Russel Roberts posted this piece over at Caf Hayek talking about last nights episode of the West Wing which featured a live debate between the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates. Yeah, it was a stunt, and probably not as exciting as Desperate Housewives, but it still held some interest.
In the case of the West Wing, Democrat Matt Santos (played by Jimmy Smits of LA Law and NYPD Blue fame), a Represenative from Texas is facing off against Republican California Senator Arnold Vinick (played by Alan Alda, Hawkeye from TVs M*A*S*H). Mr. Roberts seemed fairly taken with Senator Vinicks response to questions on the economy as they relate to pharmaceuticals, energy and job creation. I have to say that I was, too, and I share his skepticism that an actual politician would ever be so frank about his economic philosophy. The Senator certainly did not pull any punches last night and did not take any opportunities to placate voters by telling them only what they wanted to hear. If only real politicians would be so courageous.
This has always been one of the trade-offs of the West Wing, is that they show the world of politics in an idealized way, as they should be as opposed to how they are. For seven seasons Democrats have had President Jeb Bartlett to show them how things should have been during the Clinton years, going so far as to say I was wrong for having hiding his multiple sclerosis from the voters during his first campaign for the White House (and then going on to win re-election after the revelation had been made).
When West Wing was at its best it asked both voters and politicians to look beyond the sound bites and character assassinations to the people and the issues behind all of the garbage that usually confronts us when we talk politics. Pine as we may for a politician like Jeb Bartlett, how many of us would be willing to overlook the inevitable character assassinations from across the aisle for someone who hid such a facet of his life from voters while he ran for President? Until we do this, how honest and forthright can we really expect our politicians to be? Dislike Karl Rove as many do, his methods work because voters fail to look beyond the character assasinations. Sometimes there may even be germs of truth in negative claims, but why do these always seem to stop us from saying “Who cares?” or make a big deal out of them? We can blame the Roves of the world and the media as much as we like, but really when it comes down to it it is all OUR fault.
Last night moderate Republicans and libertarians got a taste of that medicine and saw a character who could be their own version of Jeb Bartlett. Of course two things beyond honesty and courage differentiate these candidates from real world candidates. One is that social issues were completely absent from the staged debate and secondly that a moderate Republican would stand a chance of winning the partys nomination in the current environment.
