Courtesy of Pam Martens.
Martin Sheen, Who Played President Jed Bartlet in the Hit TV Series, “West Wing,” Helped President Obama Promote “Big Block of Cheese Day,” an Idea Taken Directly from the Script of the Show
For the past three years, the Obama administration has snatched an idea directly out of the hit TV series, “West Wing.” That’s the Aaron Sorkin created fiction revolving around the beloved President Jed Bartlet (played by Martin Sheen) and the encyclopedic brains of his executive staff who toil 24/7 in a perpetual display of personal sacrifice on behalf of the country.
West Wing ran on NBC from the Fall of 1999 to the Spring of 2006 – in other words, from the scandalous sexcapades in the Oval Office by President Bill Clinton and his catastrophic deregulation of Wall Street through the trumped-up invasion of Iraq by President George W. Bush. West Wing was, in other words, an anesthetic to the harsh reality of America’s actual Oval Office under a two-party system that had become grotesquely corrupt at the top.
The Obama administration’s idea for the past three years was to create the mirage of a Jed Bartlet in the Oval Office by lifting directly from the Sorkin script the “Big Block of Cheese Day” to make itself appear open and accessible to the American people. The day was themed after an event during the Presidency of Andrew Jackson, who, in 1837, had a 1,400 pound block of cheese positioned in the main foyer of the White House, then threw the doors open to thousands of citizens who could slice off a piece of cheese for munching while discussing the issues of the day with the President’s staff: Participatory democracy in action.
Obama’s “Big Block of Cheese Day” promotion has featured some of the stars from the TV series. (See video below.) However, rather than letting real people on the grounds of the real West Wing, as occurred in the Sorkin script, the public was kept at bay by the Obama White House, relegated to asking and having their questions answered on social media.
The promotion by the Obama White House stated that “Here at the White House, we’re dedicated to making President Obama’s administration the most open and accessible in history.”
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