It turns out that the unexpected rise of Barack Obama bears a strange similarity to a story line from “West Wing” a few years ago. From Peter Funt – A Race Straight Out of a ‘West Wing’ Rerun:
How’s this for a political plot: Good-looking congressman in his mid-40s, married with two young children, known for his inspirational speeches, comes from far behind to clinch the Democratic nomination and face an older, more experienced centrist Republican. If he wins, he’s America’s first non-Caucasian president.
It’s a drama that plays out each day in the papers and through nonstop cable-TV coverage. But some are beginning to notice that it’s a rerun. The whole thing was broadcast a few years back on NBC’s “The West Wing.”
The TV candidate even campaigned on a slogan of “hope.” It turns out, the writers got the idea from watching Barack Obama make his big speech to the last Democratic convention. They changed the candidate to a Hispanic guy–the ascendancy of a black guy must have been even too much for fiction–though they could not have anticipated the John McCain figure who ran against him. Unsuccessfully. If life keeps imitating the TV show, Obama will be in the White House.
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