Bone West Wing

The West Wing’s most pressing political issue is to keep the President as a strong figure head to the public. The President must not look like he is weak because that denotes that our country is weak. This is something that Americans never feel. Americans believe that our country is moral (for the most part) ,and that our country is strong. Our country has stepped into wars like World War II and the Vietnam War because we had strength. We also felt it was morally correct to help other countries. We help other countries when natural disasters hit. The tsunami relief effort and the aid sent to Haiti both show that Americans have moral obligations to help others. Moral obligations often bleed over into religious obligations.
In this episode of the West Wing, the President must decide to keep or fire his White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Josh Lyman. Josh said his personal beliefs which insulted a religious leader, Mary Marsh, on t.v. When a cabinet member speaks, they speak for the President. So now the President will be perceived as having these non-Christian outlooks. Americans want the President to be moral, religious, and strong. While this is going on the President just got in a bicycle accident by running into a tree. This makes him look like a dumb-ass and not a professional strong leader of the United States. Public opinions can sway very easily. The President’s cabinet realizes that both the religious insults and the foolish biking of the President takes away from a strong responsible leader image.
This picture shows the President as a strong leader. This image comes through at the end of the episode when he tells off the religious leaders, and he admits that he was foolish to bike while angry . He said that he should only make decisions with a level head. This picture describes what we expect from our President at all times.