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This week's episode of the West Wing was dominated by the President's admission to Toby that he suffers from relapsing, remitting M.S. Toby is shocked and angered by the revelation, for he truly believes that there could be a huge scandal on their hands if anyone were to learn that the President and Leo, his Chief of Staff, have been covering up the President's condition. Toby even cites resignation or impeachment as worst case scenarios.

Why a scandal? Because the President mislead voters about his health, and because he compromised the Presidency whenever he allowed non-elected officials to make decisions when couldn't act because of his affliction. Viewers may recall an earlier episode in which the President collapsed in the Oval Office. The collapse resulted from the M.S. and happened during a national security crisis. In the President's absence, Leo took control in the Situation Room and made decisions regarding the crisis. Readers of this review will recall that the author of this review criticized the portrayal of Leo's role in that episode as being unrealistic, because, in real life, only elected officials would be making such decisions.

To reiterate, Leo and the other staff members portrayed on the West Wing are merely support to the President. None of them have an official capacity outside of their duties of serving the President. In other words, they cannot act or speak on behalf of the United States government. Only elected officials and officials appointed by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate can officially represent the United States. Therefore, as Toby pointed out, the President may have committed a Constitutional offense by allowing non-elected officials to act on behalf of the United States, so that he could cover-up his disease.

Another interesting aspect of White House politics is revealed during Toby's angry tirade at the President. Toby alleges that the President was not being responsible to the Democratic Party. What Toby was saying is that the Presidency is not only about the power and prestige of the individual President, but also about the philosophies embodied in the political party of the President- philosophies that control the government through the President's Administration. In other words, the President was not just being irresponsible to himself, but to every member of his party that elected him to advance their philosophies through the administration of government. This reviewer was reminded of the sex scandal in the Clinton White House for which the President was impeached by the House of Representatives. In that scandal, Mrs. Clinton never backed away from her allegiance and responsibility to the Democratic Party. Instead, the First Lady sacrificed her personal dignity by standing with her unfaithful husband so that the Democratic Party would not lose its power in government. It can fairly be said that Mrs. Clinton truly understands the greater responsibility to the political parties that elect officials to run the government.

While the drama between the President, Leo, and Toby unfolded in scenes taking place in the Oval Office, the remainder of the staff (except an absent C.J.) are busy preparing jokes for the President's speech to the Correspondence Dinner. The Correspondents's Dinner is an event for journalists that cover the White House and takes place in Washington every year in two parts. There is a dinner for the television journalists and a dinner for print journalists. At both dinners, the President makes fun of himself and the various issues or problems that exist with his Administration. Usually, professional comedians and professional speechwriters are hired to write the jokes for the speech. In the TV show, however, the staff appears to be handling the jokes on their own, but without much success. This reviewer predicts that viewers will see a guest star comedian, on the follow-up episode to this week's show, who will assist the staff with some "funnies" for the speech.

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Finally, during the Oval Office scenes in this week's show, viewers may have noticed that the President offers Toby a drink from a small bar located in the Oval Office. The use of alcohol at the White House always seem to raise eyebrows, if not issues. As readers know, the current President, George W. Bush, does not drink. He claims to have given up drinking several years ago. As a result, there probably is not a bar in the current Oval Office. It's also known that in the first Bush White House, a personal aide to the President was fired for having a drink during an official function. The story goes that Mrs. Bush viewed the aide drinking while he was on duty to assist the President, and that she was angered because she felt that people assisting her husband should not be under the influence of alcohol. As a result, staff in the first Bush White House were very careful not to drink alcohol in front of the first family. In another alcohol- related story at the White House, there used to be an alcohol cabinet in the Press Room that was available to reporters. The White House supplied the alcohol believing that a happy, drunk press corps would be inclined to write favorable stories about the President.

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