History YMMV / AdviseAndConsent

* StrawmanPolitical: The novels are extremely guilty of this, caricaturing the President, Leffingwell and Van Ackerman as liberal monsters who sell out their colleagues (and ultimately the United States) for personal gain. The sequels take it UpToEleven with caricatured characters like "Terrible Terry," the African statesman in ''A Shade of Difference'' who travels the US inciting race riots [[spoiler:and in the very next book, ''Capable of Honor'', is transmuted into a crucial Cold War ally of the United States - how's that for HeelFaceTurn?]], the pro-Communist journalists and Black Power leaders in ''Capable of Honor'', and [[PresidentEvil Governor Ted Jason]] in ''Preserve and Protect'' and ''Come Nineveh, Come Tyre'', under whose watch the United States becomes a Soviet vassal state. The film pointedly averts this by employing GrayAndGreyMorality and eliding subplots that play up these differences.

* WhatAnIdiot: As sad as Senator Anderson's suicide is, it can't be forgotten that it's a result of him doing the one thing Orrin Knox warned him not to do: he trusted the President to keep his word.
* TheWoobie: The entire Anderson family. Watching them slowly get crushed by the juggernaut of American politics is what drives a good portion of the plot.

* JumpingTheShark: The ending of the series' third novel, ''Capable of Honor'', [[spoiler:in which President Harley Hudson, who over the past two books had been developed into a strong, interesting character, is killed when Air Force One crashes at Andrews AFB)]], marks the point at which it arguably becomes dominated by AuthorTract and StrawmanPolitical.

** Conversely, one could point out a President coming into power with the alleged assistance and approval of the Russian government also mirror the election, though Drury got the (implied) parties wrong.

* StrawmanPolitical: The novels are extremely guilty of this, caricaturing the President, Leffingwell and Van Ackerman as liberal monsters who sell out their colleagues (and ultimately the United States) for personal gain. The sequels take it UpToEleven with caricatured characters like "Terrible Terry," the African statesman in ''A Shade of Difference'' who travels the US inciting race riots, the pro-Communist journalists and Black Power leaders in ''Capable of Honor'', and [[PresidentEvil Governor Ted Jason]] in ''Preserve and Protect'' and ''Come Nineveh, Come Tyre'', under whose watch the United States becomes a Soviet vassal state. The film pointedly averts this by employing GrayAndGreyMorality and eliding subplots that play up these differences.

* VindicatedByHistory: The film was not particularly successful upon release, but is regarded today as an intelligent political drama with a subplot that features surprisingly serious and sympathetic depiction of homosexuality for the time period.