The Bush Years
It was during the early George W Bush years and the United States was waging war in Iraq and here at home as well, looking for terrorists in every Mall and airport. I was opposed: to the war, to the excesses of the Patriot Act, to Guantanamo and Abu Gharib, and to Vice President Dick Cheney and his war profiteering Halliburton Corporation. My escape from reality in that time: The West Wing, a television series about a different Presidency and White House.
I wasn’t the only one. As we listen to the politics and discussions today, Aaron Sorkin’s West Wing scripts still resonate. “Let Trump be Trump,” (it was let Bartlet be Bartlet) and “decisions are made by people that show up” are just two West Wing quotes I’ve heard in the “real world” in just the past few days. And of course one of Sorkin’s most famous lines from A Few Good Men, heard over and over again as we determine what happened in Ukraine: “who called the Code Red.”
The West Wing got me through the long years of Bush, and even over the shock of Kerry’s defeat in 2004. And it ended right when it should have. In the show, America elected a Hispanic Congressman to the Presidency. He then appointed his Republican opponent the Secretary of State. That’s where the series ended, and reality returned in 2006. Then Barack Obama ran for the real Presidency.
A New Escape
So it’s probably no surprise that in the Trump Administration I’ve turned back to television for escape. Of course things are different today. I’ve retired from teaching and coaching, and MSNBC automatically comes on all six televisions in our six-room house. But on Sunday nights I found another “alternate” political world, Madame Secretary.
It’s different than The West Wing. First of all, they are Republicans, unlike the Democrats of the “Bartlet Administration”. But the plots are intriguing and current, and the writing is crisp. And, much like West Wing, the show usually ends on an uplifting note. At eleven on a Sunday night, I can go to bed with hope, even if it’s hope from a TV show.
This year, Madame Secretary has become the first woman to serve as President of the United States. She leads a nation divided, with the Republican Party split in two factions each side running their own candidate for President. Her Vice President is from the conservative Republican faction, her husband is senior counselor, and her family is close and involved. “President McCord” tries to balance politics, world crisis, and family in the White House.
The Real World
Last week’s reality was hours and hours of impeachment hearings, in the real world. I’ve listened to Congressmen and Senators make up “facts” to pursue their own agenda. So when I turned on Madame Secretary last night, I was hoping for something positive, some uplifting ending that would take me into this week.
Yes, it is Thanksgiving week, and hopefully our focus will slide to how much food our dining room table can hold at one time. But politics will always be in the background, and not just on the six TV’s. America is in crisis, we can’t ignore or avoid that fact, even if Mr. Trump declares a day of Thanksgiving for Thursday. I hope he doesn’t find a way to make even that about himself.
And here we are on the Monday before Thanksgiving. The President has fired the Secretary of the Navy. Republicans are raising the Russian “false flag” of Ukrainian election interference. Mike Blumenthal is trying to literally buy the Democratic Presidential nomination. And the impeachment of the President drones on.
On Madame Secretary, the Congress is impeaching President Elizabeth McCord.
That’s not the uplifting beginning I was looking for.
