Friday, November 14, 2008

Rahmbo

My favorite character from one of my top-five TV shows, The West Wing *, was Josh Lyman, the abrasive Deputy Chief of Staff in Aaron Sorkin's fictional White House **. He had a special gift for getting the dirty work done (with his fine political mind) and for pissing people off (with his cockiness and sarcasm), and his antics are among the best things about the show. The character was based on Bill Clinton's Deputy Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel.

Emanuel has been back in the spotlight for his recent appointment as President-Elect Barack Obama's White House Chief of Staff. With the announce of his second WH tour-of-duty, there have been numerous profiles detailing his colorful personality. A Salon article called Obama's Designated A--hole painted Emmanuel as a tenacious negotiator with a proclivity for profanity. An older story noted, "he raised millions of dollars by browbeating donors and candidates with cellphone calls that invariably ended, 'Fuck you. I love you.'"

Off of that alone, the television character that seems closest to Emanuel's personality wouldn't be Josh Lyman, but Entourage super-agent Ari Gold. And it's probably not a coincidence because the character was based on real-life Hollywood super-agent Ari Emanuel--who happens to be Rahm's younger brother! Yep, Obama's new Chif of Staff is Ari's big bro ***.


Speaking of The West Wing, the final season of the show back in 2005 experienced a revival of sorts with its focus on the elections for the new US president. The fictional campaign featured Democrat Rep. Matt Santos from Texas (Jimmy Smits), who had won a hard-earned primary against the establihment candidate (the incumbent VP), opposite Republican Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda), a moderate Senator from the west who has had a record of going against his party. Santos, the charismatic minority newcomer who ran on a message of hope, ended up winning the election.

While molding the character, the show's writers looked for a model on whom to base the character. They found a young, promising politician whose star was beginning to rise on the national scene and crafted their imaginary presidential candidate after the politician.

The politician? Barack Obama.


Funny how life ended up imitating art that imitated life ****.


* - My list, in no particular order: The West Wing, Veronica Mars, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the post-Angel years), Friends, The Office (I'm cheating and putting both the British and the American versions, though Tim will always be the man)

** - Bradley Whitford was so good in the role that Sorkin wrote the part of Danny Tripp for Whitford in his next project, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

*** - Their eldest brother, Zeke, is one of the foremost experts in healthcare policy. Wonkette had a funny quiz about the brothers. Can you imagine how Thanksgiving Dinner at their table must be like like?

**** - Matt Santos' White House Chief of Staff? Josh Lyman.

Labels: , , , , ,

Comments:

speaking of rahm emmanuel

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/with-body-language-like-this-who-needs-a-caption/

i love this picture :P

 

hehe para talaga syang si ari

 

Post a Comment<< Home



ultraelectromagneticblog!
 

Weekly Top Artists - Powered by Last.FM


Subscribe to this blog

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Powered by Blogger

Listed on BlogShares

Pisay 98 Blog
Pisay 98 Website
Pisay 98 Message Boards

Bookish Bimbo
Brooding Pit
cartwheels seven times around the oval
The Ergonomic Quotient
Fire Light Song
For the Mail!
Garden Fresh
I'm ur pAL!!!
the jembunao experience
life, the universe, and everything
The Mighty Dacs
Pro Gamer to Programmer
Purple World
Riverwind
The Raven and the Stormcrow
The sad success story of the corporate slave
Sakura Mind Speaks
Si Yayan, Si Michel at ang Diwata
Sixteenth Floor
Verbal Diarrhea
The Wandering Geek
Whatever You
The Unbearable Lightness of Being Me

502 Bad Gateway
Across the Green Plains
ako? ako. ako. lagi na lang ako...
Anime West
The Buckfutter Blog
Contrast Medium
Locoflip's Xanga Site
Gaming Nookie
getting by...
Just The Type 2 Have 1
life of a kkmonster
karloCastertroy
the keep
Lock and Load
Memories From Dinner Last Night
Mic Olivares' Blog
Morning Has Broken
Paradiddles
Princess Toni's Enchanted Forest
Random Thoughts
So Lovely
Think, Pats! Think!!

Recent Posts

Post-mortem
Just four years ago
Share ko lang
Obama wins!
Johnoy and Kakoy
Chorva
Kotse, ulit
w00t!
Kotse
The Prince

The story so far

September 2004
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
August 2009
September 2009

www.flickr.com
This is a Flickr badge showing public photos from jtordecilla. Make your own badge here.


Home
Instant Pancit Canton
The Prose Portal
Email

A Dose Of Cynicism
Adventures in TV Land
Delusions of Grandeur
first draft
Freedom Sessions
Karmic Backstab
Indulgence
Perpetual Paranoia
Project Manila
Sky of Words
Small Furry Alien
telenobela
TravelKage
walanjo ka daril!


100 tears away
55 Words (and more)
Astig-Mama-Tism
Blogging from the UAE
Car Driver
Chaos Theory
Ederic @ Cyberspace
flatride.com
frances.effronte.org
Howie Severino's Sidetrip
The Life of an Earthbound Angel
Manuel L. Quezon III
Mimi and Karl Wedding Photography
moodswings
na(g)wawala
The New Online Confessions
nitpicky.org
No White Flag
Out of Bed
Pinay by the Bay
Rebel Pixel Productions
sablay.org
the silpur life
the sky sweetheart
Some Kind of Wonderful
Tapuy Moments
thinking about tomorrow
The Year of the Dog Woman
Weapon of Choice

Binibini
Clang-Fu
Four-point Play
The Histrionics of a Balding Drama King
i came, i saw, i blogged
intelektwal interkors
The Jason Journals
Mental Foreplay
Orange Pocket
Paiwinklebloo
Paperbag Writer
Peyups.com
Renaissance Girl
Seasonal Plume

avalon.ph
Bill Simmons
Dave Barry
Digg
Everything
Get Firefox!
Guardian Books
HoopsHype
I, Cringley
IMDB
Inside Hoops
Joel on Software
KDE-Look
Lawrence Lessig
Mark Cuban
Newsforge
Pop Matters
Reddit
Richard M. Stallman
Roger Ebert
Salon.com
Slam! Links
Slashdot
The Onion
The Onion AV Club
Wikipedia
Wil Wheaton