The Great West Wing Rewatch: 4.16 "The California 47th"

Joel: For the most part, we get to see the people we love on the show acting brilliantly. Sometimes the things they have to do seem stupid or nonsensical, but when it comes to actually doing them, they are usually pretty remarkable in their ability to pull themselves together and get done whatever needs to get done. Which is why it’s nice to get an episode like this every now and then. Whatever could go wrong here went wrong and everybody at some point is getting egg on their face. And it’s not like everyone got mysteriously dumb for one episode. Everybody smart, creative and wanting to change the world for the better. But through just sheer dumb luck of circumstance, each and every situation in this episode ends with the worst possible result. Donna is doing her job. She asked Josh what she should look for and she got it in the interview, there’s no doubt about that. And Toby and Charlie were standing up for a cause they should stand up for. They weren’t the bad guys in that situation, but the worst possible outcome happened .Bartlett himself puts it best toward the end of the episode comparing the whole staff to the Clampetts of Beverly Hillbillies fame.Sometimes things just get away from you.

Chris: This day was not the sharpest of the senior staff with Josh unknowingly setting Donna up to have a meeting with a member of the Communist party and then with Toby and Charlie finding themselves in jail for getting into a bar fight, albeit for noble causes. We get another situation that reflects the conversation the president had in the oval with Sam before he started his campaign, Sam not caring to distance himself in any way from the president and his agenda. This is a reminder that this show is a work of fiction because we have a politician that sides with the president on his tax plan even when he knows that particular tax plan isn't going to sit well with the citizens of that particular California district. There aren't that many politicians that are willing to stick our their necks during an election (or at any point) like that and if they do, it's for really negative things (looking at you Pat McCory, HB-2 and the idea he proposed that the Civil Rights Bill be revisited to allow segregated restrooms). So let me take that back, the idea itself isn't a work of fiction, it does happen in our reality but only seems so for nightmare-like negative scenarios.

A good president introduces a new tax plan in front of a crowd that is guaranteed to hate it.