Critic in Chief: Tricky Dickie joins the White House
Consultant Dickie's conclusion: "I think she'll make a helluva candidate."
As for other details on the episode, they definitely ring true.
— Dickie the consultant is forever walking around the White House with a big, goofy-looking badge on a chain around his neck. This really happens. It means he's a temporary employee — not a full-time senior staffer. Those folks wear special pins or, if they are important enough, are recognized on sight by the Secret Service.
— There was an echo of George Herbert Walker Bush. President Allen kept inviting people to share Thanksgiving dinner with her family without consulting her spouse first. In the end, she had a full table. The real-life George H. W. Bush used to invite lots of folks to dinner, even though wife Barbara didn't always appreciate the extra guests.
— Remember that videotape of Speaker Templeton that came into the president's possession earlier this season? The one from 1965 that showed Templeton (Donald Sutherland) as a young man making racist comments? President Allen gave him her original of the video and a copy as a sort of Thanksgiving present. Even the most noble of presidents might not be that noble. But if such a handoff were to happen, there'd always be some White House operative who made a secret copy.
— I appreciated it when the president's mother — a newly introduced character played by Polly Bergen — insisted that she cook Thanksgiving dinner herself, even though the White House kitchen staff seemed eager to do the job ("As long as I'm standing, I'm cooking"). Sounds like my own mother, and maybe like yours, too. But I've never heard of such a thing happening in the White House.
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