Self-righteous streak infecting likable West Wing

I bet a lot of people who voted Tuesday wished that Josiah Bartlet was on the ballot. He's smart, patriotic, with an appealing folksy charisma. And there don't seem to be any 24-year-old interns lurking about his Oval Office.

Unfortunately, he's not real. Of course, people made the same accusation of Al Gore, but Bartlet's really not real. He's the fictional president played by Martin Sheen on TV's The West Wing, which airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. (Ch. 7, 10).

Even though you couldn't vote for him, Emmy Award voters could. They did just that, giving The West Wing a whopping nine Emmys during the award ceremonies back in September.

True, there's a lot to like about The West Wing . It's got clever, snappy dialogue, appealing characters, fine acting and an interesting look, with lots of fluid walk-and-talk shots through the bustling hallways and offices of The White House.

It's a show that tries to counter the pervasive cynicism about politics by depicting people who love their country and believe in what they're doing. I even share creator Aaron Sorkin's generally liberal politics.

I like the show. I really do.

Then why have I found The West Wing so darn irritating lately?

(And it's not just because Sorkin & Co. walloped my favorite show, The Sopranos , on Emmy night.)

I recognize that The West Wing is TV, not real life. So I'm willing to cut this particular White House a little slack. After all, not many emergency rooms really handle all the shenanigans of ER , either.

So the White House-as-big-happy-family hokum I let slide, even though most real presidents choose to relax with old cronies rather than their staff.

Even the ill-advised assassination attempt at the end of last season could be forgiven, although it was odd to see a show that supposedly took its issues seriously suddenly reduced to a "Who Shot J.R" cliffhanger.

But everybody needs ratings.

No, it's Sorkin's transparent manipulation that's driving me crazy. There's the music, for one thing. Every time the trumpets and strings start to well up in the background there's another schmaltzy speech from President Bartlet about the goodness and wisdom of the American people.

Sheeeeeesh.

Even worse is the show's nasty streak. That's when Sorkin sets up a straw man (or woman) and demolishes him in order to make his political point.

This habit goes all the way back to the first episode, when President Bartlet appeared like Moses fresh off Mount Sinai, booming out the First Commandment and then laying waste to a group of right-wing religious leaders opposed to abortion.

More recently, Sorkin had Bartlet destroy a character clearly intended to represent radio talk host Laura Schlessinger.

On the next episode, we saw press secretary C.J. Cregg rip into the U.S. Army's chief of staff, who had the gall to publicly oppose the president's policies. Not only did she impugn his courage, but she appeared to know far more than he did about U.S. military policy.

Call me crazy, but I just can't imagine that confrontation actually happening.

A conservative voice

And now we've got a brand new character, a conservative young Republican named Ainsley Hayes (played by Emily Proctor) who has been hired at the urging of President Barlet for no logical reason whatsoever. (He perceives she has a sense of "civic duty.")

Of course, Ainsley just happens to be an adorable young blonde who looks like she walked off the cover of Vogue. (Maybe there's a little more Bill Clinton to President Bartlet than we've been led to believe.)

It's true that real presidents have occasionally hired members of other parties. But they're generally part of a moderate wing, such as current Secretary of Defense William Cohen, or else seasoned political mercenaries like consultant Dick Morris.

A dedicated young conservative soul like Ainsley should be working to dump President Bartlet as fast as possible -- or maybe just have him impeached.

Apparently, our Ainsley was brought on board to provide a conservative voice within on the show.

But the way things are going -- and this column was written before yesterday's episode -- her right-wing ideology is being overwhelmed by the pure goodness of The West Wing gang. (I'm betting the sex appeal of Rob Lowe's character, speechwriter Sam Seaborn, will become a factor as well.)

She had barely been hired before she was defending West Wing patriotism before her snarky former colleagues on the right. Next thing we know, she was completely won over when senior White House staffers serenaded her with Gilbert & Sullivan songs.

(Real White House staffers probably think Gilbert & Sullivan is a big lobbying firm.)

I'll be curious to see what happens now that Bush has been elected.

Perhaps Sorkin will adjust to the rightward shift in the country. He'll move Ainsley up out of her basement office and have her kick some West Wing tail. Maybe she'll sponsor legislation to make Gilbert & Sullivan mandatory listening.

It would be more fun than the self-righteous streak that all-too-often infects the show.

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