Over at the NY Times, there's a great op-ed piece written by Aaron Sorkin that dramatises a meeting between fictional West Wing president Josiah Bartlet and real world candidate Barack Obama.
Can someone explain to me why the most skilled Deomcratic orator in decades hasn't hired Sorkin to write some speeches for him yet?
Here's a sample of Bartlet's advice to Obama:
BARTLET: You were raised by a single mother on food stamps — where does a guy with eight houses who was legacied into Annapolis get off calling you an elitist? And by the way, if you do nothing else, take that word back. Elite is a good word, it means well above average. I’d ask them what their problem is with excellence. While you’re at it, I want the word “patriot” back. McCain can say that the transcendent issue of our time is the spread of Islamic fanaticism or he can choose a running mate who doesn’t know the Bush doctrine from the Monroe Doctrine, but he can’t do both at the same time and call it patriotic. They have to lie — the truth isn’t their friend right now.
The basic point of the whole thing is that Obama should be picking a fight with these guys, that he should be angrier. And he should. Get some fire in the belly, because it's inconceivable to me that he's running in a dead heat with McCain. Should the Republicans keep the White House after eight years of driving that country steadily into the toilet, man, everyone in that country will be in trouble.
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