Thanksgiving: Some Inspiration From The West Wing

Today is a national day of Thanksgiving. Some years it feels like there’s nothing to be thankful for. Years when everything seems to be out of control, and/or going to hell either in our personal lives or in a broader sense – our communities, our country and even the world. I’ve had years like that and I’ll bet you have too. Still, even in some of my worst  years (and though I’ve had some great years in my life I’ve had my share of bad ones too, some truly dark) on this holiday I can, even if I have to search for it find something good to be thankful for. If not for me personally, then for others. And that carries me through.

Sometimes I find inspiration from past moments in my life, sometimes from others, and sometimes through events I can think of even if they took place before I was even born. And sometimes from art, including a movie or TV series. As it happens I was a fan of the TV series The West Wing which ran from 1999 -2006. It was conceived as a vehicle for Rob Lowe and his & other senior staff’s work as key aides to a progressive President that would be seldom seen. However, the opening episode Martin Sheen “stole the show” as the saying goes and while Lowe & the others would remain crucial characters creator and main writer Aaron Sorkin shifted focus to the fictional President Bartlett. Bartlett was quite the figure. Not only was he from tiny New Hampshire but President Josiah “Jed” Bartlett was descended from the Josiah Bartlett that was part of the NH delegation to the Continental Congress that voted for Independence and yes, there was a real Josiah Bartlett who signed the Declaration!

Bartlett backstory is that he was a Nobel Prize winning Economics Professor who had gone into politics, serving both in Congress and then as Gov. of Hew Hampshire. He was also not just a genius, but brilliant. One of those “once in a generation” minds. A truly good guy who knew he was blessed he still had some irritating qualities, one of which was difficulty in controlling showing just how freaking smart he was about so many things. To the point of tedium and or annoying his family and friends as well as of course his staffers. Still, he was aware of it and sometimes did some wonderful things to show how much he appreciated them.

Some years Sorkin would write a Thanksgiving themed episode. Since today is Thanksgiving I thought I’d show a few memorable clips. Both for those who like me were fans of the show so they can remember and smile, and for those who didn’t watch it much, if at all. (Hence my description of the show I just put you through)

The first is my favorite. If you’re reading this you know what a Presidential “body man” is. The richness of the story about how “Charlie” (played by Dule Hill) got the job and turned out to be more awesome than those who got him into it even imagined is quite the storyline. Charlie turned out to be as smart and capable as all the other senior staff and became a trusted advisor in his own right. Despite being an asshole to Charlie when the two were first introduced, President Bartlett learns why Charlie had been recommended in the first place and asks him to serve. And, as I said Charlie quickly proved he was if not an equal (yet) to the senior staff he was headed towards being so.

That leads me to my favorite Thanksgiving clip, and remember the President’s backstory as being the descendant of an actual Founding Father. Throughout the episode in question as Thanksgiving is approaching Charlie keeps presenting “Carving Knives” for the President because he needs one. In some households the carving of the turkey is a BFD and done with great fanfare. Carving sets, the special knife and fork are often family heirlooms. In any case well before this scene I remember wondering why THIS guy, this President from such a well-known and distinguished (at least in New England before he was President) family needed a carving set. Surely he had one!

His fussiness in rejecting everything Charlie brings in makes for a running joke, and near the end of the episode Charlie, who has at this point in the development of the relationship between him and the President he serves has earned him a bit of latitude. Being a regular guy from DC (his mom had been a DC cop shot and killed in the line of duty) the whole special carving set wasn’t something of his experience so he points out that the knife “you know, cuts meat.” Which leads to this exchange that still makes me choke up:

There’s no way I could pick a favorite moment from this series but this would be on the short list!

Now let’s look at something a little more humorous.  The Butterball Hotline call from the Oval Office. I described how the fictional President Bartlett could be tedious and during the episode this comes from he’d driven person after person half nuts describing the stuffing he was going to make to serve to those who’d be spending Thanksgiving with him and the First Family at their farm up in NH. A discussion about ensuring it was properly cooked (so nobody got sick) ensued and the President comments they should create a national hotline that anyone could call for free at this time of year. Staffed with experts on all thing preparing a Thanksgiving meal. When told there WAS such a thing already he was delighted so he and “Toby” (senior aide – WH Communications Director) place the call. Naturally the President doesn’t want the Butterball folks to know it’s HIM calling which provides the amusement in this scene:

One last clip, which is truly inspirational. Just before Thanksgiving a group of Chinese dissidents being smuggled in shipping containers to the U.S. to escape religious persecution (they are practicing Christians) is intercepted by the Coast Guard. As the episode unfolds there is the messy diplomatic mess you’d expect from such a situation. At one point someone tells a couple of the senior staff that some Chinese fake being Christian to gain asylum. So the President is catching hell from inside  his own administration, and from without with a large & influential religious group in the WH exerting pressure.

The when informed of this the President says the leader of the group is being flown to DC. I won’t go into the details of his account to them of scripture that speaks of “shibboleth” having been a password, but the scene between the President and the man who speaks for the group seeking asylum is profound and touching. Afterwards Bartlett tells his Chief of Staff there’s no way he can send those people back to China, and since “Leo” had told him in the past in a lower profile situation a dodge had been done he asks him “how was it done before?” And it all works out, leading to this scene at the end of the episode that if you need something positive today will I think provide it for you:

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Be well. Be safe. And know that for all that is wrong and bad, there is also good out there and people doing what they can to make things better.