Guacamole, Guard Detail and a Flag Joke
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Zoey expresses frustration over the excessive security preventing an authentic Los Angeles lunch experience, while Bartlet deflects with humor about guacamole making.
Bartlet jokingly lists California dangers including flag burning, foreshadowing Kiefer's upcoming political argument.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Firm and quietly persuasive — confident in the value of message discipline and the President’s moral authority.
Offers a short, principled line ('People respect a President who stands by the courage of his convictions.'), acting as a public‑messaging counterweight to Al’s raw numbers pitch.
- • Defend the idea that standing on principle yields long‑term public respect.
- • Steer the conversation toward reputational consequences rather than short‑term vote arithmetic.
- • Public perception of integrity is a strategic asset.
- • The press and public reward clear moral leadership, not tactical flip‑flopping.
Calm, procedural — focused on maintaining executive schedule and logistical flow.
Appears near Bartlet at the end ('Mr. President.'), signaling a transition out of the personal moment back into official business and prompting Bartlet to stand.
- • Deliver a timely prompt or message to the President.
- • Preserve the President's schedule and shift him back to formal duties.
- • The President must be kept informed and on schedule.
- • Unobtrusive aides should signal official business without intruding on private moments more than necessary." } }, { "agent_uuid": "agent_3d9bb8cd047b
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- • incarnation_identifier": null, "actor_name": null, "observed_status": "As the server who prepared guacamole tableside, provides a tactile, humanizing detail that Bartlet points to as a counterbalance to the cleared‑out atmosphere.
- • observed_traits_at_event": [ "obliging
- • local color
- • unassertive
Light, teasing exterior that masks fatigue and an inclination to avoid direct political entanglement in front of family.
Sits with Zoey, uses self‑deprecating humor to deflect her complaint, riffs through California hazards including an offhand line about flag burning, then rises to leave after Charlie appears.
- • Maintain a comfortable father‑daughter moment and deflect Zoey's annoyance.
- • Avoid immediately committing to a politically risky, public stance in front of staff and family.
- • Humor can diffuse tension and protect private moments from political escalation.
- • Publicly embracing divisive amendments risks core values and votes; timing matters.
Annoyed and quietly aggrieved — protective of the President's voice and wary of short‑sighted political calculation.
Expresses immediate disbelief at Al's argument ('Me, neither.'), plays the role of the moral/strategic conscience at the table and contests the simplification of complex issues into vote counts.
- • Prevent the President from taking a politically expedient but morally questionable public stance.
- • Keep messaging rooted in principle rather than pandering to a voting bloc.
- • Language and public stance reflect moral commitments and can’t be bartered carelessly.
- • This administration should resist being led solely by poll‑driven calculations.
Annoyed and embarrassed; eager for an ordinary social experience and irritated by intrusion into normal life.
Complains to her father about the loss of Los Angeles atmosphere because Secret Service cleared out the restaurant; expresses frustration about protective overreach.
- • Have an authentic Los Angeles lunch with people and atmosphere.
- • Make her father understand how intrusive the protection is to her life.
- • Ordinary experiences with peers matter more than staged presidential moments.
- • Excessive security strips personal freedom and enjoyment from her life.
Confident, impatient and hungry — convinced he has a straightforward path to shore up votes and anxious to push the President into action.
Listens to Bartlet's joke, immediately reframes the throwaway line into a strategic electoral argument, presents polling and demographics, and aggressively pitches the President to lead for votes.
- • Convince Bartlet to publicly embrace the flag‑burning amendment to secure a large electoral bloc.
- • Reposition the White House to lead the winning side and capture political credit.
- • Polling and demographic data should determine tactical political choices.
- • Capturing the majority of culturally conservative voters is essential and achievable with the right message.
Interrupted/alert — professionally attentive to incoming crises but not emotionally invested in Al’s sales pitch while on call.
Answers a phone and steps away when called; his brief exit interrupts the table’s dynamic at a tactical moment, creating a small pause in the staff's pushback against Al.
- • Handle the incoming call and triage whatever political problem it signals.
- • Return informed to the table with any necessary immediate intelligence or orders.
- • Timely information flow matters to crisis management.
- • Operational interruptions are part of political life and can change priorities quickly.
Apprehensive and dismissive toward a tactically opportunistic argument; calm but defensive of a different political instinct.
Sits at the staff table, challenges Al's pitch with skepticism ('I don't buy that'), acting as a foil to opportunism and defending principle or strategy outside Al's framing.
- • Push back against sacrificing principle for short‑term electoral gains.
- • Test Al's hard numbers and claims to expose overreach or oversimplification.
- • Not all polling should be translated directly into policy positions.
- • Political gains achieved by pandering undermine long‑term credibility.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
A bowl of freshly made guacamole is prepared tableside and becomes a small, tactile touchstone that Bartlet uses to deflect Zoey’s complaint and anchor the lunch in ordinary pleasures despite the overbearing security.
Mentioned rhetorically by Al Kiefer as 'updating your resumes' — serves as a rhetorical object (threat) that raises stakes for staff loyalty and implies personnel consequences for opposing the amendment.
The proposed flag‑burning amendment functions as the fulcrum of Al Kiefer’s pitch — invoked, not displayed. It transforms Bartlet’s loose joke into a concrete political ask and reframes a family meal into a strategic debate about votes and principle.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
California as a broader location amplifies the electoral stakes invoked by Al — the state's cultural and political textures inform the poll numbers and Kiefer’s argument about voters the President could win or lose.
The Los Angeles area functions as both literal setting and rhetorical shorthand for risk and atmosphere — Zoey wants the city's social texture, while Bartlet catalogs its hazards to justify protection and to humorously set up Kiefer's political pivot.
The Playa Cantina functions as a supposedly ordinary Santa Monica lunch spot turned temporary presidential stage — its domestic details (guacamole, lime smell) collide with roped‑off security and staff strategy, making private family interaction into a public political theater.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Josh and Toby's anxiety about the Al Kiefer meeting sets up Kiefer's aggressive pitch about the flag-burning amendment during lunch."
"Josh and Toby's anxiety about the Al Kiefer meeting sets up Kiefer's aggressive pitch about the flag-burning amendment during lunch."
"Al Kiefer's aggressive pitch about the flag-burning amendment is later countered by Joey Lucas's analysis revealing the issue lacks voter priority."
"Al Kiefer's aggressive pitch about the flag-burning amendment is later countered by Joey Lucas's analysis revealing the issue lacks voter priority."
"Al Kiefer's aggressive pitch about the flag-burning amendment is later countered by Joey Lucas's analysis revealing the issue lacks voter priority."
"Bartlet's joking mention of flag burning foreshadows Toby's later discussion about the strategic lunch meeting with Al Kiefer."
"Zoey's frustration over lost normalcy and Bartlet's paternal concern are mirrored in the weary, honest remarks about exhaustion shared between Bartlet and Marcus."
"Zoey's frustration over lost normalcy and Bartlet's paternal concern are mirrored in the weary, honest remarks about exhaustion shared between Bartlet and Marcus."
Key Dialogue
"BARTLET: All kinds of things in California, Zoey. You've got your smog, your freeway shootings, brush fires, mudslides. Plus, apparently, there's a mad rash of flag burning going on, and you don't want a piece of that."
"AL KIEFER: If he says nothing, he takes a hit, but not a fatal one. If he stands in opposition to the amendment, you can all start updating your resumes."
"AL KIEFER: Mr. President, do you want to sew up reelection right now? Do you want a lock on your second term right here, right now in this room?"