What I can add to the debate is an encyclopedic knowledge of The West Wing. I am increasingly comforted by how reality seems to be bending to become more Sorkin-like. First President Obama names Josh Lyman to be his Chief of Staff, now this:

Fans of the show will remember that during the first season President Barlet nominated Judge Roberto Mendoza to replace retiring Justice Joseph Crouch. Mendoza, also a Hispanic from New York, didn’t have the same educational credentials as Judge Sotomayor he had a more compelling life story. 

There was one nomination-crippling issue for Judge Mendoza. During the nomination process he was arrested (falsely) for drunken driving while on vacation with his family. However, White House aides were able to cover up the arrest before it became public. Mendoza was confirmed and President Bartlett considers the appointment one of his proudest accomplishments while in office. So don’t be confused if you see David Axelrod and Robert Gibbs in a rented van on the Merritt Parkway, they are there on business. 

Editors Note: Hardcore fans of the show will remember that President Barlet also successfully appointed a woman to the Supreme Court. During season five, in an episode called The Supremes, he nominated both the ultra-liberal Glenn Close and the ultra-conservative Guy from “Invasion” as part of a deal with Republican Senators. Apparently the nominations went flawlessly as they were never mentioned again. I thought this device and episode were stupid so I have decided they are not canon.

I have been a little disappointed in The Fix recently. It was, along with FiveThirtyEight, one of my favorite blogs during the Presidential election. Chris Cilizza has excellent political instincts and a good sense of humor that enabled him to give insights into the ups and downs of campaigns all over the country and into the daily life of a major newspaper reporter.

However, since the election, Cilizza hasn’t been interesting me as much. Maybe it is because Obama already won, so I don’t really care whether his plan to save the economy is popular with Republicans or not; I would rather read some policy blogs about whether it will work. But that can’t be it, since I love to hear about the machinations of Congress and the White House. It seems that Cilizza just doesn’t seem to give the insight into the sausage-making of policy that he was able to give to the campaigns. I have also worried that Cilizza was losing his touch. He did just cover the campaign of a lifetime and has a new baby, so it is understandable if they guy wants to phone it in for a while.

However, as soon as you give up on someone they smack you in the face. I was delighted to see a great post yesterday, right in Cilizza’s wheelhouse, about the NY-20 special election. I was just saying that I have no idea what is going on with this election and probably should. So Chris, what are the basics?

The special election in New York’s 20th district is just one week away and the level of national interest — and involvement — is growing rapidly.

What’s clear is that businessman Scott Murphy, the Democrat, has the momentum over state Assemblyman Jim Tedisco (R), and a loss for Republicans could be potentially disastrous for a party looking for good news.

The Albany-area district went for Obama narrowly in November, according to tabulations by Swing State Project.

Thanks! What are five things I need to know to be aware of the issues at stake in this election? And do you mind if I summarize what you wrote?

• Will Obama get Involved? (He endorsed Murphy this morning)
• Which third-party groups (e.g., Unions) will be able to position themselves to claim victory for whoever wins?
• The campaign is coming down to a debate over the stimulus,  as such it could be seen as a national referendum on President Obama’s plans.
• Apparently the ads are almost 100% negative. Will either candidate tack against the wind and go positive or will someone devise a new negative ad that floors his opponent.
• GOTV – with a week left that is really all that matters. Have campaigns done their homework? Do they know where the votes are? Also will Obama’s endorsement affect that effort.

Great! I will be keeping an eye on this race and The Fix has earned itself a few more months in my RSS reader.

Most blogs I have read hold this up as a token of how much administration has changed and also make jokes at the idea of President Bush speaking Farsi – fair points both. Ezra Klein does it best:

There are times when it’s hard to believe that this is how my country acts now. That somewhere in government, some young bureaucrat had the idea that the President should publicly honor the Iranian New Year, and that bureaucrat felt that her superiors would also think this a good idea, and, indeed, the thought went all the way to the President, who agreed that a display of engagement and goodwill was consonant with our national values and foreign policy goals. It is hard to believe that five years after we were ordering “freedom fries” in the congressional cafeteria, we’re posting Persian translations at Whitehouse.gov.

Hear hear. But, I think it is also worth comparing this to the previous administrations’ attempts at using public statements to influence Iran. In 2005, on the eve of elections in Iran that looked like they might unseat Ahmadinejad in favor of a slightly more moderate government, President Bush gave a speech saying that Iran’s electoral process failed to meet “the basic requirements of democracy” that the “oppressive record” of the country’s rulers would undercut the legitimacy of the upcoming vote. The result was Iranians getting upset that President Bush was trying to meddle in their affairs. President Ahmadinejad’s party won renewed support and the election. Good job there, I would have preferred he tried to speak Farsi.

I don’t know enough about Nowruz or Iran to say whether or not President Obama’s message contained cultural tones and phrases that wouldn’t make sense to an American but would be significant to Iranians that were listening for them (I would guess they did, but that is me giving President Obama the benefit of the doubt). I can say that I think this is the best medium to reach out to Iran.

Fun Fact: Iran has the most bloggers per capita of any country in the world. If you think the media won’t give you a fair shake (which Iran’s state-run media probably won’t), then take your message around the media and straight to the people. Online and Social media efforts to connect with the people of Iran may be the best bet to bring about real change to the perception of the United States.

Is the President. It still gets me sometimes.