"West Wing" Flashback

Toward the end of “The West Wing” run, Kristin Chenoweth played Annabeth Schott, a short (4’11”), pretty blonde woman in her thirties who becomes Deputy Press Secretary to the President.

In the White House this week, taking over for the ailing Tony Snow is a pretty blonde woman in her thirties, “diminutive even in two-inch heels,” the Deputy Press Secretary, Dana Perino.

Annabeth Schott was from Oklahoma. Dana Perino is from Colorado and, when she started her present job in 2006, she told the Denver Post, “It’s not like the West Wing on NBC. People aren’t making decisions walking down the hallway before you see them go into the rest room.”

But Ms. Perino’s debut as spokesperson was more dramatic than anything on the TV show, a tear-filled briefing on Tony Snow’s medical condition.

So far, the White House press corps, no pussycats, are giving her favorable reviews