West Wing Junkies UNITE!!

From West Wing to the real thing | World news | The Guardian

It seems the final seasons of the West Wing and the candidacy of the fictional Matthew Santos were based upon Barack Obama.

For what those West Wing fans stunned by the similarity between the fictitious Matthew Santos and the real-life Barack Obama have not known is that the resemblance is no coincidence. When the West Wing scriptwriters first devised their fictitious presidential candidate in the late summer of 2004, they modelled him in part on a young Illinois politician - not yet even a US senator - by the name of Barack Obama.

"I drew inspiration from him in drawing this character," West Wing writer and producer Eli Attie told the Guardian. "When I had to write, Obama was just appearing on the national scene. He had done a great speech at the convention [which nominated John Kerry] and people were beginning to talk about him."

I, along with Calgary Grit and IP, spotted it a while ago, but it gets even better.

As more proof of the mirror image of this primary season, West Wing devotees will note that in the final season the Democratic Party's nomination came down to a brokered convention, which may be the end result of this nomination contest. No way the writers of West Wing could have predicted this, but bravo on them for the realism, even if it is 20/20.