Pre-Ob

Na série West Wing encontro muitas influências da vida real nos seus argumentos e, ainda mais incrível, algumas influências da série na vida real. Por vezes ideias são testadas, argumentos são esgrimidos ou cenários e hipóteses são trabalhadas que porteriormente vêem a acontecer. Este é mais um desses exemplos:

According to an article in The New York Times (29 October 2008), shortly after then-Illinois state senator Barack Obama spoke at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, The West Wing writer Eli Attie had several long telephone conversations with David Axelrod, a political consultant who was then working on Obama's U.S. Senate campaign. From those conversations, Attie modeled the character of Matthew Santos after Obama's political and personal life. Like Santos, Obama eventually won his race for the presidency. Likewise, according to an article in The Guardian (6 November 2008), the character of Josh Lyman was modeled after Rep. Rahm Emanuel; on the show, Lyman became President Santos' Chief of Staff, while Obama's first staffing announcement after his 2008 election was to name Emanuel as his Chief of Staff.
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