Portico Decision: Bartlet Commits to Hiring Ainsley Hayes
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Bartlet and Leo debate the connection between AIDS and poverty, with Bartlet dismissing the Health Minister's ignorance about HIV/AIDS.
Bartlet abruptly shifts the conversation to Ainsley Hayes's televised takedown of Sam, revealing his fascination with her intelligence and sense of duty.
Bartlet announces his decision to hire Ainsley Hayes, sparking resistance from Leo who questions both the necessity and practicality.
Bartlet reaffirms his directive to hire Ainsley despite Leo's continued skepticism, framing it as a strategic inclusion of Republican voices.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Insistently analytical
Questions Bartlet on debt forgiveness consideration amid health crisis, representing press corps' policy thrusts.
- • Gauge fiscal commitments
- • Force broad policy admissions
- • Crises demand all options
- • Press exposes hidden agendas
Professionally incisive
Called by C.J., directs question to Nimbala via translator on 'home run' summit outcome, amplifying stakes in press scrum.
- • Elicit candid foreign perspective
- • Define success metrics publicly
- • Leaders reveal truths under scrutiny
- • Questions pierce diplomacy
Inquisitively pointed
Rises in Mural Room to question Bartlet sharply on summit photo op excluding pharma leaders versus Nimbala, probing political calculus.
- • Expose political motivations
- • Tighten administration on optics
- • Absences reveal strategy
- • Press holds power accountable
Poised command veiling policy strain
Manages Mural Room press Q&A, introduces presidents, points to questioners like Arthur, thanks everyone to disperse crowd after Borlaug miracle anecdote.
- • Control press interaction flow
- • Facilitate summit photo op smoothly
- • Structured briefings contain chaos
- • Optics shape public narrative
Dutiful with slight amused detachment
Greets Bartlet routinely in Portico, enters Oval to hand steaming mug, delivers deadpan joke on Republican inclusion when consulted on hiring Ainsley, absorbs playful rebuke with poise.
- • Support presidential routine seamlessly
- • Engage lightly in hiring banter
- • Humor diffuses tension
- • Duty overrides partisan quips
Warmly routine amid underlying urgency
Greets Bartlet cordially with 'Good morning, Mr. President' upon Oval entry, providing brief routine anchor amid hiring pivot and global crisis echoes.
- • Maintain Oval Office decorum
- • Welcome president seamlessly
- • Ritual greetings fortify daily cadence
- • Presence steadies leadership
Functionally composed
Whispers translations during press Q&A, relays Nimbala's 'miracle' response and detailed Borlaug wheat anecdote elevating U.S. as miracle-maker.
- • Convey Nimbala's pleas accurately
- • Preserve dignity in vulnerability
- • Translation bridges desperation to power
- • Stories like Borlaug inspire action
Respectfully attentive
Gathers in Mural Room chorusing 'Good morning, Mr. President' greetings, disperses on C.J.'s cue post-Q&A.
- • Observe summit optics
- • Participate in ritual pageantry
- • Protocol amplifies authority
- • Collective presence validates events
decisive, morally engaged, intrigued
Walking with Leo, correcting misconceptions about AIDS/HIV, watching/recalling Sam's televised takedown, decides to hire Ainsley Hayes, puts on glasses, addresses press and President Nimbala, instructs Charlie and Leo about recruiting Ainsley.
- • assert factual clarity about AIDS and HIV
- • respond to the international health crisis
- • recruit Ainsley Hayes into the White House
Humiliated (implied via reference)
Referenced by Bartlet as 'purEed' on Capital Beat by Ainsley, her takedown catalyzing the hiring impulse.
Admired from afar
Praised by Bartlet for intellect and civic duty after dismantling Sam; Leo notes her columns and Dreifort clerkship; target of decisive hire order.
Referenced as the person for whom Ainsley was clerking.
Mentioned by Bartlet/translator as the Nobel laureate responsible for dwarf wheat; used as an example of a 'miracle'.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Charlie enters Oval bearing steaming mug, handing it to seated Bartlet during hiring consultation with Leo—serves as tactile routine anchor amid impulsive decree, steam curling as decision solidifies against skepticism.
Invoked rhetorically by translator's Borlaug anecdote and Bartlet's 'dwarf wheat' elaboration during/after press Q&A, paralleling miracle pleas to AIDS drugs—metaphorically fuels moral urgency blending into Ainsley hire pivot.
Implicitly recalled via Bartlet's vivid recount of Ainsley's live Capital Beat demolition of Sam—Portico monitor's prior glow haunts decision, catalyzing recruitment as intellectual beacon amid Nimbala's despair.
Bartlet dons glasses at desk upon recalling Sam's Capital Beat rout by Ainsley, sharpening focus symbolically as hiring epiphany strikes amid Leo's amusement—lenses frame the intellectual spark igniting partisan outreach.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Pillared walkway hosts initial AIDS correction, Sam/Ainsley recall with glasses donning, post-Mural return where Bartlet waggles finger insisting on hire over Leo's doubts—transitional nexus fusing crisis echo to Oval decree.
Mural Room packs press for summit photo op and Q&A; Nimbala's handshake, Katie/Arthur/Reporter probes, translator's miracle/Borlaug tale heighten desperation priming Bartlet's outreach pivot.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
Capital Beat invoked as platform where Ainsley demolished Sam, Bartlet's fascination with her performance sparking hire—media ambush retrospectively fuels White House ideological gamble.
Republican Party framed as enduring force ('not going anywhere') by Bartlet against Leo's mandate logic; Ainsley's affiliation central to risky hire debate.
Press Corps masses in Mural Room hurling debt/pharma/home run queries, amplifying Nimbala's desperation and Borlaug miracle—accountability chorus frames moral urgency.
American Pharmaceutical Companies spotlighted in Katie's photo op query as absent antagonists to Nimbala's pleas, underscoring pricing/access fault lines priming Bartlet's duty-driven pivot.
White House Staff looms as unsettled stakeholder; Leo warns of fractures, Bartlet orders smoothing over, Charlie jokes on inclusion—hire threatens cohesion.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Ainsley's televised takedown of Sam directly leads to President Bartlet's fascination with her and his decision to hire her."
"Ainsley's televised takedown of Sam directly leads to President Bartlet's fascination with her and his decision to hire her."
"Bartlet's announcement to hire Ainsley Hayes triggers Leo to inform Sam and C.J., leading to their furious reaction."
"President Nimbala's plea for a 'miracle' to save his dying country from AIDS parallels the later negotiation where he must beg for his nation's survival under harsh terms."
"President Nimbala's plea for a 'miracle' to save his dying country from AIDS parallels the later negotiation where he must beg for his nation's survival under harsh terms."
"President Nimbala's plea for a 'miracle' to save his dying country from AIDS parallels the later negotiation where he must beg for his nation's survival under harsh terms."
Key Dialogue
"BARTLET: "Leo, AIDS is caused by HIV. You just named a group of people that have a higher mortality rate across the board.""
"BARTLET: "We should hire her.""
"LEO: "She's a Republican." BARTLET: "So are half the people in this country.""