How West Wing writers wrote the script for Obama’s rise

Fans of the American TV show The West Wing, which starred Martin Sheen as the US president, have been remarking on how the long-running series ended in 2006 with a handsome and charismatic young man from an ethnic minority running for president. Apart from the fact that the character, Matthew Santos (played by Jimmy Smits, above right), was a Latino rather than black, he might have been modelled on Barack Obama.

Now writer and producer Eli Attie has revealed that Obama did indeed influence the creation of the Santos character. "Obama was just appearing on the national scene," said Attie, who now works on the Hugh Laurie series, House. "He had done a great speech at the 2004 convention [which went on to nominate John Kerry as the Democrats' candidate] and people were beginning to talk about him."

Attie put in a call to Obama aide David Axelrod. "I said, 'Tell me about this guy Barack Obama.'" As a result, character traits that the two share include Santos's insistence on not being defined by his race and Obama's soaring rhetoric. (Continued below)

Santos begins his campaign for the White House as a rank outsider, and there are doubts about his ability to persuade voters to back a non-white candidate. But the character promises to heal America's old divides, and comes from behind in a fiercely close primary race.

Axelrod, now Obama's chief strategist, has apparently joked to Attie: "We're living your scripts." It may be that the the opposition are, too: in The West Wing, Santos runs against a grouchy, ageing Republican candidate (played by Alan Alda) who is unpopular with the religious right - not unlike the real-life front-runner, John McCain.