THE WEST WING The American Presidency as Television Drama

EDITED BY PETER C. ROLLINS

AND JOHN E. O'CONNOR

SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY PRESS Contents

Acknowledgments ix Contributors xi

Introduction, JOHN E. O'CONNOR AND PETER C. ROLLINS 1

Focusing on Issues

1. The West Wing: White House Narratives That Journalism Cannot Tell DONNALYN POMPPER 17

2. The White House Culture of Gender and Race in The West Wing: Insights front the Margins CHRISTINA LANE 32

3. The West Wing (NBC) and The West Wing (D.C): Myth and Reality in Television's Portrayal of the White House MYRON A. LEVINE 42

4. The King's Two Bodies: Identity and Office in Sorkin's West Wing HEATHER RICHARDSON HAYTON 63

Language and Structure in The West Wing

5. Dialogue, Deliberation, and Discourse: The Far-Reaching Politics of The West Wing SAMUEL A. CHAMBERS 83 vi I Contents

6. The West Wing's Textual President: American Constitutional Stability and the New Public Intellectual in the Age of Information PATRICK FINN 101

7. The Left Takes Back the Flag: The Steadicam, the Snippet, and the Song in The West Wing's "In Excelsis Deo" GREG M. SMITH 125

8. From The American President to The West Wing: A Scriptwriter's Perspective JASON P. VEST 136

Perceptions of The West Wing

9. The Sincere Sorkin White House, or, The Importance of Seeming Earnest PAMELA EZELL 159

10. The West Wing as a Pedagogical Tool: Using Drama to Examine American Politics and Media Perceptions of Our Political System STACI BEAVERS 175

11. Victorian Parliamentary Novels, The West Wing, and Professionalism MICHELLE MOUTON 187

Critical Responses: West Wing Press Reviews

12. Inside The West Wing's New World SHARON WAXMAN 203

13. The Feel-Good Presidency: The Pseudo-Politics ofThe West Wing CHRIS LEHMANN 213

14. The Liberal Imagination JON PODHORETZ 222 Contents I vii

Bibliographical Overview

15. The Transformed Presidency: People and Power in the Real West Wing MYRON A. LEVINE 235

Works Cited 261

Index 277