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"Abu el Banat" is episode 97 of The West Wing.

Plot

The entire first family of US President Josiah Bartlet gathers for the White House Christmas tree-lighting ceremony. Though Ellie is late, as usual, Zoey, Elizabeth, her husband Doug Westin and their two children, Annie and Gus will be there. Christian aid workers are arrested in Sudan for proselytizing and the government in Khartoum's actions generate negative press attention in the US. Leo McGarry, the White House Chief of Staff, first bashes the Sudanese government for falsely harassing Christians, then finds out that two of the twelve missionaries possessed multiple Bibles and religious videos and aimed to convert others. Leo arranges a payoff to local officials to get them safely out of the country.

Meanwhile, the DEA has suspended the license of a doctor who assisted with the suicide of a terminally ill patient in Oregon (where euthanasia is legal). The Administration seeks the help of the Attorney General (Dylan Baker), but he supports the DEA's recent action. Bartlet's son-in-law, Doug, has decided to run for US Congress in New Hampshire without consulting the DNC, the DCCC or the county chair. He is a lightweight and White House cannot back him. When Doug lists the early campaign networking he's done, the President realizes that his daughter Elizabeth (Doug's wife) has done a lot of leg work. She has more political talent than Doug, but she has decided to put her husband's career, and her children above any political aspirations of her own.

On the DEA matter, Bartlet notices that Attorney General Fisk is cracking down on doctors in his home state of Mississippi, and warns him he'll be fired if he keeps it up. White House Communications Director Toby Ziegler raises the question of assisted suicide to the President which is a delicate matter because Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is one of the most common conditions that leads to euthanasia. (See The West Wing for more on Bartlet's MS cover-up scandal). Toby also pushes Will Bailey, Chief of Staff to the Vice President to get the new Vice President (VP) Bob Russell to speak out about assisted suicide, and punishes Will with an eviction from his West Wing office when the VP declines. C.J. Cregg, White House Press Secretary, has personal end-of-life concerns regarding her own father whose early-onset Alzheimer's is deteriorating. The President later broaches the issue of his MS and euthanasia with the First Lady Abbey Bartlet, and comes down against any medical intervention, saying "It'll get ugly and that's that." He then asks the First Lady if she'll be there with him as it happens, a clear reference to their only recently semi-ended estrangement. There is a pause. Realizing she's best-suited to manage his end-of-life decisions, Abbey then nods and says "Yeah."

The title refers to a visit the President paid to Egypt with his family. The guide constantly introduced him as "Abu El Banat" to everyone they met. He asked the guide "What does that mean" The guide told him "Father of daughters." The guide then paid for the future President's tea out of sympathy for his son-free family life.

External links

• The West Wing Episode Guide

• The West Wing episodes
• The West Wing stubs
• Christmas television episodes