The West Wing and Propaganda

Hell thath no fury like a speech-writer with a book to peddle:

When the sun rises over our capital city this morning, its denizens will awake to a truly novel tale: The aggrieved ex-staffer—wait for it!—disillusioned by Washington. The tome out today is by former Bush speechwriter Matt Latimer, who describes the White House as “less like Aaron Sorkin’s The West Wing and more like The Office.” In Mr. Latimer’s hands, it reads more like “The Princess Diaries,” full of hurt feelings and high-schoolish drama.

I give not a single hoot for Mr Latimer’s sensitivities and his memoir may, if in an unlikely fashion, be most useful. Alas, that happier eventuality seems unlikely. What hope is there when even White House staffers like to think themselves players – and not mere functionaries – in some White House pseudo-drama?