Educational Media Reviews Online

Inside the Real West Wing: A Day in the Life of the President is a production of NBC News and originally aired on the NBC television network. The title was slightly different, The Bush White House: Inside the Real West Wing, and that title is still present on the opening frame of the video.

The NBC crew spent a day in January 2002, shortly before the President made his State of the Union address, taping the activities of the President, First Lady, presidential advisers, and White House guests. Tom Brokaw, the chief NBC News anchorman at the time, is narrator and also conducts interviews. This White House workday starts before 7 am and doesn’t end until after 8 pm.

The U.S. had not entered Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein’s regime yet, so a major focus for advisers on the day of taping was trying to minimize presidential involvement in the then newly-emerging Enron corporate scandal. The head of the bankrupt company, Kenneth Lay, was a friend and supporter of the President in Texas. Presidential Press Secretary Ari Fleischer says Enron is a business sandal and not a government scandal, and is pleased that news reports later in the day focus on the shady accounting practices at the company rather than any presidential connection.

There are brief snippets of Brokaw’s interviews with Vice-President Dick Cheney and National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice, as well as a longer segment with the anchor talking to the President and First Lady. It all feels fairly superficial, however, especially in light of what has happened in Iraq in the years since this video was taped.

The content is too thin to recommend for use in colleges. Its level is more suitable for junior high and high school audiences. The inclusion of a teacher’s guide that accompanies the video would seem to confirm this.