The West Wing Revisited: President Dad finally sees the light
Welcome back to Kheiro’s West Wing recaps, where at long last everyone gets their shit together
Oh my sweet babies, we are finally there! It’s been 19 long episodes but the show is finally starting! Tonight on The West Wing (S1E19, “Let Bartlet Be Bartlet”), the White House decides to actively pursue the agenda on which it campaigned. And it only took them 1.5 years to do it.
Some would argue that 19 episodes is far too long a simmer for a television show to get to its archetypal self, and to those haters I say: you are right. We endured a lot of mess. If the implosion of the monoculture did one good thing, it’s that shows cannot sit on their asses any more. The Good Place has burned through eight seasons’ worth of plot in just two. April and Andy got married on Parks & Recreation almost immediately after becoming an official couple. Veronica Mars solved its two main mysteries in the first season. And those are just shows featuring Kristen Bell in some capacity. This should have been the fifth episode of the show. Four eps to establish characters and a fifth to light a fire under their asses. Wanna know what the actual fifth episode of The West Wing was? Big Block of Cheese Day. A classic recurring bit in West Wing lore, but it would have made a better episode 19 than episode 5. Watching Sam talk down to space kooks (then honor the agenda of said space kooks) is a lot more cute if we already like Sam. If Sam has done anything to endear himself to us. But by episode 5, all Sam had done was explain what POTUS stood for and talk down to sex workers.
But this episode doesn’t start with momentum and fire; it starts with literal storm clouds.
Sam: It’s not gonna rain till later today.
Toby: If it rains, please remember to change the opening line.
Sam: It’s not gonna rain till one, maybe two o’clock.
Toby: Yeah, but if you’re wrong, you gotta change the opening line!
Sam: I’m not getting this from morning drive-time radio, Toby. I’m getting this from First Lieutenant Emily Lowenbrau of the U.S. Coast Guard, who would not let me down because she has a very really…a very comforting voice.
Toby: Okay, here’s my thing. If you’re wrong, if the Coast Guard is wrong, the remarks open with, “As I look out over this magnificent vista.” If the event gets moved indoors, he will no longer be looking out over a vista of any kind.
Sam: Do you honestly think he can’t change that on his feet? Do you honestly think the President doesn’t know where he is when he’s giving a speech?
Toby: This isn’t a major policy address, Sam. This is five minutes in front of the United Organization of Trout Fishermen. I’m saying if it gets moved inside.
Sam: I got this from the U.S. Coast Guard. I got this from the National Weather Service. They use satellites. They use technology.
[lightning flashes, thunder claps]
Toby: This is the same satellite technology we use to detect intercontinental ballistic missiles, right?
And, of course, Sam doesn’t change the remarks and Bartlet says, “As I look out over this magnificent vista.” He was so concerned about not losing an argument that he let the president look like a goofus. And that’s the whole problem with the Bartlet Administration. They’ve been playing defense, and that doesn’t work for a president. Later in the episode, Leo finds out that the Bartlet Admin’s favorability has dropped 5 points in a week, even though they didn’t do anything that week. I would argue (and Toby would agree) that they dropped 5 points because they didn’t do anything. Say what you will about that guy who lives in the White House currently, but he has impacted many people’s lives. Like 100 percent for the worse, but things are happening.
The other, more metaphorical storm clouds, involve Mandy Onlyinthefirstseason. They in fact explain why she’s Onlyinthefirstseason. For the hot minute that Mandy worked in the private sector, she wrote a memo outlining the faults of the Bartlet Administration. Why they suck, who sucks the most, what situations they suck at, etc. etc. Now Mandy’s been hacked, and the press has this memo. Ruh-roh.
It wouldn’t be The West Wing without some policy macguffins. Today we have gays in the military and campaign finance reform. While both important issues — as we are seeing with gun control right now, monied interest groups are basically holding the country hostage — as far as storytelling goes, they’re placeholders. Josh meets with people in charge of the Federal Election Commission and Sam meets with military officials to drive home the fact that Sam and Josh are useless and that the Bartlet Administration are not the shitkickers they think themselves to be.
Military Guy (MG): Sam, don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t pursue is the law. It’s federal law, and it takes an act of Congress to change it. If the President were serious about changing it, he’d be serious about changing it. He would not send you in here with me. He would not send you in here with two relatively junior D.O.D. staffers. He’d call his staff together, he’d say, “I want a resolution in the House. I want 50 high-profile co-sponsors. I want a deal, and I want it now.” Has the President done that?
Sam: The President’s veracity on this-
MG: Has the President done that, Sam?
Sam: No.
MG: Okay then. Is this meeting anything more than a waste of time?
Sam: No.
MG: Okay then.
