Vinick and McCain
You can't breathe at the moment without coming across a Barack-Santos article or post.
That's all very well, but how about the other, in many ways still more striking, parallel?
That between this man
and this man.
Indeed, as Jonathan Freedland writes:
What's more, the West Wing had the Republicans choose between a Christian preacher - a pre-echo of Mike Huckabee - and an older, maverick senator from the American west whose liberal positions on some issues had earned the distrust of the party's conservative base: a dead ringer for John McCain.Forget the liberal dream President, Jed Bartlett. Arnold Vinick would be my dream President. And in the alternative universe of 2008, I'm with McCain all the way - just I was hoping he'd win in 2000.In the West Wing, the McCain figure emerges comfortably as the party's choice. Apparently the character was not based on the current Republican frontrunner, but was simply a function of the casting of Alan Alda.
F. Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote, "There are no second acts in American lives." John McCain proves that wrong.
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Ian C
February 21st, 2008 2:43pmHad McCain been US president since 2000, I doubt Obama would even have been noticed today as the far left of US politics would have been killed off. That it has not been is one significant result of the negligence that Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld inflicted on the world, the USA in particular. Having said that their 'ends' will eventually be justified by history - their 'means' is how they will be remembered in their lifetimes.
David
February 21st, 2008 3:52pmVinnick was originally due to win; the writers changed the plan after the death of John Spencer.
D Day
February 22nd, 2008 3:57pmCareful what you wish for. Your dream might turn into a nightmare.