I have been watching the West Wing TV series again, this time in order, starting at the beginning.
I have to say that Aaron Sorkin and his team really did a magnificent job of exposing to the TV public the complexity of the real-life political choices any administration faces.
Politics is always a matter of trade-offs. Every action produces gains and losses.
Every action produces unintended consequences.
Every action has to be taken on the basis of incomplete information.
Perception is every bit as important as reality.
Support from allies is always provisional, and can disappear in an instant.
Sometimes one has to accept a lesser evil in order to achieve a greater good. Sometimes one has to accept strange bedfellows in order to get things done. Sometimes one has to settle for half a loaf or nothing. The show does a good job of teaching that.
The show does have a bit of a liberal slant to it, but after all at the time it was the closest the liberals could come to getting one of their own in the White House. But beyond that, Sorkin did give many conservative issues and positions a pretty fair hearing.
I like it that he takes on difficult, sometimes even politically incorrect subjects and sees to it that his characters give both sides of the issue its best argument. So much of TV is a mindless wasteland. This series shows what TV can do when it turns its hand to useful causes.
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