By Jennifer Keishin ArmstrongFeatures correspondent

As the stars of the critically acclaimed TV series reunite to urge Americans to vote, Jennifer Keishin Armstrong looks back at the legacy of the show’s earnest optimism

In a scene from The West Wing, White House press secretary CJ Cregg and deputy chief of staff Josh Lyman are arguing about the significance of a presidential primary vote taking place later that evening in Hartsfield’s Landing, New Hampshire. In the small town, we’ve learned, all 42 residents vote in person at midnight, and their results, announced soon after, have always reliably predicted the statewide winner of the nation’s crucial first primary. “It’s absurd that 42 people have this kind of power,” Josh says. “I think it’s nice,” CJ counters. “Do you?” “I think it’s democracy at its purest. They all gather at once…”. “At a gas station.” They banter a bit more before CJ delivers the killer line: “Maybe, just maybe, just maybe, those 42 people are teaching us something about ourselves, that freedom is the glory of God, that democracy is its birthright, and that our vote matters.” Josh tries to undercut the seriousness of the moment by bringing up dinner: “You getting that pizza?”

It’s easy to assume, from a cynical 2020 perspective, that CJ is being sarcastically melodramatic. But, in fact, she means every word. The West Wing, as a television show, truly, madly, earnestly believes in the power of democracy and the idea of the ‘more perfect union’ that is – that could be – the US.

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This scene originally aired in 2002, in the middle of the third season of the acclaimed NBC hit. It was also part of a recent West Wing reunion special in which the original cast gathered to reenact this entire episode, Hartsfield’s Landing, on a Los Angeles stage, with the stated mission of encouraging viewers to vote in the upcoming US presidential election. The special only served to underscore how far US politics have fallen into partisan disarray over the last 18 years, from dewy-eyed speeches on network television shows about the sacredness of voting (and the genuine feeling that this reflected the times) to a real-life president who has fomented doubt in the election process itself and has said he may not accept the results of the November 2020 vote, presumably only if they don’t go his way.

The West Wing shows us an America so high on the relatively carefree 1990s that it’s sure things can only get better in the 2000s. That goes especially for the country’s oft-romanticised system of government (and its idiosyncratic election process) so revered that it has long been a blind spot, unquestioned in the name of patriotism. Since The West Wing began in 1999, two of the last three presidents have won the office, while losing the popular vote – thanks to the electoral college system. This is not a reality The West Wing’s soaring instrumentals and inspirationally-lit speeches grappled with.

The real-life West Wing of the US White House and the president’s Oval Office have had their share of sentimental depictions in TV and film over the years. In line with the times, two of The West Wing’s 1990s predecessors offered particularly rosy views of the country’s highest office: the sweet 1993 comedy film Dave and the soaring 1995 romance The American President. But the TV series, which ran from 1999 to 2006, elevated the form to an art thanks to the wonky, wordy scripts of Aaron Sorkin, who invested his characters with the unshakable belief that they were doing the most important job on Earth, whatever that may have been, and wrote them beautifully crafted speeches to attest to such. This skill-set matched particularly well with the idea of an insider show about the day-to-day of the US government’s executive branch in the 2000s.

And Sorkin corralled a cast who rose to the occasion, with Martin Sheen as the wise (and just-flawed-enough) President Josiah ‘Jed’ Bartlet, John Spencer as the straight-talking chief of staff Leo McGarry, Richard Schiff as the awkward communications director Toby Ziegler, Rob Lowe as the ambitious deputy communications director Sam Seaborn, Stockard Channing as the take-charge First Lady Abbey Bartlet, and the incomparable Bradley Whitford as Josh and Allison Janney as CJ. The administration was studiously centrist: It fought the Christian Right and pushed for modest gun control, but was hawkish on foreign policy at times. CJ argued for hate-crime legislation, but ran into opposition from other staffers. The administration was notoriously wishy-washy on abortion. A striking episode has the president refusing to stay an execution but then atoning for it with his Catholic priest.

The West Wing premiered in a pre-9/11 world and chose, probably wisely, not to incorporate anything quite like those terrorist attacks on US soil into its fictional universe. As such, it indulged in an innocence that became unmoored from anything like reality even during its run – and when viewed in 2020, plays like a utopian sci-fi. The West Wing thought, coming on the heels of a Bill Clinton presidency, that liberals were so darn close to getting things right, asking: ‘What if we could have a smart, optimistic, progressive administration… without the icky sex scandals? What if most politicos, deep down, meant well?’ But the recent HBO Max special, released in the lead-up to Donald Trump’s run for re-election against Obama’s vice president, Joe Biden – and came on the same day the two held duelling town halls on separate TV networks, unable to reach agreement on even a debate format – was jarring, to say the least.

The funny thing is that, at first, The West Wing seemed downright prescient, particularly to US liberals, when in 2008, just two years after the show signed off, Barack Obama was elected the nation’s first black president. The series had ended with the inauguration of Bartlet’s successor, Matt Santos – a young, Mexican-American, Democratic superstar played by Jimmy Smits and modeled on Obama. When Obama took office, he seemed to be continuing The West Wing’s gilded storyline, fitting right in with its characters. He appeared, to many, like a basically good, if flawed, guy doing his best at one of the hardest jobs in the world. Like President Bartlet, he had an enviable family and egalitarian marriage. Like President Bartlet, he was an intellectual with an easy charisma and a sharp sense of humour. Like President Bartlet, he held liberal ideals but compromised when necessary. Many Obama staffers said they were directly inspired by The West Wing to pursue careers in politics.

Beautifully worded optimism

It’s no surprise, then, that West Wing cast members have campaigned for Democratic candidates since, speaking out on behalf of Hillary Clinton in her 2016 run against Trump and hosting a Zoom fundraiser for Biden this year, in addition to performing in what was billed as a nonpartisan get-out-the-vote effort (for former First Lady Michelle Obama’s organisation, When We All Vote) on HBO Max. The West Wing was a centrist-Democrat dream that aligned quite well with the Obama-Clinton-Biden team’s loftiest – and, it turned out, unrealistic ideals. “Make this election about smart, and not,” Toby says to the president in the Hartsfield’s Landing episode. “Make it about engaged, and not. Qualified, and not. Make it about a heavyweight. You’re a heavyweight.” One can imagine him saying those exact words to Hillary Clinton in 2016. They would have been equally rousing - but also dead wrong as far as advice goes. The West Wing convinced us that politicians were inherently noble – and that voters were, too. But it’s become harder to believe that in the 14 years the series has been off the air.

The West Wing special acknowledged as much, while still retaining the show’s grand - and beautifully worded - optimism. Celebrities appeared in interstitial messages urging viewers to vote, and – perhaps more importantly, at least in West Wing terms – to hope. “Our politics today are a far cry from the romantic vision of The West Wing,” Samuel L Jackson said in his message. “But it’s also a far cry from the vision that’s in our heads and in our hearts. And to change that, you have to vote.” He concluded by questioning whether our assumed cynicism, in comparing The West Wing unfavourably with reality, was warranted: “An unattainable TV fantasy? Why? Vote.”

Since The West Wing ended its broadcast run, US television’s depictions of the presidency have become much darker and more cynical: Scandal’s cheating Fitzgerald Grant, House of Cards’ scheming Frank Underwood, Veep’s incompetent and vulgar Selina Meyer. The West Wing feels like a relic of a whole other America – one that seems farther from reality than ever.

Lin-Manuel Miranda appeared during another break in The West Wing special to warn us against premature and false news surrounding the November election. His presence was particularly resonant, tying the series to perhaps its greatest artistic successor: Miranda has cited The West Wing as a major influence on his Obama-era masterpiece, Hamilton. His conclusion on the special was, of course, optimistic about how his country will fare in the most contentious election in modern memory: “We’re America,” he said confidently. “We’re good at this.” Jed Bartlet couldn’t have said it better. Here’s to hoping he’s right.

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