Life imitates art

Not being a regular TV watcher, I only saw a few episodes of West Wing, the popular TV show about a fictional president which ended its run in 2006. Today's New York Times features an article about the origins of the story line of a new election between a rising minority (Hispanic) senator, played by Jimmy Smits, and an older white senator, played by Alan Alda.

According to the article, when the script writer Eli Atti was sketching out the series, he called an acquaintance to get some information about this young Illinois state senator who was running for the U.S. Senate, who gave such a powerful keynote address at the 2004 DNC convention. The man he called was David Axelrod, Obama's campaign manager. They had several long conversations about Obama's refusal to be defined by his race and his aspirations to bridge the partisan divide. All that went into creating the fictional Senator Matthew Santos.

Look back now at the parallels where life has imitated the fictional depiction of how those values might play out:

Santos is a 40-something, coalition building, Congressional newcomer of a minority race, who against all odds enters the Democratic primary for president; and, after a long fought battle against the establishment candidate, wins. One of his campaign slogans is: "I am here to tell you that hope is real !" He also says, "I don't want to just be the brown candidate. I want to be the American candidate."

The general election then pits him against Republican Arnold Vinick, a white-haired, maverick senator from a Western state, with a reputation for delivering "straight talk" to the press, for sometimes bucking the establishment, and for appealing to moderate voters. Others complain he's not conservative enough. One of the show's producers has said that the 2004 McCain (as opposed to the 2008 McCain) was one of the "templates" for the character.

Jokes are made about Vinick's lack of computer skills. Santos' staff want to make videos of him with his "adorable young children hugging their hale and vital dad." Santos delivers a speech on race at a critical moment for his campaign.

Also interesting are the fictional VP choices: Santos chooses a Washington veteran with foreign policy experience; Vinick picks a staunchly conservative governor to shore up his base.

And the Phillies played in the World Series during the election campaign.

Oh, and who won the election? The Democrat Santos, but only after "a grueling election night," where it all came down to Nevada. Hmmm.

Ralph