By Brody Levesque (Bethesda, Maryland) DEC 12 | For many of us that report the news for a living from the Nation's capital, The West Wing, the American television serial drama that first aired on NBC on September 22nd, 1999, set in the West Wing of the White House—where the Oval Office and offices of presidential senior staff are located—during the fictional Democratic administration of Josiah Bartlet was more than a rousing success, it was great entertainment and damn near true to life.
In many ways it did more than set a standard in mirroring real life politics, it examined social issues and changes that its real life counterparts often faced. Handling subjects in a pragmatic, definitely liberal, partisan, and affecting way that even now, nearly four years after the programme's last broadcast on May 14th, 2006, still reverberates and resonates not only with the public, but policy types and some old journalists such as yours truly.
The show received positive reviews from critics, political science professors, and former White House staffers. In total, The West Wing won three Golden Globe Awards and 27 Emmy Awards, including the award for Outstanding Drama Series, which it won four consecutive times from 2000 through 2003.
During this time of ongoing national debate over issues that deeply affect the American LGBTQ community at large- DADT, ENDA, DOMA, & of course same-sex marriages and adoptions, I wanted to air this clip from the show that stuck a chord with me and I remembered as I was reviewing the events of this past week in LGBTQ news.
In this clip, President Bartlet delivered a verbal KO punch on an Anti-Gay practitioner highlighting the ridiculous practice of selecting quotes from the Bible to shore up irrational prejudices. I guess that what I'd really wish for, is that instead of art imitating life, in this instance, the reverse would be true and President Barack Obama would find the same nerves of steel that obviously the fictional President Bartlett had in addressing the homophobes who run roughshod over LGBTQ people unchecked:
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2 comments:
I just wish the current administration had the knowledge that this is the proper use of rhetoric backed by the appropriate action.
My first thought was that maybe we should be getting actors for public office, then I remembered Ronald Reagan.
The interesting thing is that a show is much more susceptible to cancellation than a presidency, yet they didn't hesitate to tackle this subject.
Methinks the chief aim of those elected should stop being to get re-elected and become serving the people fairly and equally.
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