It’s been a while since I blogged about the West Wing but all the presidential race in the USA has reminded me of why I love the programme. It’s smart, intelligent and inspiring because it doesn’t go for the lowest common denominator, unlike the American voters who showed in their last pick for President they very much favour the lowest common denominator.
In the season where Bartlet runs for his second term he ends up in a debate with Ritchie, the Bush-like Republican nominee. Ritchie give a ten word answer to a question, the political silver bullet. Bartlet’s response should be every voter’s response, “What are the next ten words?”.
Why on earth would you want to pick the most powerful man in the world based on a two minute soundbite with a one minute ‘discussion’? Isn’t this much more important than that?
Toby once said ‘No-one likes the smartest kid in the class.” Maybe that’s true but wouldn’t you want the smartest kid in the class to be the one in the most complex job in the word?