Hope and Change

Dear Friends,

My wife and I have been watching the West Wing television program.  We have the DVDs.  We love the program.  They just don't make programs like the West Wing anymore.  Whenever I watch the West Wing, I think of two things.  The first is that I wish that our country were run by President Bartlet and his staff.  We would need a new Vice President because Vice President Hoynes is not my idea of a great Vice President.  Other than changing the Vice President, I would keep the rest of the staff.   The other thing that I think is that I should be the President, but since I have never run for public office, I think that I should be the President's chief of staff.  For the right President I would be great.

One of the segments that we watched last night occurred about 14 months into President Bartlet's first term. They really had not been doing well and were not getting much done that showed what they really believed.  Suddenly two seats open up on the Federal Elections Commission.  President Bartlet's immediate reaction is to nominate two people that believe in campaign finance reform.  Everybody gets very excited, but it becomes clear that like all the other great ideas, the Administration will give in to the way it is always done.  The Republican and Democratic leadership decide who will be appointed.  The people are virtually always ones that do not want campaign reform.

At the same time Sam is sent to have a meeting on Don't Ask Don't Tell as if the Administration will do something about it.  Again it becomes obvious that the Administration will not do anything.  The staff is demoralized as they realize that they really aren't fighting for what they believe but are running to the middle and worrying about getting reelected.  Of course, the President's approval ratings are tanking.

Finally, the staff confronts Leo McGarry, the Chief of Staff, who then confronts the President.  After an emotional argument between President Bartlet and Leo McGarry about which of them has been running to the middle, they agree to fight for what is right instead of worrying about getting reelected.  They acknowledge that they will not win all the battles, but they will fight for what they believe in.

When Leo tells the staff, they are all fired up.  They nominate the two people who believe in campaign finance reform and go full speed on drug treatment instead of putting people in prison.  Of course because it is television, they conduct a poll which shows that President Bartlet's approval rating goes up nine points.

I am, of course, reminded of President Obama's slogan of Hope and Change.  But unfortunately he has made the same mistakes that President Bartlet did.  He worries about what the people in Congress think, and he doesn't fight the fights that need fighting.  At the end of the segment President Bartlet says "I can sell that."   There is a lot that President Obama could sell but doesn't even try or he tries once and then backs off.  He needs to fight the fights that need fighting.  He needs to go directly to that American people.  They are reasonable and are searching for leadership.  President Obama has a great gift in his ability to talk to people, reason with them and get them excited about the way things should and can be.  That is what Hope and Change is all about.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal