[WARNING: The following blog includes reviews of some television shows that I have never actually watched, but only seen bits and pieces of and combined with seeing previews have made a totally uninformed opinion. In fact, this blog entry is more of a rant than an editorial]
The new ABC show “Commander-in-Chief” starts this fall, so obviously I have not yet seen it. Based on the previews that I have seen however, I have no intention of watching it. The show centers on a female VP who becomes president after her boss (who only picked her to win female votes, according to the Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” but played to death since, it involves a goodhearted political figure trying to make the world a better place while surrounded by manipulative and cynical politicians. NBC’s “Mister Sterling” looked the same way, which is why I never bothered to watch that either.
Why do I loath such plot lines? Because they are insulting to my intelligence in their overly-sanctimonious message. Most movies and TV shows operate the same way: The President is behind some dastardly dead (like in Clear and Present Danger, or Absolute Power) or the military decides to arbitrarily behave immorally or arbitrarily (like the end of Armageddon, or The Siege). It’s not that such films hurt my patriotic sensitivities, mind you, or that I don’t believe in crooked establishment-figures (anyone who knows me knows that I am as cynical as they come).
But the characters in these things who represent the government are nothing more than caricatures, one-dimensional political cartoons representing either pure unfettered idealism or power-hungry manipulation.
The sole exception to this pattern is the West Wing, a wonderfully written and brilliantly produced show that portrays political figures as human beings, not unlike the type of people you could find in any large organization in America. Some characters are idealists, some are simply looking out for the political payoff, but most are a combination of many qualities, trying to win but also trying to do the right thing.
Of course, in a case of life imitating art, politicians do not help this image with their own rhetoric, often aimed at casting themselves as the do-gooder and the rest of Washington as the monsters.
Remember who said the following:
“Frankly, I'm fed up with politicians in Washington lecturing the rest of us about family values. Our families have values. But our government doesn’t.”
“I was raised to believe the American Dream was built on rewarding hard work. But we have seen the folks of Washington turn the American ethic on its head.”
“Our people are pleading for change, but government is in the way. It's been hijacked by privileged private interests. It's forgotten who really pays the bills around here. It's taken more of your money and given you less in return. We have got to go beyond the brain-dead politics in Washington and give our people the kind of government they deserve, a government that works for them.
“The country is headed in the wrong direction fast, slipping behind, losing our way...and all we have out of Washington is status quo paralysis. No vision, no action. Just neglect, selfishness, and division.”
If you guessed Bill Clinton in 1992, you would be right, but it is also George W. Bush in 2000, and virtually any candidate for any federal race. Why should Americans have any confidence in their government when even their government has no confidence in itself and continues to lash out like it were Darth Vader (this is true even if the person running is currently a Congressman)?
Make no mistake, there are crooked politicians, people who will do anything and say anything in order to get and hold on to power. But the 99% of them you DON’T see on TV, who you DON’T read about in the papers, those politicians are often devoting a lot of their time and energy in hearings, investigations, and policymaking that may or may not affect them or benefit them. Shows like the upcoming Commander-in-Chief make their character look like a saint, but it comes at the expense of parodying everyone else as the personification of the “typical” Washington insider.
Even if the image is 100% accurate and true, it gets a little boring and unentertaining.
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