The West Wing - Exploration of Real World Issues

Exploration of Real World Issues

The West Wing often features extensive discussion of current or recent political issues. After the real-world election of Republican President George W. Bush in 2000, many wondered whether the liberal show could retain its relevance and topicality. However, by exploring many of the same issues facing the Bush administration from a Democratic point of view, the show continued to appeal to a broad audience of both Democrats and Republicans.

In its second season episode "The Midterms", President Bartlet admonishes fictional radio host Dr. Jenna Jacobs for her views regarding homosexuality at a private gathering at the White House. Dr. Jacobs is a caricature of radio personality Dr. Laura Schlessinger, who strongly disapproves of homosexuality. Many of the president's Biblical references in his comments to Dr. Jacobs appear to have come from an open letter to Dr. Schlessinger, circulated online in early May 2000.

The Bartlet administration experiences a scandal during the second and third seasons that has been compared to the Monica Lewinsky affair. President Bartlet was diagnosed with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS) in 1992. The scandal centers around President Bartlet's nondisclosure of his illness to the electorate during the election. He is investigated by an opposition Congress for defrauding the public and eventually accepts Congressional censure. Multiple sclerosis advocacy groups have praised the show for its accurate portrayal of the symptoms of MS and stressing that it is not fatal. The National MS Society commented:

For the first time on national television or even in film, the public encountered a lead character with both an MS diagnosis and the hope for a continued productive life. Because West Wing is a fictional drama and not a medical documentary, writers could have greatly distorted MS facts to further their story line . — Gail Kerr, National MS Society

Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the start of the third season was postponed for a week, as were most American television premieres that year. A script for a special episode was quickly written and began filming on September 21. The episode "Isaac and Ishmael" aired on October 3 and addresses the sobering reality of terrorism in America and the wider world, albeit with no specific reference to September 11. While "Isaac and Ishmael" received mixed critical reviews, it illustrated the show's flexibility in addressing current events. The cast of the show state during the opening of the episode that it is not part of The West Wing continuity.

While the September 11 attacks are not referenced in The West Wing continuity, the country does enter into a variation of the War on Terrorism. The war begins during the show's third season, when a plot to blow up the Golden Gate Bridge was uncovered; in response, the President orders the assassination of terrorist leader Abdul ibn Shareef. This storyline draws similarities to the real-world U.S. invasion of Afghanistan as well as U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia, as it brings the Middle East to the forefront of U.S. foreign relations and elevated terrorism as a serious threat in The West Wing universe. In Seasons 3, 4 and 5, the fictional Bahji terror group seems to act as a fictional stand-in for the real world Al Qaeda, but in Seasons 6 and 7, characters mention Al Qaeda itself as a threat, despite no clearly stated history of Al Qaeda terror attacks in The West Wing continuity (although Nancy McNally does refer to Osama Bin Laden as a potential threat at the beginning of Season 2.)

In the middle of the fourth season, Bartlet's White House is confronted with the genocide in the fictional African country of Equatorial Kundu which was compared to the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. The result was new foreign policy doctrine for Bartlet Administration and military intervention to stop the violence, which came after much hesitation and reluctance to call the conflict a genocide. In reality, the Clinton Administration did not intervene in Rwanda, making series events look like a moral imperative.

In the sixth and seventh seasons, The West Wing explores a leak of top-secret information by a senior staffer at the White House. This leak has been compared to the events surrounding the Valerie Plame affair. In the storyline, the International Space Station is damaged and can no longer produce oxygen for the astronauts to breathe. With no other methods of rescue available, the President is reminded of the existence of a top-secret military space shuttle. Following the President's inaction, the shuttle story is leaked to a White House reporter, Greg Brock (analogous to Judith Miller), who prints the story in The New York Times. Brock will not reveal his source and goes to jail for failing to do so, as did Miller. In order to stop the investigation, in which authorities suspect Chief of Staff C.J. Cregg, Toby Ziegler admits to leaking the information, and the President is forced to dismiss him. In comparison, the Plame affair resulted in the arrest and conviction of "Scooter" Libby, the vice president's chief of staff. However, Libby was convicted of perjury in testimony to a grand jury. No one was convicted for "blowing the cover" of Plame. (Richard Armitage, an official in the Bush State Department, acknowledged leaking information about Plame to reporters but was never charged with a crime.) Libby's two and a half year prison sentence was later commuted by President Bush, though the other facet of his sentence ($250,000 fine) stood and was duly paid. In the series finale, President Bartlet, as his last official act, pardons Ziegler.

Other issues explored in The West Wing include:

• North Korean and Iranian nuclear ambitions
• Strained relations and a state of brinkmanship between India and Pakistan
• Legislation of the Central American Free Trade Agreement
• The formation of the Minuteman Project
• Peacemaking and terrorism in Israel, West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
• The genocide in Darfur, Sudan
• AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa
• The Northern Ireland peace process
• War on Drugs and conflict in Colombia
• Controversy over Intelligent design in schools
• Brinksmanship and potential conflict between the People's Republic of China and Republic of China over Taiwan's political status
• A federal government shutdown
• The 1996 Defense of Marriage Act
• Anthrax attacks against the Bartlet Administration
• Federal funding for the arts
• Peak oil and the consequences of a decline in global oil production