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Fact-checking ‘Madam Secretary’ with a State Department vet Fact-checking ‘Madam Secretary’ with a State Department vet
(about 20 hours later)
Fact-checking the ways Washington is portrayed on the big and small screens is a favorite Beltway pastime. Official-Washington denizens can show off their tribal cred by knowing, for example, that the sets on “Veep” are reasonably good facsimiles of the interiors of the Old Executive Office Building, but c’mon, the Cathedral Heights station from “House of Cards” or “Homeland’s” Farragut Station are not even close!Fact-checking the ways Washington is portrayed on the big and small screens is a favorite Beltway pastime. Official-Washington denizens can show off their tribal cred by knowing, for example, that the sets on “Veep” are reasonably good facsimiles of the interiors of the Old Executive Office Building, but c’mon, the Cathedral Heights station from “House of Cards” or “Homeland’s” Farragut Station are not even close!
So we went right to the source to put the new CBS drama “Madam Secretary” to the does-it-pass muster test. We asked State Department veteran Tara Sonenshine to watch the premiere episode of the series, which centers on an unconventional secretary of state, a former CIA analyst played by Tea Leoni, with us to see how accurately the show gets Washington and the world of Foggy Bottom diplomacy.So we went right to the source to put the new CBS drama “Madam Secretary” to the does-it-pass muster test. We asked State Department veteran Tara Sonenshine to watch the premiere episode of the series, which centers on an unconventional secretary of state, a former CIA analyst played by Tea Leoni, with us to see how accurately the show gets Washington and the world of Foggy Bottom diplomacy.
Of course, the writers are going to take plenty of creative license — after all, a bunch of folks glued to their Blackberries does not exciting TV make — but Sonenshine, a Clinton White House veteran who was undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs during Hillary Rodham Clinton’s tenure at the State Department, was up for telling us what details — the patois, if you will — that the show gets right or wrong. Of course, the writers are going to take plenty of creative license — after all, a bunch of folks glued to their Blackberries does not exciting TV make — but Sonenshine, a Clinton White House veteran who was undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs during Hillary Rodham Clinton’s tenure at the State Department (and now a fellow at George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs), was up for telling us what details — the patois, if you will — that the show gets right or wrong.
Here’s how she broke it down:Here’s how she broke it down:
The show opens in Charlottesville, Va., where Leoni’s Elizabeth McCord is enjoying life as a professor, bantering with students and mucking out stalls at the horse farm she shares with her fellow-professor husband. And right off the bat, I’m the one fact-checking — as a Virginia alum, I peg the campus … er, Grounds … as far too urban-looking to be the real deal. McCord dashes off to D.C. for dinner with old colleagues (nearly impossible without a helicopter to skirt traffic). And could two profs really afford that spread in that tony corner of Central Virginia?The show opens in Charlottesville, Va., where Leoni’s Elizabeth McCord is enjoying life as a professor, bantering with students and mucking out stalls at the horse farm she shares with her fellow-professor husband. And right off the bat, I’m the one fact-checking — as a Virginia alum, I peg the campus … er, Grounds … as far too urban-looking to be the real deal. McCord dashes off to D.C. for dinner with old colleagues (nearly impossible without a helicopter to skirt traffic). And could two profs really afford that spread in that tony corner of Central Virginia?
Sonenshine’s first raised eyebrow comes when the president himself turns up at the farm to recruit McCord. “He’d probably just do that over the phone,” she says. And when the show skips ahead two months, she laughs out loud. “Two months! It took me months and I was just an undersecretary!” Getting on Congress’s schedule for those pesky confirmation hearings isn’t as easy as it seems on TV.Sonenshine’s first raised eyebrow comes when the president himself turns up at the farm to recruit McCord. “He’d probably just do that over the phone,” she says. And when the show skips ahead two months, she laughs out loud. “Two months! It took me months and I was just an undersecretary!” Getting on Congress’s schedule for those pesky confirmation hearings isn’t as easy as it seems on TV.
At Foggy Bottom headquarters, though, she finds lots to like: The sets are realistic-looking. “That absolutely looks like the anteroom” to the secstate’s office, she notes.At Foggy Bottom headquarters, though, she finds lots to like: The sets are realistic-looking. “That absolutely looks like the anteroom” to the secstate’s office, she notes.
And although the actors and the network have gone out of their way to insist that the show is NOT ABOUT HILLARY, Sonenshine sees shades of her old boss in it. McCord’s habit of putting on and taking off glasses seems Clinton-esque, she says, and her fictional staff might have some real-life inspiration in the former chief diplomat’s inner circle. “A little bit of Huma?” she wonders about the willowy, glamorous character whose job it is to chic-ify McCord’s frumpy look, referring to Huma Abedin, the Clinton aide who’s graced the pages of Vogue magazine. “That could be a Philippe,” she says of another staffer, referring to Clinton’s longtime communications guy, Philippe Reines.And although the actors and the network have gone out of their way to insist that the show is NOT ABOUT HILLARY, Sonenshine sees shades of her old boss in it. McCord’s habit of putting on and taking off glasses seems Clinton-esque, she says, and her fictional staff might have some real-life inspiration in the former chief diplomat’s inner circle. “A little bit of Huma?” she wonders about the willowy, glamorous character whose job it is to chic-ify McCord’s frumpy look, referring to Huma Abedin, the Clinton aide who’s graced the pages of Vogue magazine. “That could be a Philippe,” she says of another staffer, referring to Clinton’s longtime communications guy, Philippe Reines.
Mostly, though, she says McCord comes off as chronically understaffed. “She’d have ten people behind her to carry those,” she says when the onscreen secretary juggles an armload of classified briefing books after a White House meeting. “She wouldn’t do that alone,” she said when McCord meets with the parents of two teens imprisoned in Libya.Mostly, though, she says McCord comes off as chronically understaffed. “She’d have ten people behind her to carry those,” she says when the onscreen secretary juggles an armload of classified briefing books after a White House meeting. “She wouldn’t do that alone,” she said when McCord meets with the parents of two teens imprisoned in Libya.
A scene in which McCord strolls in front of the Capitol, inexplicably, to meet with a contact negotiating the kids’ release gets a “hmmm” of disapproval.A scene in which McCord strolls in front of the Capitol, inexplicably, to meet with a contact negotiating the kids’ release gets a “hmmm” of disapproval.
Another knock on the onscreen “Madam Secretary”? She’s way under-accessorized. Even though McCord eschews traditional power dressing (to the chagrin of the White House), Sonenshine still thinks she’d step up her game while on the world stage:Another knock on the onscreen “Madam Secretary”? She’s way under-accessorized. Even though McCord eschews traditional power dressing (to the chagrin of the White House), Sonenshine still thinks she’d step up her game while on the world stage:
“The Secretary of State would be wearing earrings.”“The Secretary of State would be wearing earrings.”
  
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