Press Secretary Jen Psaki Tells Rob Lowe His West Wing Character Inspired Her to Return to the White House
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Press Secretary Jen Psaki told Rob Lowe he's a big part of why she's back at the White House.
The actor, who played Deputy Communications Director Sam Seaborn on the iconic TV drama The West Wing from 1999 to 2003 (and later in 2006 and for the final episodes in 2011), spoke with Psaki in this week's episode of his podcast, Literally! With Rob Lowe.
Psaki, 43, was a real-life deputy press secretary for President Barack Obama before he promoted her in 2009, giving her the same job Seaborn had on the show, which she said "inspired so many people that I know … to come here and be a part of this town and work in government."
In 2011, Psaki left the White House to work for a public relations and research firm. It wasn't until then that she first laid eyes on the quixotic character played by Lowe, 57.
"I don't know what prompted me to watch it but I binged the entire thing," Psaki told Lowe. "In a crazy way, it really brought me back to politics. I ended up coming back and doing the 2012 campaign and traveling with then-President Obama on his reelection."
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Psaki later worked at the State Department but returned to the White House in 2015 as communications director until the end of the Obama administration. She gave her first press briefing as President Joe Biden's press secretary on Inauguration Day 2021.
"That character was so inspiring because that idealism that Sam Seaborn had, that you embodied for many years, it's kind of what the best of Washington is," Psaki told Lowe.
That prompted the pair to share a few optimistic takes on D.C. politics — something of a rarity these days.
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"I get to work with all of these people who are a part of the press team and are earlier in their careers than I am," Psaki said of her 20- and 30-something colleagues, "who have that idealism that is like bursting out of their pores that makes me want to be here every day. It's an amazing part. There are lots of Sam Seaborns wandering around here."
Lowe agreed with her positive assessment of the young professionals in Washington. "The people who make the town run are the 20-somethings," he said. "There's no Washington without them."
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Lowe went on to praise the "level of patriotism, investment, wanting to do good and be there for those reasons and nothing else."
"To see that in young people," he added, "it makes you feel so good about the future of the country."
Psaki admitted that Washington "certainly is" a divisive town but pointed out that "there are so many good human beings who are coming up in the ranks and that is encouraging and inspiring and awesome."
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Psaki also shares a couple behind-the-scenes tidbits about working at the White House.
She revealed that Biden hasn't finished decorating the Oval Office yet but it's a work in progress as he picks out items from previous administrations.
"The cool thing is that any [president] can go back and see archives … and they just say, 'I would like that rug' or 'I would like that couch,'" she said. "One of the couches that President Obama had in the Oval Office is now in the Treaty Room, which is the president's personal office in the residence."
She also told a story of how Obama turned a "dark" day around as his presidency ended.
Alex Wong/Getty Jen Psaki
"We did a scavenger hunt of sorts, where we did all the things that you want to do in the White House and that was one of them," she said after Lowe, who demonstrated his affinity for presidential trivia during the conversation, asked if she'd seen the soot marks from a fire there in the 1800s.
"I shot some basketballs. I hit a golf club on a tee," she added of the scavenger hunt. "Where the pool used to be, which is under the briefing room, you can sign your name and so we all went and signed our names there as well."
"I signed my name on the pool," Lowe said. "I'm down there."
Psaki, who said in November she missed her slippers after working from home with a break-through COVID infection, told Lowe she's not inclined to dress casually at work as long as she's following Biden's lead.
"He is an immaculate dresser so I have not worn jeans in there but I don't think he would care if you did," she said. "He wears jeans and things on the weekend but he always looks very well put together so I haven't had casual clothes in there yet."
