Thursday, October 30, 2008

West Wing delivers obama

One of the most captivating an unmentioned features of this US election has been its correlation with the plot of the WEST WING 7th Season.



I am rewatching it this week to time the climax in real life with the fictitious one on the series that concluded, sadly, in 2006.



The quick summary is a relative unknown, black democrat candidate scores the nomination and eventually the presidency with rousing, inspirational rhetoric with an anti-washington tone.



I have kept a close eye on many news sites and aggregators (politico.com , realclearpolitics.com) but barely seen a mention.



Then, today on CNN, warming up Obama's crowd in Florida, was Jimmy Smitts! Jimmy played the black candidate on WW.



Life doesn't just imitate art now, it predicts, reinterprets and makes real life a high-rating series worth watching.



The epilogue here is that Obama, from the platform, thanked the 'most recent democratic president, Jimmy Smits'.



I wonder how many Florida voters understood.

Postcript - "I drew inspiration from him in drawing this character," so says West Wing writer and producer Eli Attie of Obama's influence on Jimmy Smit's character Matt Santos.
Full article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/21/barackobama.uselections2008

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