Joel: I was in the eighth grade with this episode first aired. During this rewatch I couldn’t help but keep coming back to that. If something like this had happened in real life in October of 2002 and not just on a TV show, I would be living a very different life today. Maybe not radically different, but there is no question that my student loans have an impact on me today, an impact that will likely continue for the next several years.
I know that The West Wing does this several times throughout the series. It takes an idea, offers a radical solution that nobody has ever thought of and then have a character say "That will never make it through." and another character replies "But we still have to try." This is just the first time where the issue being addressed is one that has such a direct impact on my person day to day life. I wonder if there are other episodes that cause similar emotions in other people. Where you can't help but realize that this show is going on twenty years old now, and still not only are the same issues being discussed in modern day politics, but we haven't even made any progress in the discussion. Sometimes I really wish we lived in the West Wing world where real change was just a phone call and a determined look away.
Chris: There’s absolutely zero issues mentioned over the course of the West Wing that I am an expert on but there is one that I am increasingly becoming familiar with and that is college loans. It’s an issue brought up a lot these days mostly because it’s an election year and Bernie Sanders is very much a favorite amongst young liberals and the idea of affordable college tuition is something that just might increase the horrible lack of youth voting (another issue mentioned in this episode) which would staggeringly increase his odds at getting the nomination. As someone who went to a public state university (I’d describe it as a mid-level college in terms of distinction), I would believe that tuition would’ve been a little leaner than what it is and as it is still cheaper than private colleges, the rates seem staggering and they’re only increasing. Going to and graduating college should be an accomplishment but not for only the rich and those of us willing to live in debt at the beginning our adult lives, the accomplishment should be made in the class room. I’m not writing this to advocate for free college tuition because I understand these schools have to keep the lights on somehow and state budgets aren’t what they use to be, but there was a time that a college education was suppose to be a springboard into the real world, not an anchor of debt. Any opposition in this episode to what Josh and Toby are proposing isn’t because they disagree with them but more because of the seemingly impossible uphill battle it would be. Even if it is a total pipe-dream, it remains as a noble cause.
A good president assassinates a foreign leader so that his chief of staff could try get a date with his attorney.
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