a network series to be a hit began to erode during the 2010s and reduce so much that it's impossible to imagine any show of any kind having the kind of ratings West Wing had in its heyday.  The idea of doing a television show for everybody – not just a niche audience – was still the driving force for network television even ten years ago. It's just not anymore. How much of this has to do with Hollywood's decision to oppose all things Republican for the last decade will never be known for sure  -  streaming arguably did far more damage – but it's difficult to argue it helped.

That's why I dismiss out of hand anyone who argues that you can't watch The West Wing these days because its depiction of government looks like a fantasy and wish fulfillment. That was exactly why millions of Americans watched it in the first place. We knew that we were never going to get a President like Jed Bartlet or have this many good, smart, erudite people working for government; we watched because it was fun to believe the illusion. We knew it was entertainment and damn good entertainment.

And if the people who worked on the show and even wrote for it ever thought it was a possibility – well, they're actors and it can sometimes be difficult to separate the two.  It's just important to remember the epigraph I started the article with. The cast of The West Wing was devoting themselves to a way of life that perished before they were even born. I think most viewers got that. If they didn't, well, I feel sorry for them. It's not going to stop me from loving the show.