The Great West Wing Rewatch: 5.12 "Slow News Day"

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Joel: Most of the time I really love the politics aspect of this show. I love the back and forth of “I’ll give you this favor if you're willing to move of that issue.” I love when they discuss how a certain story is going to play in the media, or how best to spin a  certain story to make themselves look good. I love the political pundit segments where each side tries to outshine the other to convince the American public that their views are the correct views. For the most part, this show makes the politics part of being/working for the President seem really cool. But every now and then I just want to punch politics in the face. This whole episode is about a deal that almost falls apart in the final scene because the two sides can’t agree on who the White House should have approached first. That is to say, both sides agree on the content of the deal but they are both so intent on looking the best in the media, that they’re both willing to let the whole thing die. I can only hope that this was not inspired by real life events, and was only in the show because it sounded like something Washington would do. But I’m not holding my breath on that one.

Chris: One of the few times where you can watch West Wing and be emphatically reminded that it’s all fiction: the idea that something good will happen and there’s a politician that’s willing to not get the credit for it. Political capital is almost as valuable as money itself in Washington and when you’re willing to give that up for the sake of the greater good, it’s incredibly rare. This episode is basically the day that never happened, most of the day was spent with Toby going dark and constructing covert politics and then when it did become public knowledge, nobody will know that he and the president were behind the entire thing. And yes, we’re brought back to the harsh reality when something so groundbreaking and great is on the verge of breaking down completely because of the fickle optics over who approached who because, as we discussed in the previous episode, optics reign supreme, maybe even over political capital.

A good president installs snooze buttons into all of his top advisers.

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