"Because what does it remind you of? 'I believe in hope, not fear. I'm a leader, not a politician. It's time for an American leader. I before E except after C.' It's the fortune cookie candidacy! These are important thinkers, and understanding them can be very useful, and it's not ever gonna happen in a four-hour seminar. When the president's got an embassy surrounded in Haiti, or a keyhole photograph of a heavy-water reactor, or any of the 50 life-and-death matters that walk across his desk everyday, I don't know if he's thinking about Immanuel Kant or not. I doubt it. But if if he does, I am comforted at least in my certainty that he is doing his best to reach for all of it, and not just the McNuggets. Is it possible that we would be willing to require any less of the person sitting in that chair? The low road? I don't think it is."

Back before "The West Wing" turned into "E.R. in the Beltway" under the clumsy hand of producer John Wells, creator and showrunner Aaron Sorkin wrote some amazing stories during the first four seasons about people too virtuous to actually work in real-world politics. Many of the most emotionally resonant story lines were carried over from "Sports Night," and I could go on at length about that, but my focus today is elsewhere. Simply put, "The West Wing" was political porn for progressives, an emotional pleasure-ride about a well-educated president who grappled with religion and complex thought while striving to do his best to lead the country. Bartlet was re-elected in the fourth season, facing off against Southern Republican candidate Robert Ritchie, a fairly obvious nod to the George W. Bush. Sorkin said his guideline in the debate episode, in which Bartlet righteously destroys Ritchie, was the 2000 elections, and that he wanted to show that intelligence wasn't a vice.

Sometimes I'll just put on an old episode, like "20 Hours in America" or "Take This Sabbath Day," and try to forget the world for a while. It doesn't always work, but I still try.