Passions: The West Wing and the greatest president America never had

When we consider great political leaders of all time, one stands head and shoulders above the rest for me.

Martin Sheen played fictional President Josiah Bartlet in The West Wing.

A president who had to contend with being shot, having his daughter kidnapped, an impeachment investigation over failing to disclose his MS, relinquishing power to a political rival under the 25th Amendment, a troublesome vice-president and a seemingly never-ending series of military skirmishes in ‘Qumar’.

Yes, for me, the fiercely-principled, often grumpy, Nobel-prize winning New Hampshire economist Josiah (Jed) Bartlett is the greatest president America never had.

It is now almost 20 years since the last episode of the Aaron Sorkin drama The West Wing, but in this time of overwhelming choice on streaming services, it is still the faithful friend I turn to when I give up trawling Netflix or Amazon for something to veg out to.

I’m sure various polls in the past showed Americans would be quite happy for Martin Sheen’s character to rock up at the White House and take control (some probably believed he was the president) and I’d wholeheartedly back his campaign.

It bears rewatching so well– there are 154 episodes for a start – but the quality of the writing and performance shines through even if a fair amount of it has dated (the pilot begins with Rob Lowe’s character Sam Seaborn receiving a pager message!).

Sure, there are some dodgy episodes and it can be overbearingly preachy, but there are also many which must be close to the best television ever made. Two Cathedrals, Twenty Five, Posse Comitatus, In Excelsis Deo – all masterclasses in storytelling and drama.

And I think my continuing love of The West Wing also comes from another source. My response to the horror of Donald Trump’s election in 2016 was to binge watch all seven series again and somehow that took the edge off the impending doom of America being made great again.

In an increasingly uncertain and politically-scary world, The West Wing is my crutch. No matter what is thrown at Bartlett, the odds are he will have sorted it out to a neat conclusion within 50 minutes and all is well with the free world. He is the ideal of what we think a generally reasonable if often ineffective president should be. We may never see his likes again. And as we look ahead to another election year in the US, I have a feeling it is time to dig out the box set.