Let Bartlet Be Bartlet

Infobox Television episode
Title = Let Bartlet Be Bartlet
Series = The West Wing


Caption =
Season = 1
Episode = 19
Airdate = April 262000
Production = 225918
Writer = Aaron Sorkin (teleplay)
Peter Parnell and Patrick Caddell (story)
Director = Laura Innes
Guests = John Amos
Timothy Busfield
Janel Moloney
Paul Provenza
Renee Estevez
Richard Penn
Aaron Lustig
James DuMont
Ted Marcoux
David Brisbin
Andy Buckley
Episode list = List of "The West Wing" episodes
Season list = Infobox The West Wing season 1 episode list
Prev =
Next ="Let Bartlet Be Bartlet" is the 19th episode of "The West Wing".

Plot

When a damaging memo which is critical of the President is discovered, the White House press cover it with zest, much to CJ's dismay. Later it is revealed that Mandy wrote it when she was working for Lloyd Russell. Sam, Toby and Josh are involved in a series of meetings which go nowhere and result in nothing; Sam knows no progress is possible on getting a policy in place so that gays and lesbians can openly serve in the military; Josh confronts a group of Republican Congressional staffers who threaten him with poison-pill legislation if he even thinks about pushing for campaign finance reformers on two newly opened Federal Election Commission seats; and Toby screams to Leo that they've had only one victory in office and that was putting Judge Mendoza on the Supreme Court. The staffers and the President feel listless and ineffectual in their jobs, and worry that they will be unable to achieve anything meaningful due to the constraints of the political system.

The staff begin to realize that the Bartlet administration has been ineffective because it has been too timid to make bold decisions, focusing instead on the exigencies of politics. Finally, Leo confronts President Bartlet with his own timidity, challenging him to be himself and to take the staff "off the leash." - in other words, he seeks to "Let Bartlet be Bartlet". The President and his staff resolve to act boldly and "raise the level of political debate" in America.

Production

In an interview with TV Guide Online, Martin Sheen admitted to not knowing who the director of this episode, Laura Innes, was but that evening when his wife looked at the callsheets she commented that Laura was the best thing on ER, so he'd better behave.Fact|date=July 2007

External links

* [http://epguides.com/WestWing/ The West Wing Episode Guide]