"'The West Wing' arrived in 1999 as a televised fantasy of what we wished our government could be. 'House of Cards' arrived in 2013 as a nightmare of what we fear our government has become. [...] The politicians in 'House of Cards' [are] morally bankrupt and endlessly opportunistic. The show is no cri de coeur, but a cold dissection of the post-Obama (or post-the-Obama-many-hoped-they’d-elected), post-hope political landscape. It's a vision of American government not as we wish it were, but as we secretly fear it is."