Appointment, Optics, and the Cost of a Leak
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Leo expresses concerns about Will Bailey's meeting with Public Affairs and suggests he work under the radar.
Toby counters Leo's suggestion by advocating for Will's formal appointment as Deputy.
Leo questions Toby's certainty about Will's appointment and raises concerns about Sam's role.
Toby proposes a promotion for Sam to Senior Counselor, allowing him to focus on higher priorities.
Leo agrees to advise the President on Will's appointment, signaling his approval.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Concerned and disapproving as described through Leo's report of their reaction.
State Department staff are referenced as the collective source of displeasure directed at Will after his meeting, shaping Leo's caution and the subsequent personnel decision.
- • Preserve diplomatic credibility
- • Influence White House appointments and messaging to align with State preferences
- • Interagency respect of protocol and phrasing is critical
- • Public White House moves that irk State will hamper policy execution
N/A (background participants creating the dance-floor energy).
Ballroom dancers populate the floor and form the social backdrop—obscuring and normalizing the staff's urgent conversations by filling the room with motion.
- • Enjoy the celebration
- • Provide an ambient veil for private discussions
- • The ball is a social event, not a policy forum
- • Life and politics proceed simultaneously
Angry and protective—surface fury masks fear about the political and personal consequences of the leak.
Josh accepts Danny's apology, asks about Donna's whereabouts, takes the article, reads the damaging quoted lines aloud and explodes in anger, immediately personalizing the leak as a betrayal of someone he protects.
- • Contain and trace the source of the leak
- • Defend and shield Donna from professional ruin
- • Ensure internal trust is restored and political damage limited
- • Leaks from inside the White House are preventable and punishable
- • Donna would not intentionally harm the team (so it's a betrayal)
- • Public quotes have immediate operational and political consequences
N/A (musical atmosphere creates contrast to the conversations).
The band plays up-tempo jazz that defines the ballroom's rhythm—underscoring both the celebratory surface and the private political negotiations occurring amid the music.
- • Sustain celebratory mood for the inauguration
- • Provide a social cover for hurried private exchanges
- • Music maintains the appearance of unity and celebration
- • Festivity masks the administrative tensions beneath
Contrite but pragmatic—wishing to smooth things while still doing his job as a reporter.
Danny maneuvers through the dancers to find Josh, offers an apologetic greeting about yesterday's story, and produces a copy of the published article—delivering the career- and relationship-damaging quote into Josh's hands.
- • Maintain access to White House sources and relationships
- • Mitigate fallout from his paper's published lines
- • Present information to Josh honestly and preserve professional ties
- • The story has value even if an off-the-record expectation existed
- • His editor and newsroom have independent agency in shaping the piece
- • Delivering the article directly is better than secondhand explanations
Not present; inferred to be neutral or unaware, positioned as a stabilizing internal candidate.
Sam is invoked by Toby as the candidate for Senior Counselor—absent from the ballroom but positioned as the internal solution to free White House bandwidth for higher priorities.
- • (Inferred) transition into a senior advisory role
- • (Inferred) focus on presidential and national priorities
- • (Inferred) promotion would enable greater focus on strategic work
- • (Inferred) he has earned elevation through service
Confident and purposeful; he speaks with quiet control, masking any worry about fallout with conviction.
Toby leaves a cluster of women, hugs Leo, and pushes for a visible personnel move—insisting the President appoint Will Deputy and arguing for Sam's promotion to Senior Counselor to free him for higher priorities.
- • Secure a public appointment for Will to shape messaging
- • Elevate Sam to Senior Counselor to concentrate on top priorities
- • Control optics by turning personnel choices into a strategic signal
- • Visible appointments shape policy perception and consolidate messaging
- • Sam's skills are wasted on trivial tasks and should be redeployed
- • State Department displeasure can be managed if the White House is firm
Ashamed and anxious—she's withdrawn from the public celebration out of embarrassment and anticipatory dread.
Donna is off-stage: described as sitting alone in her apartment in a ball gown, implied to have given the off-the-record remark that appears in the published article, now the focal point of Josh's anger and shame.
- • Avoid the public event she feels unfit to attend
- • Protect colleagues in conversation (motivation for the off-the-record remark)
- • Face the consequences privately rather than in public
- • Her remark would be off the record and not published
- • Removing herself from the ball is honorable given the situation
- • Her loyalty justifies her blunt defense of colleagues
Cautiously concerned about diplomatic optics, then relieved and slightly pleased once a graceful compromise and plan emerges.
Leo listens warily about State's displeasure, urges a low-profile approach for Will, accepts Toby's counterproposal, and agrees to advise the President—shifting from caution to visible endorsement by the end of the exchange.
- • Protect White House relationships with the State Department
- • Avoid giving State reasons to escalate displeasure
- • Preserve administration unity while accommodating Toby's initiative
- • Interagency goodwill matters for implementing policy
- • He should counsel the President rather than unilaterally decide
- • A public appointment has political risk that must be managed
Not present; implied to be watchful and critical toward White House actions.
The Public Affairs Director is referenced as the person Will met with whose meeting drew State's displeasure—a trigger for the staffing debate though the Director is not present.
- • Protect State's policy and messaging prerogatives
- • Signal displeasure to influence White House staffing choices
- • State must be consulted or appeased on foreign policy language
- • Visible White House appointments can complicate interagency relations
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Donna's ball gown functions as a poignant off-stage prop: mentioned to signal Donna's withdrawal from the inauguration and to dramatize her embarrassment after the published quote. It embodies personal fallout and social exile caused by the leak.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The inaugural ballroom is the stage for simultaneous public celebration and private administration maneuvering: a crowded, music-filled arena where Toby and Leo negotiate personnel optics while Danny intercepts Josh with a front-page leak—the social surface conceals the administrative friction beneath.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
The Hill is invoked rhetorically as the fallback for the Department of Defense's funding needs in the published quote—representing Congress as the external arbiter of resources and an additional political player introduced by the leak.
The United States as an organizing institution is implied by the D.O.D. reference in the article; national institutions and legal/policy responsibilities frame why leaks and interagency relations matter at the inauguration.
The State Department functions as an off-stage pressure point: its displeasure about Will's meeting is reported by Leo and shapes the White House's staffing debate, constraining choices and demanding tactical appeasement or risked friction.
The White House is the institutional stage for the conflict: staffers negotiate appointments, messaging, and internal discipline while a leak originating from its ranks exposes vulnerabilities in trust and confidentiality.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Toby's advocacy for Will's formal appointment directly results in Bartlet announcing Will's promotion, showcasing Toby's influence and recognition of Will's potential."
"Toby's advocacy for Will's formal appointment directly results in Bartlet announcing Will's promotion, showcasing Toby's influence and recognition of Will's potential."
Key Dialogue
"LEO: Listen. Will did a great a job, and I like him personally too. But he had a meeting with that Public Affairs guy, and people at State are focusing a lot of displeasure on him."
"TOBY: I want the President to appoint him Deputy."
"JOSH: 'Said the same aide?' I'm going to kill her."