Decoding Bartlet — Tone, Time, and a Stricken Speech
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Will discusses President Bartlet's past legal and legislative efforts with his sister Elsie, highlighting Bartlet's unconventional approach to policy.
Toby enters and questions Will's focus on familiarizing himself with Bartlet's tone rather than drafting policy language, emphasizing the tight deadline.
Toby and Elsie exchange witty remarks about her name, lightening the mood before Toby reiterates the importance of focusing on policy ideas.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Calmly professional — performing a procedural task without visible personal investment.
Intern Stacy enters formally, delivers an archival packet from the Congressional Research Service — specifically an old Bartlet foreign-policy speech stricken from the Congressional Record — and offers to place it on Will's pile before handing it over.
- • Deliver the requested archival material to Will efficiently and correctly.
- • Ensure provenance is clear (that the speech was stricken) and offer appropriate placement.
- • Accurate chain-of-custody and correct placement of documents matters for staff workflow.
- • Providing the material promptly supports the White House's urgent drafting needs.
Bluntly urgent — impatient with process that delays actionable language, but professionally supportive of Will's work.
Toby bursts in, challenges Will's emphasis on tone over policy language, reminds the room of the five-day deadline, and exits after approving Will taking the speech—imposing urgency and shifting priorities.
- • Ensure draft policy language is produced within the five-day time frame.
- • Prevent excessive indulgence in tone analysis at the expense of concrete policy text.
- • Deadlines govern what can be achieved; lofty tone without policy deliverables is politically dangerous.
- • Will's tonal research is useful but must be converted into tangible language quickly.
Absent but controlling — his past choices and editorial decisions (striking the speech) shape staff behavior and urgency.
President Bartlet is not physically present but is the implicit organizing force: his prior actions, stricken speech, and rhetorical habits are the object of examination and the reason the speech must be authentic.
- • Maintain control of his public record and rhetorical framing.
- • Ensure that inaugural language ultimately represents his priorities and instincts.
- • The record matters and some things should be removed or protected from public record.
- • Rhetoric should reflect substantive principles, not empty flourish.
Dryly amused and companionable — comfortable in the role of elder-sibling adviser, offering reassurance without sentimentality.
Elsie sits on the edge of Will's table, offering wry confirmations and familial perspective about Bartlet's thinking, lightening tone while credibly endorsing Will's simultaneous focus on thought and tone.
- • Help Will correctly map Bartlet's instincts and rhetorical tendencies.
- • Provide steadying, realistic perspective so Will stays practical under pressure.
- • Bartlet thinks in overlapping legal and rhetorical registers; tone and substance coexist.
- • Pragmatic humor and familial perspective can cut through stress and clarify focus.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Will's office table functions as a pragmatic work surface and staging area for tonal research; Elsie sits on its edge while Will consults notes, and Stacy offers to place the stricken speech on the pile that sits there.
The stricken Bartlet foreign-policy speech is delivered by Stacy and becomes the critical bridge from character study to actionable rhetoric: Will takes it, beginning to read immediately—transforming archival material into a drafting tool for the inaugural address.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
Congress is present as a contextual antagonist in the conversation — referenced by Will as the political actor that blocks campaign reform and shapes presidential legislative strategy, motivating Bartlet's prior proposals.
The Congressional Research Service manifests here as the archival custodian that supplied the stricken Bartlet speech; its work provides the provenance and access to presidential material that the speechwriting team needs.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
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Key Dialogue
"WILL: "He led an unsuccessful court case to block all federal death penalties as violating the Equal Protection Clause.""
"TOBY: "You're not thinking about policy language?" WILL: "I'm doing both." TOBY: "Because we have five days.""
"INTERN STACY: "Excuse me, Will. This is from the Congressional Reasearch Service. It's an old Bartlet speech on foreign policy." WILL: "Why wasn't it in the original?" STACY: "It was stricken from the Congressional Record at the Presidents request.""