I Wish I Lived In The "West Wing" America

For the past seven years, "The West Wing" has been probably the cheesiest show on network television: often cliched, clearly idealistic and liberal-biased.
And yet I can't get enough of it. The reason is clear: I'm a cheesy idealist.
I love watching these characters who actually live to make an impact on the world toil in the White House to actually formulate and change policy, rather then simply get re-elected, drive opinion polls up and reaward special interests. Up until the finale Sunday on NBC, I always got a bloodrush in the opening when some heated discussion in the corridors segued into that wonderfully grandiose theme music accompanying the Seal of the President and photos of Air Force One and the White House.
Needless to say, Martin Sheen's fictional President Jed Bartlett, a Democrat, is a far better president than most of us have seen in our lifetimes, fiercely compassionate, generally non-partisan and, most of all, effective and exceedingly competent. His worst scandal, for which he was nearly impeached,e involved concealing from the public that he suffered from multiple sclerosis during his re-election (a malady that seems to have disappeared this season).
I watched the second-to-last episode episode of "TWW" on the same day that Steve Bridges, the comedian who has nailed down a dead-on impression of George W. Bush, appeared for nearly half of "Meet The Press" with Tim Russet, talking about how he has cornered the market on comic Bush bashing. Bridges was even invited by the Real Mccoy to appear in a sketch at the White House Correspondent's dinner. The real president attempted to show what a great sense of humor he has, but he clearly looked uncomfortable as Bridges dropped his satirical bombs.
In other words, the best this president can do is show that he's a good sport as he becomes an international laughing stock with a basement approval rating, his administration crippled by war damage and scandals. About the only good news that comes out of the White House these days is cyclical stuff like the jobless rate dropping.
Meanwhile, in the Hollywood West Wing, President Bartlett's term is up and the nation, in a squeaker more akin to 2004 than 2001, has elected another Democrat, a longshot named Matt Santos who is even more fantasy-politics than his predecessor. Santos, as played by Jimmy Smits, is not only our first Latino chief executive but he's so bipartisan that he taps his former Republican rival to be secretary of state.
Starting in the middle of the Clinton administration, TWW creator Aaron Sorkin could have easily produced a cynical show that feasted on the foibles and vanity of the Beltway. Such a show might have even been more entertaining and a bigger ratings draw, especially if he tried to "rip from the headlines" the way the homicide dramas do.
He chose instead to create an alternate reality that has made millions of Americans tune in and ask "what if ..." Once the show is over, viewers are left to ponder whether or not he did us a favor.