Bartlet for America!

Those that know me best know that from the middle of Season 1 I have been a huge, huge, huge fan of The West Wing. For a long time it was the most brilliant show on television, mixing a great ensemble cast with an unmatched script week after week. (Clearly you can see my unwavering devotion to the show.) It recent years this show has struggled. When you start so high there's usually nowhere to go but downhill. Nevertheless, there are still moments of greatness and one of those moments occurred last week.

It is unusual for The West Wing to take stories from our headlines and re-create them in exactness in the make-believe presidency of Josiah Bartlett but they chose the right time to do it in my opinion. I was floored last week as I watched them speak about the massacre that has been taking place in Darfur for too long. They were confronted by some who were outraged and ashamed by their fictious government's lack of concern or involvement for what was clearly a genocide. For Chief of Staff CJ Craigg, enough was enough. She was moved to maneuver ambassadors and heads of state to take firm action to stop the violence. She did this on her own initiative and when necessary swayed the president to her cause.

Now, I'm smart enough to know that problems in the real world aren't solved in 42 minutes and it takes a lot more than leaning on some foreign ambassadors to get things done. But I'm also smart enough to know that they weren't exaggerating when they spoke of the government of Sudan being involved, when they talked about the moms who carried their babies when they were dead because they didn't know what else to do, and when they strongly insinuated that economics trumped morality when it came to getting off our butts and doing something.

All I can say is that I have never been more ready to elect a liberal, northeastern Democrat to the White House in my whole life. I wish the current real-life, Republican administration could take some initiative and put into action some of that morality they claimed to have cornered the market on.

For those that don't know: www.savedarfur.org