365 Days - TWW S6E12

 

Original airdate: January 19, 2005

Written by: Mark Goffman (6)

Directed by: Andrew Bernstein (1)

Synopsis

• Leo returns to the White House staff, and makes his own role by urging the President and his staff to keep fighting for progress in the administration's final year. A crisis in Bolivia causes international tension, Charlie tries to save the Earned Income Tax Credit, and Abbey goes to a NASCAR race.
  

"Are we done, Mr. McGarry?"

"No. Not yet."

This episode is a direct descendant of Let Bartlet Be Bartlet, and all the other "reset" episodes we've seen over the years where the West Wing staffers are chided for drifting into complacency, for getting away from the true goals of the Bartlet presidency, for settling for what's comfortable instead of what's right. But this time, it really works.

 

As I've mentioned in talking about those other "reset" episodes, most of the time the idea of "resetting" is forced into the narrative by the writers, where we're told the administration is weak, drifting and directionless - even though events in episodes right before those show us some pretty good successes and political wins for the administration. Not in this case. Leo is right ... CJ, Toby, even the President himself have been coasting, fearful to make too many waves, scared to put up a fight with a Republican Congress. All they've been doing (particularly since the President's MS relapse on the trip to China) has been keeping the Oval Office warm for the next guy, and it's been getting worse and worse ever since Jefferson Lives and the administration's caving to Speaker Haffley and the Republicans over naming the new Vice President. Yes, there have been a few wins since then (the budget standoff in Shutdown, getting a liberal Chief Justice named in The Supremes), but by and large the administration hasn't been acting like itself since Zoey's kidnapping in 2003. Add to that health problems for the President and Leo, staff shakeups, and Josh leaving the White House to run the Santos campaign, and those remaining in the West Wing are overdue for a scolding.

And Leo's gonna give it to them. It's the day after a successful State of the Union, and he returns to the White House without a title (Senior Adviser to the President, I'd imagine) and an undefined role. His first day back he's greeted by all our familiar staff members, even Ed and Larry.

 

 

But as he starts to make a few remarks about where he thinks he might fit in, beepers go off, people are called away, and one-by-one or two-by-two they depart, consumed with the crisis-of-the-day that prevents them from planning long term. As he's left there in the empty office, Leo draws a number on his whiteboard.

 

 

Leo sits down in CJ's old office and starts watching old Bartlet speeches, inaugural addresses and States of the Union. This befuddles the others - this is what his new role will be, sitting in front of a TV watching old VHS tapes? Will's skeptical look as he departs after setting up a meeting with Leo illustrates everyone's thoughts.

Of course, Leo is far savvier than that. He recognizes the fact that there's one year left of the Bartlet administration, one year left where they can still use their positions to get something done, and it's worthwhile to look back and see the ideas and policies that were announced in the past that haven't yet been addressed.

Before we get to Leo's takedowns of Toby and the President, takedowns that turn the tide and spur the "reset" we get at the end of the episode, let me just mention the brilliance of Leo (and John Spencer) in his meetings throughout the day. When Kate comes in to discuss a crisis in Bolivia, Leo almost says nothing at all. He just lets Kate talk, answering her own questions as she thinks out loud, and coming to her own conclusions. It's fantastic. When Will stops by to talk about the Vice President, Leo says a bit more ... but he mainly replies to Will's questions with another question, forcing Will to find his own answers in a similarly Socratic way.

This also brings us to finding out a little more about Will's relationship with Russell. He ditched the position of Toby's deputy in order to be chief strategist for Russell, buying in to the Vice President's offer to remake his image and take charge of the man who likely will be the next Democratic nominee - even after roasting Russell mercilessly in the draft of the President's speech introducing Russell in Han. Yet here he begs Leo to tell him what he and the President saw when they picked Russell as the new VP.

Will: "The truth is, and I'm not sure I even realized this before now, I've spent the last year and a half looking for what you saw in him. You and the President. You gave him this job. You picked Russell, him, to serve as VP to a President with a serious health condition. You were aware you were picking a potential successor. At some level I just trusted that, and assumed I'd eventually discover what you knew then."

This makes me scratch my head ... was Will not aware of what went down in Jefferson Lives? Did he not know the White House was basically blackmailed into choosing from a list of poor options? Surely he knew, everybody in the West Wing knew. Is he asking this question as to why Leo and the President picked Russell as the least-worst option? Really, this monologue doesn't fit into what we (and the characters!) know from Season 5.

Eventually, Leo's meetings turn to his true targets. First, Toby ... the architect of the previous night's State of the Union, hailed by the press but, to Leo, missing in serious substance:

 (Leo reads a passage calling for a comprehensive new approach to the war on drugs)

Leo: "That was in your rough draft of last night's speech."

Toby: "We cut it."