These policy macguffins are also incredibly early 2000’s. DADT ended in 2011. Today gays and lesbians can proudly serve (though still face incredible amounts of harassment). Now the issue is trans service members, and whether their medical care is a burden on the military industrial complex. And this episode is pre-Citizens United, which rendered the FEC (the body which Bartlet wants to shake up) laughably weak. Donna and Leo talk about how Bartlet’s appointments to the FEC will “change the nature of democracy,” which is woefully naive. First of all, campaign finance reform’s intended goal is to bring American democracy closer to its “natural” state. Secondly, if you want to talk about fundamental changes to the nature of democracy, let’s talk about Super PACs.
Everyone is pretty bummed out at the White House. Mandy’s memo is circulating throughout the senior staff and press pool (I don’t like how many alliterative titles exist in the White House). Josh and Sam got their butts whipped by bureaucrats, and the email network is down. Because Margaret forwarded an email about muffins to everyone at the White House, and then someone hit reply all?
It takes someone finally listening to one of their support staff for things to change. At the FEC meeting, the Fat Cat Beltway Insider Stereotypes tell Josh that if he appoints reformists to the FEC, they’ll bring every controversial bill to vote — starting with English as the national language. Donna prepares a brief for Josh about English as the national language, and he is very snippy when he receives it. Donna rightfully goes off, mid walk-and-talk.
Josh: I didn’t ask for a damn social studies paper! I-I-
Donna: [stops walking] Don’t snap at me Josh.
Josh: Donna?
Donna: Look at the memo. I gave you what you asked for. Don’t snap at me. What’s wrong with everyone today? It’s been all day. Is it Mandy’s memo?
Josh: No.
Donna: Why is everyone walking around like they know they already lost?
We rarely get to see Donna’s moments of competency. Sorkin is more interested in painting her as flighty and naive, someone to explain things to. So having Donna point out the crux of the problem is a much-needed moment, explaining why she still has a job after that time she didn’t know the Indonesian representative spoke English.
The other person who gets a rare moment of competency: Danny! Or rather, Danny shows more journalistic integrity than he has in the past. It turns out Mandy’s memo came into Danny’s possession (hopefully after it was hacked from her harddrive). He’s going to run the story even though his crush doesn’t like it.
“You knew she was working for Russell, and you knew why. You knew she had to have written the memo. Why wasn’t it the first thing you asked for when you hired her? ‘Mandy, tell us everything you think we’re doing wrong.’ Because you knew what she was gonna say. You knew she was right. You knew there was nothing you could do about it,” he tells CJ. “I know you’re frustrated. But it ain’t nothing compared to the frustration of the people who voted for you.”
This is impeccable, except for use of the word “ain’t.” You are not in Newsies, Danny.
The main thrust of Mandy’s memo is that Leo pulls Bartlet away from his radical inclinations and towards the safe middle. That is what it often looks like. When Josh and Sam come back from their asskickings, Leo tells them not to fight back. When Toby and Sam wanted Bartlet to pardon that guy on death row, Leo stopped them. But that’s not how Leo sees it.
Leo: You dangle your feet, and I’m the hall monitor around here. It’s my job to make sure nobody runs too fast or goes off too far. I tell Josh to go to the Hill on campaign finance, he knows nothing’s gonna come out of it.
Bartlet: That’s crap.
Leo: Sam can’t get real on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell because you’re not gonna be there, and every
guy sitting across the room from him knows that.
Bartlet: Leo, if I ever told you to get aggressive about campaign finance or gays in the military,
you would tell me, “Don’t run too fast or go to far.”
Leo: If you ever told me to get aggressive about anything, I’d say I serve at the pleasure of
the President. But we’ll never know, sir, because I don’t think you’re ever gonna say it.
More Chiefs of Staff need to basically call their Presidents out for being pussies. At least if it gets things done, as Leo’s come-to-Jesus-speech definitely does. It puts things into perspective for Jed. He doesn’t want to be a one-term president, but playing the middle of the road simply isn’t going to get him re-elected. If he’s damned either way, might as well go balls to the wall.
Josiah Bartlet really is a mirror universe version of Trump: elected without winning the popular vote. Doubts surrounding his mental and physical health. Allegedly has multiple daughters but only talks to one of them.
Jed is finally coming around to what Trump seems to have always known: if you are fucked for re-election, you might as well get yours now. Only Jed Bartlet’s version of getting his is to “raise the level of public debate in this country.” That definitely hasn’t happened in the real world.
What’s Next: Let’s see what our gang can do when they actually try!
For more of Kheiro’s West Wing recaps visit: kheiromag.com/westwing, and be sure to sign up to receive Kheiro straight to your inbox.
