Slow News Day - TWW S5E12

 

Original airdate: February 4, 2004

Written by: Eli Attie (10) 
Directed by: Julie Hébert (1)

Synopsis

• Toby's secret effort to build a bipartisan solution to Social Security blows up in his face. Rena gets a secret project after she is shunned by the other aides. CJ is enamored with an Argentinian cabbage expert.

"Maybe we pay a little more attention to what's being rendered ... and the rendering takes care of itself." 

Something's bugging Toby.

His mind keeps drifting back to the State of the Union speech, and one Republican Senator who stood up to applaud President Bartlet's call to raise the minimum wage. He goes to his office, digs through old commission reports on Social Security, discovers that one particular Senator has almost nothing in his campaign fund - could a Senator not running for re-election be willing to go against party orthodoxy and help with a Hail Mary effort to save Social Security?

And we are off on what turns out to be a very long day in the West Wing, even if it is one with a purported lack of events making it a "slow news day." This episode is knotty, complicated, overly stuffed with twists and turns, and maybe a bit too much wrapped up with itself - and once again we get a bold move forward with legislation spurred by the White House that they end up not being able to take credit for (we saw this already in Five Votes Down). Not to mention a staff resignation that ends up being trumped by a wild last-minute move that falls apart again before being saved by another bold move ... it's just a little too much. And it's all in one day!

Let's deal with CJ first. The fact it's a slow news day is driving her nuts, because she's certain a press corps bored without nuggets of administration action will dig around and find something she'd rather they not report on. Carol comes up with a meeting concerning the Argentinian economic attaché and cabbage imports, which CJ jumps on because there's literally nothing else happening. When the attaché actually arrives at CJ's office, she might be thinking about something else to jump on ...

She's so cute when she's flustered! "Do you like cabbage?" Carrio asks, to which she responds with a giggle, "Not so much, really. On occasion, I see the appeal." Carrio is a bit enamored with her, too, sending her a present of a head of cabbage that even makes Toby grin:

In a fun little moment of the episode, after Toby asks CJ to try to divert the press (and the Wall Street Journal reporter) from his secret maneuvering with Senators, it turns out the press corps doesn't care about that - they want to discuss changes to adoption restrictions, which leads to a rumor that the Bartlets are considering adoption, which leads to CJ calling in a reporter and leading him to believe CJ wants him as a "donor" for her to have a child ... which, of course, is all just so CJ can prove this entire angle is ridiculous and the press needs to find some actual news to report on.

"Get out!"

I've said it before - Allison Janney, national treasure.

But the real focus of the episode is the secret plan Toby has come up with. He thinks if he can get a Republican Senator (who he believes isn't running for re-election) to budge on higher taxes or his commitment to private accounts, and a Democratic Senator to give ground on benefits, he might be able to broker a plan to keep Social Security solvent in the future. President Bartlet is skeptical, but Toby's appeal to the historic mark this could leave on the legacy of his administration helps him to finally agree to let Toby reach out - but no one else can know.

That goes awry right from the start, as Toby's meeting with Senator Gaines that morning is seen by press sources, and Gaines (upset once Josh and Will cook up a plan to attack his small campaign fund) lets his staff leak the word that the discussion was about Social Security. Once news of Toby's meeting with Democratic Senator Brainerd also reaches the same Wall Street Journal reporter who had the original leak, the entire framework of any possible deal looks to be crashing down.

Senator Brainerd, first willing to consider a plan, tells Toby she's out. There's no give on her side. Senator Gaines sees Josh's antics as just more double-cross from the Bartlet White House, and he can't trust Toby. Polk, the reporter, says he's running the story and there's nothing anyone can do about it. President Bartlet is furious, telling Toby to find a way to fix it and put any public declaration of the White House starting these discussions back in the box.

Toby can't see a way through, so he writes up his resignation from the administration. President Bartlet and Leo can't see any way that they can refuse to accept it. Josh comes to Toby to ask why he was kept in the dark, that the very idea of either party giving on the issue of Social Security is impossible, until:

Josh: "I could have told you Gaines wasn't going to move."

Toby: "He did. He said he'd move on private accounts."

