Let Bartlet Be Bartlet

John Amos
Timothy Busfield
Janel Moloney
Paul Provenza
Renee Estevez
Richard Penn
Aaron Lustig
James DuMont
David Brisbin
Andy Buckley

"Let Bartlet Be Bartlet" is the 19th episode of The West Wing and first appeared on television in April 2000. In the episode, a White House insider writes a memo that attacks the fictional President of the United States for his ineffectiveness to make bold decisions due to his timid nature. A lesson contained in the episode and its title – let the politician be himself/politicians must remain true to themselves – captured the series' effort to show how politics and government could work in Washington D.C. The series creators subsequently used the title phrase, "Let Bartlet be Bartlet," as a recurring rallying cry theme of the series. In addition, political commentators took the same lesson from the episode and have applied it since 2001 to politicians in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and other countries.

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.