The more things change

My wife enjoys watching The West Wing. I do not. Charlie Sheen plays the president. Charlie Sheen is a knee-jerk liberal. Generally, I do not watch any TV program in which he appears.

This morning, I sat through the opening scenes of an episode of The West Wing. In one scene, the principals discussed alternative energy sources, and in another scene, casualties among an American peace-keeping force in Gaza. The West Wing ran from September 1999 through May 2006. So far, no president has been dumb enough to put U.S. soldiers in Gaza, but those two scenes gave an indication of problems that come up again and again (and again) because politicians will not leave them alone.