Leo: "Who told you to?"

Toby: "Nobody, nobody had to, you've had a heart attack and he can't stand up! Day after every other State of the Union the President launches a month-long road show to stump for what was in it! This year I get Bingo Bob, and a week."

Leo calls Toby to task for pulling his punches, for being too afraid to call for progress and forge ahead with policies - and Toby reacts with anger. He knows Leo is right, but he's frustrated by the realities of what he sees from the Oval Office.

And then dinner with the President. It all starts when Bartlet avoids a question by asking his old friend, "You have a chance to figure out what you'd like to do around here?" and Leo answers, "Have you?" That sparks some fire in Jed, but Leo is there for a reason.

Leo: "What happened to the drug treatment policy last night?"

President: "We had to narrow our focus --"

Leo: "Now's the time to widen, not narrow focus. What are you saving your political capital for?"

President: "I have a responsibility to the party!"

Leo: "You have a responsibility to the country, sir. The American people sent you here for two terms. Eight years. So the last one's gonna be harder. I've never known you to shy away from a fight."

President: "And I've never had to make a speech based on the maximum amount of time I could stand up."

As happens with pretty much every conversation Leo has with Jed, the President eventually comes around to Leo's point of view. It can't be about an opposition Congress, it can't be about a physically weakened President, it can't be about just keeping the seat warm - Leo knows the administration needs to get back to its roots, it has to start caring about what it can do to help Americans, and it needs to make the argument regardless of who's trying to stand in their way.

Let me take a moment to address the subplots. They hardly matter. They serve mostly as distractions for the staff to take them away from the greater long-term arc of the administration's final year ... the crisis in Bolivia, where protests over a comment by the US ambassador eventually lead to American contractors in-country to destroy coca plants being taken hostage, for example. While we get a small amount of lip-service about "the war on drugs" and America's responsibility for drug-growing in Latin America, nothing serious is actually done about it. It's mainly an excuse to show us the Sit Room and weeping wives on TV begging for their husbands to be released.

Charlie is upset about the Earned Income Tax Credit, an increase in which was one of the President's most popular lines in the State of the Union speech. Unfortunately, even Democratic congressmen are unwilling to push the Republicans and take up the President's call, offering only a token bump. Charlie and Annabeth brainstorm over replacing the boring "EITC" with a catchier name, with Charlie settling on "poor tax." While there's nothing much here, either, I do like to see Charlie working on improving programs for the poor and less fortunate, considering his background.

And Annabeth is just knocking it out of the park in this episode. Tart and sassy on the phone ("Here's the message, eat less bread" then slamming down the phone) and jabbing Toby with everything she's got, from this exchange over Abbey's trip to a NASCAR race:

Toby: "First Lady's going to be attending a stock car race."

Annabeth (giving a thumbs up): "Hell, yeah."

Toby: "Excuse me?"

Annabeth: "Colorful regional colloquialism betokening enthusiasm of a visceral, if not rowdy, variety. You're making this too complicated."

Toby: "I want you to prep her."

Annabeth: "It's a bunch of cars going real fast around an oval. There. I'm done."

To her verbal smackdown of Toby for dissing Middle America:

Toby: "Just make sure we avoid a flyover values disaster."

Annabeth: "Sorry?"

Toby: "People in the middle of the country who you fly over when you're trying to get to --"

Annabeth: "Real cities?  Can't imagine why you're worried about offending them."

The look on Toby's face after that ...

And Annabeth's appeal to Abbey's more - visual interests, shall we say? - in her prep work for the NASCAR race (complete with pictures!):

Annabeth: "Women make up 45 percent of the audience for NASCAR events, more than any other major league sport."

Abbey (disinterested): "Oh, I wonder why."

Annabeth: "Well, everyone has their theories but I'm going to tell you plain: it's the drivers."

Abbey: "Hmm."

Annabeth: "They're a bunch of studs."

Abbey: "Hm-mmm."

Annabeth: "Well-built hotties running around in tight-fitting fire suits."

Abbey: "Hotties."

Annabeth: "Hotsy-tot hottentot hotties ... ma'am." 

Kristin Chenoweth is just on fire this episode. 

But neither Bolivia, nor a hole in the fence between North and South Korea, nor the Secretary of Labor threatening to quit with poor employment numbers, nor flooding in Hawaii, nor Mount Rushmore sliding an inch, nor Abbey getting kissed by NASCAR driver Jamie McMurray, none of those things really have an impact on this episode. What they all do, though, is distract the administration from keeping an eye on the big picture. Leo convinces Jed of that, and the President calls everyone in at almost 10 pm to sit down with Leo, without distractions, without being called out of the room, and let Leo make his point to everyone.

Leo: "We have the ability to effect more change in a day at the White House than we'll have in a lifetime once we walk out these doors. What do you want to do with them?"

