Wisdom from a make-believe president

Often through the years I've stopped to wonder what would Bartlet do. Would he pooh-pooh global warming? Probably not, considering his respect for science. As for wrecking the budget, he's too much of an economic genius to allow massive debt pileup. Snooping on Americans doesn't seem his style either.

But what would President Josiah Bartlet from "The West Wing" do about Cindy Sheehan?

I think Bartlet would have invited her in, right from the beginning when she asked for a meeting, certainly when she began to draw a crowd. Having watched him in action for seven prime-time TV seasons, I feel like I know this president pretty well, and the guy is not afraid of people who don't agree with him. He may unnerve them with his eloquence and nitpicking encyclopedic memory, but they get his ear and respect.

We know what Martin Sheen, who plays the Democratic president in the TV show, would have done. But he doesn't write the script.

In real life Sheen is a big supporter of the mother whose vigil outside George Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, reignited the anti-war movement. Actor Sheen once described Cindy Sheehan as "a mighty blessing. People have started to speak, and their voices are being heard," he said. "A thaw is felt throughout the land."

Last summer the actor went to Camp Casey, said the rosary for Cindy Sheehan's son and told the crowd, "I think you know what I do for a living, but this is what I do to stay alive."

Some people think actors should butt out of politics. Some people think a woman shouldn't go to the State of the Union address in a T-shirt that says, "2,245 Dead. How many more?"

But sometimes they're the only ones with the courage to tell a president he's wrong.

I think a Bartlet president wouldn't have allowed the mother of a slain soldier to be handcuffed and hauled off to jail minutes before leading applause for the family of another dead GI.

It's not that the Bartlet administration always took kindly to protesters. There's an episode in the second season of "The West Wing" when communications director Toby Ziegler is dispatched to address demonstrators against the World Trade Organization. Ziegler is scornful of the noisy crowd, but at least he shows up. In that same show President Bartlet lectures on how government is obligated to listen to the voiceless.

Martin Sheen once said that a pacifist like himself would never make it into the White House. But the president he plays is not adverse to spilling blood, ordering the assassination of a Qumari leader or dropping bombs on a piece of desert believed to be a terrorist-training camp in Syria.

Jed Bartlet was gutsy, romantic and fun to have around. He could argue the Bible with homophobes and speak poetically of the night sky. Sure, he was cocky and smarter than most people in the room. But don't you want that in a world leader?

Those were two good presidential terms and lots of good memories. There was Jimmy Smits last year, playing the new Democratic presidential candidate Matt Santos. When he defended his being a liberal and said it made him proud and was a badge of honor, a blue cheer was heard across the land.

Now, it's almost over. Steely, sentimental Leo is gone and actor John Spencer is dead. The noble mission of "The West Wing" will end in May, having not sold enough soap for its advertisers. How will we cope?

I know, you can't rely on a make-believe TV show about Washington to be an antidote for what's really happening in the White House. But, that's what it was. God bless reruns.