After watching the Pilot episode of The West Wing, I realized that the show portrayed many different and crucial political issues that the President struggled to deal with. One issue that really caught my eye was the Cuban crisis. The coast guard informed the President that about a thousand Cuban citizens were seen by Florida. Since no one knew why exactly the Cubans were there, the President didn’t know what to do or how to deal with the problem. On top of everything else, the President happened to get into a bicycle accident, which put even more stress on the other issues that were going on. The Cuban crisis continued to be put aside even though it should have been a major concern to the President and the White House.
I believe that since the government was so worried about how Josh offended millions of religious viewers, no one was too concerned about the Cubans heading toward Florida. The White House seemed to be more focused on the media and what the media thought about the government when really they should be focused on if the United States is in danger or not.
The reason that I believe the Cuban crisis is the most pressing political issue is because this is the issue that could have made the biggest impact on the United States and millions of its citizens. If the Cubans were headed to Florida in attempt to harm the United States, then it would have been too late to do anything about it since the government kept putting it off. I believe this should have been their number one concern, and the first thing they should have taken care of.
The refugees were not seen by Florida, they were seen by the Coast Guard off the coast of Florida heading into a storm. Your point about the media is well taken. Are American politicians only acting with the media in mind or with the welfare of the people of the U.S. in mind. While I doubt that the Cubans in very shaky boats were coming to harm the U.S., you do at least give a reason why that issue is more important than the Josh issue.
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