Last week, Argentina’s president Javier Milei gave an address to a group of world leaders. His speech was stirring, inspirational and soaringly eloquent. “We believe all people should live free from tyranny and oppression, whether in the form of political oppression, economic slavery or religious fanaticism,” he said. “This fundamental idea must not be mere words – it has to be supported by deeds: diplomatically, economically and materially.”
The speech was well received by all. That is, except for those who had watched The West Wing, because they might have remembered an episode in the fourth season where President Bartlet said the following: “We are for freedom from tyranny, everywhere, whether in the guise of political oppression … or economic slavery … or religious fanaticism … That most fundamental idea cannot be met with merely our support. It has to be met with our strength: diplomatically, economically, materially.”
The near word-for-word similarities were easy to spot. After all, those who follow politics for a living are much more likely to have obsessed over Aaron Sorkin’s political drama than the average viewer. And even the average viewer probably had a good idea that it was ripped off, given that The West Wing is generally regarded as one of the most influential – and popular – shows of its time.
The gaffe has left egg on Milei’s face, and now nobody can take Argentina seriously as a country. Or at least that would be the case if this was an isolated incident. But it isn’t. Far from it. Because when it comes to public speaking, it’s hard for any politician from any country to resist a little of the Sorkin sparkle.
In 2020, as the threat of Covid meant that our leaders had to raise their levels of oration, Australian Labor party member Will Fowles addressed parliament to praise healthcare workers. “We did not expect, nor did we invite, this confrontation with a ferocious and feckless enemy,” he said of the disease, adding that: “If we think we have reached the limit of our resolve, we need only to look to these heroes and decide that our resolve may well be limitless.”
Stirring stuff, not least because President Bartlet said extremely similar things during the season four episode 20 Hours in America: Part II. Bartlet’s words were: “We did not expect nor did we invite a confrontation with evil … But every time we think we have measured our capacity to meet a challenge, we look and we are reminded that that capacity may well be limitless.”
In Fowles’s favour, he had the decency to leave out the part of the speech where Bartlet said: “The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels,” because even Sorkin would have to agree that would probably qualify as overkill. However, again, it looks extremely sloppy. Thank goodness we don’t do that here.
Except in 2018, the then NUS president Shakira Martin used a conference speech to say things like: “There is evil in the world, there always has been, and we can’t do nothing about that. But there’s violence in our colleges, racism in our universities, there’s bullying in our workplaces, and we can do something about that … we can do better, we must do better, and we will do better.”
This, of course, has eerie parallels with: “There’s evil in the world, there’ll always be, and we can’t do anything about that. But there’s violence in our schools, too much mayhem in our culture, and we can do something about that … we can do better, and we must do better, and we will do better,” as spoken by Bartlet in the aptly titled West Wing episode College Kids.
However, when the similarities were pointed out, Martin tweeted: “I have never watched The West Wing … I am me and there is only 1 Shakira and I can’t be compared to anyone but myself. Bloop!!” This, at least, appears to be original, since no transcripts appear to show President Bartlet using the word “bloop” with two exclamation marks.
But this is fine. An NUS president is a work in progress, and nobody can expect them to get everything right all the time. Certainly nobody who actually held high office in this country would be naive enough to think they could rip off something as culturally significant as The West Wing. That is, unless you count the time Theresa May did.
In her 2017 Conservative party conference speech, May said: “It is when tested the most that we reach deep within ourselves and find that our capacity to rise to the challenge before us may well be limitless.” Which is the exact quote from the exact speech from 20 Hours in America: Part II that Fowles ripped off. Again, at the time few people noticed the similarities, because this was the speech where May also lost her voice, was interrupted by a prankster holding her P45 and watched in dismay as the letters of her backdrop slogan “Building a country that works for everyone” slowly dropped off until it ended up reading “Building a country that works or everyon”.
Obviously it makes sense that politicians will crib from The West Wing from time to time – it remains one of the most spectacularly written television shows of all time, thanks to Sorkin’s ability to elevate the workaday administrative role of politics to a level of high art – but this is getting silly now. Perhaps it’s time to move on to Sorkin material that isn’t so well worn. After all, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is sitting right there.
