Rhetoric vs. process: The fight over who authors and owns presidential doctrine — energetic speechwriting that seeks moral clarity and a new interventionist doctrine (Will/Toby alliance) vs. institutional caution (Toby's process warnings, State/State D...
Rhetoric vs. process: The fight over who authors and owns presidential doctrine — energetic speechwriting that seeks moral clarity and a new interventionist doctrine (Will/Toby alliance) vs. institutional caution (Toby's process warnings, State/State Department constraints, and staff control over presidential voice).
Arc Timeline
Season 4
2 eventsWill consults his sister Elsie to map President Bartlet's unconventional legal instincts and rhetorical tendencies so he can capture the President's voice for an urgent inaugural address. Toby barges in …
In Will's office, Bartlet reads the draft of a newly aggressive inaugural doctrine and transforms a policy debate into a moral provocation: "Why is a Khundunese life worth less to …