Hawkeye is My President

Like Russell Roberts at Cafe Hayek, I caught a bit of the live presidential debate on The West Wing this weekend, and I'm about ready to slap on a "Vinick '08" button. That's the surprisingly secular Sen. Arnold Vinick, the GOP candidate played by Alan Alda, who actually is the die-hard free-marketeer that the liberals who make shows like The West Wing seem convinced all Republicans really are. Asked how many jobs he'd "create" as president, he fires back: "None," explaining that he'll cut (federal) jobs and leave job creation to the private sector. They couldn't totally resist caricatures—Vinick's secret to development in Africa, as to everything else, is "tax cuts" (though he does go on to explain that he means bloated and corrupt governments are blocking Africa's success), and he inexplicably refuses to agree he'll never "go to war for oil," though here too, adds the excellent point that in a global market, worries about who physically controls oilfields are overblown.

As Radley Balko observes, "It's a sad state of affairs when the most eloquent defense of free markets, private initiative, and limited government uttered by a politician in two decades has come from a fictitious presidential candidate played by an actor with leftist politics." Alas, a Zogby poll shows Vinick trailing by 30 points.