Josh (surprised): "You got the chairman of the Social Security subcommittee to move on private accounts? That's like ... inhaling a baby grand." 

Toby: "Huh. Yeah. Well, he's out now."

Josh has an idea.

Josh: "Turner."

He's got another Democratic Senator, one who might be willing to get a deal through with the Democrats if Gaines can continue to give ground on the Republican side. That meeting is going great, both parties willing to compromise, to make a deal, until the issue of credit threatens to blow the whole thing up:

Gaines (to Toby): "A lot of Republicans would like to end the demagoguery on this issue, they'll be grateful you approached me with a deal."

Turner: "Actually, to sell this to Democrats I have to say you approached me first."

Gaines: "No, that's a deal breaker for me. If it looks like a Democratic setup -"

Turner: "I can't look like a fig leaf for some risky scheme to shred Social Security."

Well, there is one final play the White House can make to save the deal, and if they could have just remembered the events of Five Votes Down and letting Vice President Hoynes take the credit for the gun control bill, they could have gotten here faster. They agree to let Gaines and Turner say they approached each other, that the White House wasn't involved at all, and this landmark move to save a critical part of the government's promise to its citizens will not be a part of President Bartlet's legacy after all.

(Remember, Polk and the Wall Street Journal still has the story of Toby meeting with Gaines and Brainerd, still has the confirmation with multiple sources that the meetings were about Social Security ... writer Eli Attie tries to wallpaper that over with CJ's story that "they asked us to be a part of this, and we said no." I'm not so sure that would cover all the information Polk already had in his story, but whatever.)

There's some subplottery about Will trying to make the VP look more presidential, and Rena getting mistreated by the other aides in the Communications bullpen, and Donna being sent by Josh to spy on Rena and Toby, but nothing of a lot of substance (with the exception of Josh and Will's shenanigans with Senator Gaines unknowingly be part of what causes him to leak the story of meeting with Toby - and Rena's line to Donna "sure, if you ever want for me to teach you how to put on makeup, I'll be happy to" being pretty funny). It's a dense, packed, sort of angry episode, with a whole lot of stuff all crammed into one single, solitary day in the life of the White House. Social Security, also, is a very serious topic in real life, and while that gives this episode a lot of high stakes, at the same time we know it's fiction and in the end won't have a real impact on the actual lives of the viewers.

It has its moments, but ... I think it's trying too hard.

Tales Of Interest!

- Let's talk Social Security for a bit. The issue of Social Security and its long-term solvency have been a real problem for the United States government for quite some time. It's no mistake we see Toby carrying binders of years' worth of government commission studies on the problem, and his description of some of the issues facing the program are accurate - the decreasing numbers of current workers supporting each recipient of Social Security, the longer lifespans of Americans meaning longer periods of benefits being paid out, not to mention the fact that the government has used Social Security trust funds to count against the federal deficit, instead of walling those funds off into their own budget line - remember Al Gore's "lock box" idea from his 2000 campaign, which was actually about Medicare and not Social Security but was the same notion of separating these trust funds from other government spending?

Toby is also right when he says we know how to fix the problem - some combination of increasing revenue to the system and reducing the benefits paid out are the only pathways. The first major moves  to address the problems of Social Security running out of money happened in the 1970s, while significant changes happened in the early 1980s, including higher tax rates, delays in cost-of-living adjustments, and making some benefits taxable for high-income recipients. These changes were hailed as ensuring the survival of Social Security well into the 21st century. Even so, a 2009 study showed the trust fund could completely run out of assets as early as 2029.

Privatization of Social Security is a strongly held conservative view, as represented here by Senator Gaines. The idea is to give Americans the right to invest their Social Security funds in the market however they see fit, instead of relying on the government's investment strategy/interest accumulation. This seems okay in theory, but what will happen at the first market downturn when Grandma is seen losing her home because her Social Security investments went bad? To me (not an economist, mind you), one of the simplest and most effective ways to solve the problem of paying future Social Security benefits is just to increase or eliminate the cap on earnings subject to Social Security tax. As of 2022, any earnings over $147,000 are not taxed by Social Security - there's nothing withheld for earnings above that limit. Getting rid of that cap entirely would vastly increase the amount of money going into the Social Security trust fund, and while it might not solve the crisis forever and for all time, it would go a long way towards improving the situation for many years to come. Senator Turner even mentions a this type of change in his meeting with Gaines near the end of the episode, a conversation that shows some serious compromise from both parties (and something that likely never would happen in current politics):

Gaines: "So, you're saying that you'll ask the Democrats to trim benefits over the next 20 years, raise the retirement age over the next 60 years, and give up on this issue forever."