One day has already been lost from the final year. 

What can be done with the remaining 364? 

And as ideas start coming, from the President and staffers alike, as Leo starts adding to his whiteboard, we have our "reset" and we have some concrete goals and aspirations to work on before the Bartlet administration winds down.

 

Tales Of Interest!

- As Opposition Research was the first pure Santos campaign episode, occurring completely separate from the Bartlet White House, this episode sets us onto the alternating path of campaign/administration episodes that the series will use for a bit. Hence, no appearance by Josh or Donna (as they continue to be with the Santos and Russell campaigns, respectively). Will, though, somehow is still around.

 

- We can nail down the exact day of this episode, thanks to Leo and his counting down the remaining days of the Bartlet presidency. With inauguration day being January 20, 2007, that would make this day January 20, 2006 - 365 days remaining. That would mean the State of the Union was on January 19, which in 2006 was a Sunday, so that actually couldn't have happened (SOTUs are typically on Tuesdays, but never on a weekend). It's interesting to note this episode originally aired on January 19, almost the exact date of when it was set (although not the same year, as The West Wing has actually moved a year into the future by now).

- The people greeting Leo as he arrives in CJ's old office are CJ, Charlie, Toby, Annabeth, Kate, Ed, Larry, Will (for some reason; why is he hanging around the White House?), and an unnamed female listed in the cast as "Leo's Intern" (Alexa Alemanni).

- Here's something different - President Bartlet almost always puts on his jackets with a "flip" move, tossing them over his head while he gets his arms in the sleeves. That comes from an injury Martin Sheen suffered at birth, an injury that keeps him from lifting his left arm above the shoulder. Right here, though, we see him shrugging on his jacket in a normal fashion.

- Remember, it's definitely January here, with the State of the Union the night before and exactly a year until the 2007 inauguration. On this TV news screen, it's showing the weather in Iowa City, Iowa, as rainy with a high of 72 degrees. The record high temperature for Iowa City on January 20 is only 55 degrees, set in 1901. The record high temperature for the entire month of January is 68 degrees - so this would be an unprecedentedly warm January day.

- It appears that Gail's fishbowl is empty of decorations at this time.

- Why'd They Come Up With 365 Days?

Leo's appeal to the staff and the President to keep governing and keep trying to implement policy over the final year of the administration, instead of just keeping the Oval Office warm for the next guy. Leo starts a "365" day countdown on his white board.

 

Quotes    

Leo (pointing at Toby): "Ah. Man of the hour."

(general applause)

Will: "Hear, hear. Now, now, no false modesty."

Toby: "It's actually self-loathing." 

-----

CJ: "It's gonna get trumped by this Bolivia thing."

Toby: "Where are we on that?"

CJ: "Making certain our guys weren't doing what Zalaya says they were."

Toby: "Then?"

CJ: "Liar, liar, pants on fire."

Toby: "It won't rhyme in Spanish, don't want you to be disappointed."

-----

Kate: "Anni-vorce ... it's the anniversary of my divorce."

Leo: "I didn't know you'd been married."

Kate: "Couple of times."

Leo: "Hopeless romantic."

Kate: "Hopeless, anyway."

-----

Debbie: "Naps are restorative. Churchill took them."

President: "Churchill also maintained a 24-hour buzz. These days people that drink that much during the day are encouraged to attend meetings."

-----

Leo: "It was easier, for me. You as my press secretary, Sam, Josh, Toby."

CJ: "Toby?"

Leo: "Toby's always been Toby. Still took me a year to figure out what the hell I was doing, and those were the easy years."

CJ: "We had easy years?"

Leo: "Easier than this."

 

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

• Ed and Larry are here, helping to welcome back Leo. We haven't seen these guys in almost a year of real time, back in last season's Talking Points - which actually occurred before Donna's CoDel trip to the Middle East in the spring of 2004, so it's been almost two years in series time.

• Dr. Mike Gordon is back, giving the President a quick examination in the Oval Office. Played by Reed Diamond, Dr. Gordon was first seen in the bunker during the anthrax scare in No Exit, and also updated Abbey, Charlie, CJ, and Curtis about what the President's medical and recuperative needs would be in Faith Based Initiative.

• Secretary of Defense Miles Hutchinson (Steve Ryan) appears in the Situation Room. Hutchinson's name as a cabinet member has been mentioned since Season 1 (he was even one of the possible Presidential nominees brought up when Bartlet was considering not running for re-election late in Season 2), but his first appearance wasn't until Inauguration: Part I in Season 4. He was last seen in Liftoff, trying to bulldoze over CJ on her first day as Chief of Staff.

