The pilot episode of, "The West Wing," President Bartlet is faced with a number of pressing issues to deal with. We learn that the president has just sprained his ankle riding a bike, that there are 1,200 Cubans trying to get to America by boat, and that the White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Josh Lyman, has gone on television and publicly insulted a popular speaker for the religious right. These are all pressing issues but if I were President Bartlet, my focus would go to Josh Lyman’s out-burst on television. Lyman has caused a huge percentage of people in America to feel angry towards this administration. President Bartlet needs to focus on how to apologize to these conservatives, even though they might not deserve it, so he can move on with the American people on his side. If he ever plans to run for re-election, he must get some of the religious right on his side. Also, Josh Lyman should put out a formal apology to offended viewers and reassure them that his comments were his own and not that of the president. I don’t believe he should be fired but he does need to deal with this uproar. Beyond this issue, the fact that 1,200 Cubans are floating towards America is an important issue. We have a process in America to become an American citizen but the president can’t just send these people home. At the end of the episode, we learn that the majority of these Cubans have either turned around or have gone missing. President Bartlet needs to take in the remaining 200 Cubans and allow them to become working citizens.
You give an excellent description of What you think Josh and the President should do, but you never tackle the important underlying issue: Why is religion such a huge force in American politics, even though we claim a separation of church and state?
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