West Wing 7.3: "Message of the Week"

Written by Lawrence O’Donnell Jr.
Directed by Christopher Misiano

In which Vinick uses issues with a strong Latino impact to highlight Santos’ lack of comment on the topic, but courts disaster when he opposes strong-arming by religious conservatives…


Despite the promos to the contrary, this episode is entirely focused on the Santos and Vinick campaigns. With all the gains for Santos in the past two episodes, it was beginning to look like a sure thing. In fact, most fans expect Santos to win, if only in keeping with the more liberal slant of the show’s creators. Despite all that, this episode makes it clear that this will be a continually uphill battle for Santos, because Vinick is a strong contender.

But just like Santos, Vinick has a problem. In short, it’s the same problem that the Republicans had when they were losing during the Clinton years. Whenever a candidate doesn’t kiss the ring of the Christian Coalition (renamed in a cosmetic way in this episode), they don’t have enough support to win. Conversely, GOP candidates who do sell their soul get elected without much trouble.

Despite the fact that he’s calculating and can make some disturbing decisions, like knowingly going after the Latino vote and inserting an indirect racism into the campaign, I respect Vinick for standing up to that kind of pressure. There will be some who equate this episode (and my comments, for that matter) to Christian bashing and mischaracterization, but one must separate the religion from the fanatics. Most Christians don’t want to act like the Mafia, but the ones who do act that way make Christianity look like the Taliban. (“Represent just us and our values or else!”)

But Vinick, for all his clever maneuvering, has his blind spots. He correctly identifies the downside of the GOP’s past marriage of convenience with religious conservatives, and yet, he doesn’t seem to understand how dangerous they can be. As in the real world, the more fanatical and politically motivated “Christians” would rather have someone they can preach against as immoral instead of an apparent political ally who won’t be a puppet.

This may seem harsh, but it’s the political reality, and this series has always tred that fine line between addressing real political issues and behind-the-scenes drama. Vinick all but sows the seeds of his own destruction in this episode, and one gets the sense that his running mate only put a bandage on a festering wound. Vinick may want the radical religious faction of his party to stop making demands and playing games, but assuming that empty promises will work is the wrong move.

That’s not the only plot thread, of course, but it’s the main one. I will say that this was probably the most compelling episode of the season, and a lot of that was due to the absence of divergent plot elements. In the first two episodes, the “White House leak” subplot sometimes got in the way. Focusing entirely upon the ups and downs of each campaign, and the possible Achilles Heel of the Vinick campaign, made this episode move. Considering that I felt the same way last season, I suppose that’s not much of a shock.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4

Final Rating: 8/10