Friday, September 5, 2008

Eight is Enough

It's a commonplace observation now that the similarity of West Wing Presidential candidate Matthew Santos to Barack Obama is not a case of life immitating art but rather of art being modelled on life.

However I haven't seen anyone notice that the much commented-on line "Eight is Enough" in Obama's acceptance speech last week is taken from a fictional convention speech on the TV series. The Republican vice-presidential candidate uses it in his own convention speech to attempt to tie Santos to the two-term Democratic President Bartlett. This corny appeal to the family entertainment seventies TV show causes Josh Lyman to loose his cool in a bar.

Presumably this is Obama's speechwriters having a little fun with us?

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