We all loved The West Wing. Apart from anything else it was a wonderful change from police procedurals, whodunnits, and the staples of TV drama. The dialogue was fast-paced and funny, and you felt that you got a glimpse of what really went on behind the scenes - the horse-trading and log-rolling and kow-towing to lobbyists.
But as the sainted Juliette points out in this blog entry, the TV series paints a wholly implausible picture of what goes on in the real whitehouse. The character of Josh Bartlett owes more to The Waltons than any real-life president of the modern era.
I suppose that TWW is entertainment, not education, and that on balance it's better to have an idealised image of what happens in the White House than none at all, but I fear that, as always, youngsters who decide to go into politics because they imagine that it's like TWW are destined for a terrible disappointment. I suppose this is a common fate for politicians and explains why they so often turn to drink. At least there are a lot of nice, subsidized bars in the Houses of Parliament.
