WASHINGTON – With President Joe Biden away from the White House, it was left Friday to another man with Oval Office experience to stand at the front of the Rose Garden and give a rousing call to service.
Martin Sheen and others from the cast of “The West Wing,” the hit drama about a liberal president and his staff, were invited by first lady Jill Biden for an event to mark the 25th anniversary of the show.
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Sheen exhorted the crowd to find something worth fighting for, “something deeply personal and uncompromising, something that can unite the will of the spirit with the work of the flesh."
His voice and hands rose, his cadence matching perfectly that of President Jed Bartlet, the character Sheen played for seven seasons.
“When we find that, we will discover fire for the second time, and then we will be able to help lift up this nation and all its people to that place where the heart is without fear, and their head is held high,” Sheen said.
“The West Wing” remains a favorite of many who now work in Washington, both liberal and conservative. Among those spotted in the Rose Garden were House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and Joe Walsh, once a tea party-aligned Illinois congressman who is now a sharp critic of former President Donald Trump and supporting Vice President Kamala Harris.
Asked to name his favorite character, Walsh replied, “I'm partial to Martin Sheen because I want to be president one day." (Walsh ran and lost a longshot Republican primary challenge to Trump in 2020.)
It was clear in the speeches and the party’s touches that at least a few “West Wing” fans work in the White House.
There was the U.S. Marine Band playing the opening notes to the show's theme as Biden and the cast walked out. There were references to “big blocks of cheese” — a show tradition of requiring staffers to meet with eccentric or offbeat characters — and the walk-and-talk dialogues in which characters moved through the halls at high speed.
Waiters passed out bourbon-and-ginger ale cocktails called “The Jackal,” a reference to press secretary C.J. Cregg's dance and lip sync routine in one iconic episode.
The show's creator, Aaron Sorkin, spoke after Sheen and referenced a bit of real-world politics: Biden's decision not to seek a second term after his disastrous debate performance. Sorkin was among the high-profile Democrats who called for him to withdraw, writing a column for The New York Times with a potential “script” for Democrats to replace Biden as their nominee with a Republican, Utah Sen. Mitt Romney.
His column ran on July 21, hours before Biden announced he would drop out.
“The fact is, ‘West Wing’ moments do happen,” he said Friday, addressing the first lady. “And Dr. Biden, we saw proof of that on the morning of July 21.”
Sorkin also recognized the cast members in attendance. Among them: Richard Schiff, who played communications director Toby Ziegler; Janel Moloney, who played assistant Donna Moss; and Dulé Hill, who played the president's bodyman, Charlie Young.
He noted the absence of a few high-profile actors — Allison Janney, who played Cregg, as well as Bradley Whitford and Rob Lowe — who he said were on set elsewhere.
“The rest of us are apparently unemployed,” he joked.
After the crowd laughed, a voice chimed in from Sorkin's right.
“Not yet!” Jill Biden said.