The television series, The West Wing, takes an in depth, behind the scenes look at the inner workings of the Presidential office; and in the pilot episode, the audience is quickly thrown into the chaos that takes place in the west wing of the White House. Many problems arise within the first scene of the episode, including Cuban immigrants dangerously traveling to Miami, Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman making insulting, sac religious comments on national television, Deputy Communications Director Sam Seaborn mistakenly sleeping with a call girl, and the President himself clumsily and embarrassingly crashing his bike while on vacation. These problems all have different implications, but the main, overriding predicament for the staff of the west wing is keeping their public image from being tarnished or undermined.
Americans want to feel protected, which is why we put our trust in the hands of the President and his staff. For the workers in the pilot episode of The West Wing, their job is to take on the inevitable issues that will potentially bring down the President and fix them before they become devastating for the Presidency’s image. When the American people do not have a sense of safety, the President and his staff lose the approval of the American people, and eventually, if they do not resolve the issue sufficiently, they can completely lose the trust of the American population.
With this in mind, the staff in the episode work relentlessly to try and quell the many problems before they become national concern and also before the President returns from his vacation. Ingeniously, the writers of The West Wing chose to keep the President out of most of the episode to show how the office of the President still runs with full power even when the President himself is out. This makes public image a constant concern for everyone, because even if the President has nothing to do with a situation (just like in Josh Lyman’s choice words about Christianity) he is still responsible for what actions come out of his office.
So image is the most important political issue? You need to say why it is more important than the deaths of Cubans or sleeping with a prostitute, or going on a religious talk show when we have separation of church and state. While the President is ultimately responsible for what comes out of his office, is it only his image that is in jeopardy?
ReplyDeleteIt is not so much that it is the President's most pressing issue in general, I just felt that in this particular episode of the West Wing all the problems boiled down to how Americans would perceive the presidency after such issues came to light for the public. No one would care if CNN or Fox News ran a story about how I crashed my bike, but because it was the President, people are more inclined to scrutinize his every move. Thus, every little detail of the President's public persona must be checked so that Americans can feel confident.
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