Turner: "If I can tell them that you'll settle for small, optional private accounts on top of Social Security, and raise the income level on Social Security taxes."

  

- Toby must live very close to the White House: the onscreen time stamps show him lying in bed at 2:47 am, and he's coming into his office 19 minutes later at 3:06 (that was some fast showering and dressing!). Not a lot of DC traffic at 3 in the morning, of course.

- In some ways it's yet another dark, dark, darkly-shot episode, which we've seen a lot of in Season 5. While it's certainly a choice to help with the notion of an early-morning pre-dawn meeting, the scene with Toby and the President meeting in his study is dark.

- We've got to have a list of the self-deprecating things Will tells Josh Vice President Russell says about himself:

"Bob Russell is so dull his Secret Service codename is Bob Russell."

"Bob Russell is an inspiration to the millions of Americans who suffer from Dutch Elm disease."

"Fun? From a guy who needs a strobe light to look like he's moving?"  

- Gail's fishbowl has a pile of round green decorative globes, which represent all the Argentinian cabbages on CJ's mind.

- Why'd They Come Up With Slow News Day?

CJ remarks several times it's a "slow news day," meaning nothing much is happening on the political front and the press corps will jump on any rumor or crumb of a story because they have nothing else to focus on.

Quotes    

Toby: "Let's talk about reality. More college kids think they'll see UFOs than Social Security checks."

President: "But they don't tell you how many believe in UFOs. That's the number we ought to be worried about." 

-----

President (to Toby): "You can't save Social Security without cutting benefits or raising taxes, and this is the largest meeting in Washington where anyone's ever admitted it."

----- 

Josh: "Maybe no news is good news."

CJ: "No news is very, very bad news. If we're not running offense, we're running defense. And if we're playing defense, then ... there's some clever sports analogy that explains what happens then." 

-----

Rena: "Can I ask you a question?"

Toby: "What?"

Rena: "Well, there's something I don't understand about Social Security."

Toby: "Then you could be a member of Congress."

-----

Toby: "So we exploit the hard stuff 'til it can't be solved? That's what we want to be remembered for?"

Josh: "We do what's possible, we exploit what's not. That's how we win elections."

Toby: "Well, I came up on losing campaigns. And every time I lost, at least I knew what I went down for."

 

Story threads, callbacks, and familiar faces (Hey, it's that guy!)

• The "previously on" scene just before the opening titles isn't a compilation of scenes from earlier episodes, it's just a part of one single scene from Han, where Toby and Leo are discussing Toby taking on more of the policy-setting responsibility.

• Senator Gaines is played by recognizable character actor Josef Sommer (Dirty Harry, Witness, the President in X-Men: The Last Stand).

• Senator Brainerd is played by Kate Burton (Richard Burton's daughter, seen in Big Trouble In Little China, Inventing Anna, Law & Order, Rescue Me). She is also part of the Shonda Rimes West Wing-to-Scandal pipeline, appearing in 42 episodes of Scandal.

• Carlos Carrio, the Argentine economic attaché whose dashing good looks flusters CJ, is played by the Portuguese actor Joaquim de Almeida (Fast Five, Clear And Present Danger, 24).

• Senator Turner, the Democrat who ends up coming to the rescue of Toby's plan, is played by Michael Nouri (Flashdance, The Terminal, Damages, lots of daytime drama work). It's a pretty recognizable face for such a small role in the episode.

• Toby's Spaldeen makes a appearance, the pink rubber ball he bounces around when he's thinking about things (first seen in Ellie, most famously in 17 People).