• CIA Director George Rollie (Ryan Cutrona) also shows up in the Situation Room, taking some heat from President Bartlet for the "contractors" captured in Bolivia. Rollie's chief purpose on the show seems to be as someone to mercilessly criticize, as that happens almost every time he's in an episode ever since his first appearance in Lord John Malbury. CJ and Toby refer to that in their walk-and-talk, with Toby saying, "The guy's got to quit, doesn't he?" and CJ replying, "I hope not, it's too much fun, besides it's the only person the President ever picks on, if the CIA Director goes it could be you or me, bucko."
  

• When CJ says the President might pick on her or Toby instead if the CIA Director goes, Toby responds, "It's already been me." That could mean a lot of things, as the President lashed out at Toby for pushing him to be more bold policy wise (and for bringing up his father) in The Two Bartlets, not to mention Bartlet's anger at Toby for forcing Jed to confront the hiding of his MS in 17 People.
  

• CJ tells Toby "Taylor Reid even said it was the President's finest State of the Union." Reid was first mentioned in The Warfare Of Genghis Khan as a constant critic of the administration and host of a conservative cable TV talk show, one that CJ then appeared on several times. Reid was played by Jay Mohr, but we haven't actually seen him since Full Disclosure.
  

• Toby takes digs at both Vice President Russell and Will with his remarks about "disloyalty" over Russell's plan to only give a week to pushing the Bartlet plans from the SOTU. When Will responds that Russell has been "nothing but steadfast," Toby's biting reply "I wasn't talking about him" reminds us of Will leaving his post as Toby's deputy to go work for Russell in Constituency Of One.
  

• "Sam Seaborn, everybody!" That's the shoutout we got after the SOTUs in both He Shall, From Time To Time ... and Bartlet's Third State Of The Union. While Toby and Leo kind of ignore Sam's key writing contributions in their testy exchange over SOTUs and inaugural addresses, at least Leo mentions Sam when he's recalling the "easy years" with CJ. It's the first time Sam's name has come up since we heard he called offering Josh some support in Constituency Of One.
  

• We saw someone from the Office of Administration talking to CJ about redecorating her office in The Hubbert Peak. With the series futzing around with the calendar in Season 5, we can't know exactly how long it's taken to actually get the office redone as we see occurring in this episode, what with CJ replacing Leo after the Mideast summit and his heart attack, which happened while Donna was still laid up from the bomb blast in Gaza, which was set near Memorial Day of 2004; but yet the 2004 midterms had apparently come and gone by the time CJ was named CoS, too, so ... time is a flat circle.
  

• In Leo's conversation with the President he talks about the blue-ribbon commission on entitlements (four years ago, or 2002). We saw the entitlements commission being put together in Ellie, with Toby's sneaky plan to announce Sen. Seth Gillette as a member before asking him - in the early spring of 2001, or five years ago.
  

• WHAT'S NEXT - we haven't had any "What's next?" moments for a while, but here are two. After getting his initial briefing over the protests in Bolivia when Kate urges him to make his statement clear to the Latin press, President Bartlet responds, "The Latin press'll just have to figure it out. What's next?"

Later on, CJ uses the phrase, "Margaret, what's next?" after Leo leaves her office to have dinner with the President.

 

DC location shots    

• None. There's a nice establishing shot of the White House, but no scenes on location.

 

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

• NASCAR races at Martinsville, Virginia and Daytona, Florida get a mention.
  

• Thomas Paine and Nathan Hale both get quoted.
  

• Toby brings up Allende and Che Guevara in reference to America's history of meddling in Latin America.
  

• Toby urging Annabeth to prep Abbey on her trip to the NASCAR race has him evoking the image of Eliza Doolittle tutoring Henry Higgins (which is, of course, the exact opposite of what happens in My Fair Lady or its origin story, Pygmalion).
  

• Annabeth has pictures of actual NASCAR drivers to impress Abbey. I'm pretty sure the first one is Casey Mears, the second is Jeff Gordon and the third Jamie McMurray.

Casey Mears, I'm almost certain

 

Jeff Gordon

Jamie McMurray

• Jamie McMurray actually appears onscreen as the winner of the race in news coverage seen on the episode, and gives Abbey a peck on the cheek to boot.

• Debbie uses Churchill as an example of why naps are good and restorative.
  

• Leo quotes Bartlet's second inaugural address (delivered in January 2003) about the ending of the assault weapons ban. In real life the Federal Assault Weapons Ban was enacted in 1994 with a ten-year sunset, expiring in 2004.
  

• The MSNBC logo is seen on coverage of Abbey at the NASCAR race.

• Leo compares Bartlet's speech to the Gettysburg Address, and name-checks Lincoln. His word count is correct (272 words), but he says it took four minutes - the actual speech lasted only two minutes.
  

End credits freeze frame: The President and Leo talking things over after dinner.

Previous episode: Opposition Research

Next episode: King Corn