CliqueClack Presidential Nominations: Jed Bartlet for President

by Jen Creer

Wikipedia

If you’ve been reading along, you already know that we are selecting our favorite TV character nominees for President. So far, we have had nods for Rupert Giles, the Head of Richard Nixon, Optimus Prime, and Laura Roslin. I would like to add former President Josiah Edward (Jed) Bartlet to the mix. Now, please bear with me, I can already hear some of your protests, but if we are allowed to nominate Brits and severed heads, then I think we can also nominate Jed.

So, if you’ll join me after the jump, I’ll elucidate on some of Jed’s pros and cons and hopefully you’ll agree with me that he would be the strongest candidate for the job. After all, he does have plenty of experience.

Pros:

Josiah Edward Bartlett became President after serving two terms as governor of New Hampshire.
However, unlike other nominees in this election who have similar experience, Jed Bartlett holds both a Masters and PhD in Economics.
He speaks four languages. He is obviously intelligent.
He was educated in London, which gave him firsthand perspective living outside the United States.
Jed has a strong, demonstrated commitment to his family.
Jed is deeply committed to issues that protect both women and minorities, passing legislation that protects illegal immigrants from the Americas.
Jed also recognized the need for military force on occasion and used it.
He stepped down temporarily when his daughter was kidnapped, because he recognized his inability to be impartial in the situation.
He surrounds himself with a fantastic, intelligent, dedicated staff of advisors.

Cons:

He suffers from multiple sclerosis, and initially tried to cover up the fact that he has it. This is a debilitating disease that should be monitored; the fact that he tried to cover it up is worse than the fact that he has it.
He is sometimes loyal to the point of ridiculousness, supporting Leo even during Leo’s ill-advised bouts with addiction. To clarify: the loyalty only reaches the point of ridiculousness when it starts to resemble enabling….
Jed sometimes fails to understand the delicate politics of situations, like why he cannot put a map up in the White House (because the map does not recognize Israel) just because he thinks the map is cool.
He has already served two terms as President. I am not in favor of legislation that would grant any President extra terms in today’s political environment, but considering the fact that he is a fictional character, maybe we can re-write his history so he can run again.

Some people might consider the fact that Jed Bartlett smokes an occasional cigarette to be a greater negative than I do. Granted, it doesn’t do anything for his health. However, he does it so rarely that I found it extremely humanizing more than anything else. A real-life Presidential candidate has been castigated for his smoking, but I find it humanizing in that case as well.

Even though I never forgot that Jed Bartlet was fictional, when I watched West Wing, I felt comforted that he was at the helm. I would find it similarly comforting if he were running for the office again. I hope we can elect a candicate with Bartlet’s values and sensibilities since we can’t actually have Jed.