• CJ tells Toby "It's a glacially slow news day, Toby. I've had three calls about staff financial disclosure forms ... " Financial disclosure reports, their use as distraction for the press, and their unexpected impacts on Josh and Toby were a part of Five Votes Down.

• Here's reporter Chris seen momentarily in the press room.

• Josh's comment to Leo when he's wondering if he's being kept out of the loop with whatever Toby is working on ("Don't leave me hanging out there again") is a direct reference to Josh being "benched" after his pressure caused Senator Carrick to switch parties in Constituency Of One, a benching finally lifted with the help of the First Lady in Shutdown.

• Toby's line to Josh about "I came up on losing campaigns" is a callback to In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen Part I, where Toby is drinking at the bar having a discussion with a woman before he expects to be fired by Bartlet:

Woman: "How many elections have you won?"

Toby: "Altogether?"

(The woman nods)

Toby: "Including city council, two congressional elections, a Senate race, a gubernatorial campaign, and a national campaign? ... None."  

• While we don't see him this time, I'm almost certain the TV reporter's voice we hear at the end while Toby lights up a cigar and watches the news is that of Ivan Allen. Allen has appeared in numerous movies and TV shows, almost always as a TV news anchor, and he's shown up in 13 previous episodes of The West Wing (he has a credit for this episode, which confirms that it is his voice we hear).

DC location shots   

• Quite a few, and it's apparent they got them all filmed on the same chilly day in DC. Toby meets with Senator Gaines at the Grant Memorial, a favorite West Wing location, just west of the Capitol at the end of the National Mall.

• Toby later meets with Senator Brainerd walking along the National Mall. This shot has the National Gallery of Art in the background.

The reverse angle shows the Air and Space Museum behind the Senator.

• The later meeting with Toby and Gaines is supposedly outside the Russell Senate Office Building, but that's not where they filmed it (despite the sign conspicuously posted outside the building). In reality the Russell building is immediately to the northeast of the Capitol, just across Constitution Avenue, but this was shot about four blocks further north, at the Smithsonian Postal Museum, on the corner of Massachusetts Avenue NW and North Capitol Street.

Here's the Street View shot of the building today.

•  The shot down the street with the Capitol Dome in the distance was filmed as they crossed North Capitol Street to the west.

The brown brick building on the corner is now the Phoenix Park Hotel, with The Dubliner restaurant (which explains the Irish flags).

• There's an establishing shot of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which is just west of the White House and where the offices of the Vice President are located (along with Will's office). It's interesting that Will and Josh joke about how far away Will is now, with all the "easy parking," when the building is literally on the same block as the White House. Also, we get a clue about when they filmed location shots for this episode, as there are holiday wreaths visible on the gates.

They Do Exist! It's The Real Person, or Thing    

• We get shots of logos for both C-SPAN and MSNBC (also Bloomberg television).

• Krazy Glue gets a mention, which is a trademarked product name.

• Toby uses the line "We'll always have Paris," which is a quote from the movie Casablanca. Later he tells Josh "Let thy discontents be thy secrets," which was written in 1741 by Ben Franklin in Poor Richard's Almanack.

• Senator Grimes scoffs at Toby's plan with references to car wax and hydropower projects (and a former President in the bargain), saying "And we'll Simonize the Hoover Dam?"

• A reporter from The Wall Street Journal plays a prominent role in this episode.

• An upset Rena is seen with a can of Pringles after feeling shut out by the others in the Communications bullpen.

• Will has The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents on his desk (this appears to be the version written by William D. Gregorio, first published in 1997), as well as something from the "For Dummies" series. I guess he's really trying to get Vice President Russell to look more, well, presidential.

• CJ brings up the Dalai Lama as someone who should have the right to adopt a child.

• Charlie calls Toby "Kojak" for some reason. Is it because he's bald? Who loves ya, Toby?

• Leo compares Toby's plan to get both parties together on Social Security to "Never-Never Land," which means J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan books exist (or at least the 1904 play, which is the first time "Never-Never Land" was coined).

• FDR and his New Deal get mentioned, which one would expect in an episode about Social Security.

End credits freeze frame: Toby's early morning meeting with the President.

Previous episode: The Benign Prerogative

Next episode: The Warfare Of Genghis Khan