Hillary Clinton Says Burmese Lawmakers Tried Teaching Themselves Democracy Using Old Episodes of The West Wing
Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was in Washington today to receive the Congressional Gold Medal she was awarded four years ago will still under house arrest.
That's pretty cool, but you know what's cooler? That lawmakers in the newly reformed Burma have been learning how to be more democratic with the help of Aaron Sorkin's political drama The West Wing.
In her speech to medal ceremony attendees, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who paid Burma a historic visit last December, recalled a conversation about democracy building with the Burmese Speaker of the Lower House.
"[The Speaker] said to me, 'help us learn how to be a democratic congress, a parliament,'" Clinton said. "He went on to tell me that they were trying to teach themselves by watching old segment of The West Wing. I said, 'I think we can do better than that, Mister Speaker.'"
