As you may have gathered from last night’s diary, it never happens that I view old West Wing episodes without thinking of possible diaries. Tonight we’ll visit another.
More below.
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In this one, first broadcast on 11/29/2000, President Bartlet is preparing to do a national closed-circuit broadcast of a presidential classroom about a NASA probe that landed on Mars. Another ‘issue’ the Bartlet Administration is trying to deal with is a report on the President’s aversion to green beans. A reporter asked Charlie Young about foods the President does not like, and Charlie told them he doesn’t like green beans. The concern arises that, since Oregon is a major source of green beans, and the Bartlet ticket carried Oregon by 10,000 votes, the loss of those votes might represent a threat to re-election.
CJ confronts Charlie about it.
Isn’t that great!?
Education's a serious thing. Crime, jobs, national security. In 18 months, I've been to Oregon four times, and not a single person I've met there has been stupid.(Transcript from westwingtranscripts.)
OMG! Quality of political thought in a presidential aide that can’t be found anywhere in our current real-life administration, least of all at the top. Makes them look bad, doesn’t it?! For anyone with eyes to see and a mind to think!
But the seed Charlie planted bears fruit later in the episode.
One of the things President Bartlet challenges his staff with is to plan the Presidential classroom with an eye to the ‘broader theme.’ Revolutionary in its own right, in the time of an executive branch that cherishes the narrowest imaginable themes. Narrower than one could have imagined, prior, really.
Further along, notice comes that communication with the Galileo probe has ceased. Radio silence. If NASA technicians cannot restore communication, they’ll cancel the presidential classroom broadcast.
At the end, CJ is speaking with Bartlet outside the Oval Office, clearly with the lesson from Charlie in mind.
C.J. Mr. President, about that televised classroom tomorrow...
BARTLET I'm gonna wait up for a while. See if we hear anything. It's out there somewhere... It's so close.
C.J. I think you should do the classroom either way.
BARTLET Yeah?
C.J. We have, at our disposal, a captive audience of schoolchildren. Some of them don't go to the black board and raise their hand 'cause they think they're gonna be wrong. I think you should say to these kids you think you get it wrong sometimes, you should come down here and see how the big boys do it. I think you should tell them you haven't given up hope, and that it may turn up, but in the meantime, you want NASA to put its best people in the room, and you want them to start building Galileo VI. Some of them will laugh, and most of them won't care, but for some, they might honestly see that it's about going to the blackboard and raising your hand. [beat] And that's the broader theme.
BARTLET I'll say.
C.J. I'll be in my office, Mr. President.
C.J. heads back inside, turning around to the President's call.
BARTLET C.J.? C.J. Yes, sir?
BARTLET You said it right that time. (Again, transcript from westwingtranscripts, same link as above.)
Isn’t that remarkable? He cares about a classroom with students around the country. Not a campaign appearance, not a national press conference. About engaging our young minds professionally and respectfully. Where do we see respect like that today? Toward our young? Toward any constituency or future constituency? We don’t see it, because it doesn’t exist.
Where do we hear about owning a failure? About confronting deep and important challenges, with no guarantee of success? About learning from mistakes? About taking a chance and raising our hand?
And, if you read Top Comments last night, in which President Bartlet bestowed a cherished family heirloom on Charlie, the President’s final words to C.J., complimenting her on her enlightened perspective about silent Galileo 5, gave her at least as great gift.
That’s just one more thing you’ve never seen in this administration. Another thing you never WILL see in this administration.
Oh how I long for the times when there were signs of adulthood in our leadership, signs of integrity, of DIGNITY, of commitment to the public good.
We have a lot of work to do.
Thanks so much for reading and watching. On to tonight’s comments!
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TOP MOJO
Top Mojo for yesterday, November 23rd, 2018, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary on FAQing Top Mojo.
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