As we wrap up "Year Two..."

[IBCoupe]

I'm amazed, sometimes, at how often fiction predicts reality. Take, for example, The West Wing where a liberal President Bartlet struggled to gain a political foothold. Every time an issue would come up, he ran to the center, not because that's what he believed, but because that's what was safe.

But that led to a lot of issue-dodging, because it wasn't politically expedient. It meant that staffers went to meetings wanting to accomplish something, but knowing that nothing would come of it. It led to the people those staffers went to confront knowing it, too.

And then this happened:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNMDDC6-8pI[/youtube]

That's the kind of thing I want to see. I want to get the impression from the White House that they're into what they're doing. That they're pursuing policy they want, not policy that's easy. I liked Candidate Obama because I saw him as a sharpened mind and a moderate, but even if it means that I start to disagree with President Obama, I want a President who ardently believes in what he or she is pushing. And, if nothing else, I want a President who gives the impression that he does.

That's not to say this President hasn't always failed on that count. I have to say, when President Obama basically called out Congressional Democrats as morons on national television, I fist-pumped.

[heliochrome85]

i love the west wing more than i love most human beings.

[Jesda]

Your politicians typically believe in green. You can sleep at night being sure of that.