Bartlet Confides Moral Unease Over Qumar Arms Deal to Toby
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
President Bartlet discusses the Qumar arms deal with Toby, expressing discomfort and concern about the women's reactions, hinting at moral conflict.
Bartlet asks Toby to ensure C.J. is 'cool' with the Qumar deal, revealing his awareness of the moral implications and potential backlash.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Detached pragmatism veiling subtle empathy for Bartlet's conflict
Toby stands attentive, confirming Qumar context, requesting a memo for details, suggesting C.J. notification, probing Bartlet's bury intent, then deftly downplaying moral qualms as guilt with self-deprecating advice, reassuring on C.J. to propel the decision forward.
- • Secure presidential buy-in and announcement protocol
- • Diffuse Bartlet's guilt to maintain team unity
- • Moral unease is just guilt, best shrugged off like his own
- • Downplaying via DoD protects the administration from scrutiny
Guilt-ridden resolve masking deeper ethical turmoil, buoyed by fleeting reassurance
Bartlet commands the room, querying Frank on package additions, declaring readiness to announce, instructing Toby to route via DoD for subtlety, then vulnerably voicing moral discomfort with Qumar's misogyny and seeking assurance on C.J.'s reaction, laughing off guilt with reluctant acceptance.
- • Finalize and announce Qumar arms deal without internal backlash
- • Gauge and mitigate staff disapproval, especially C.J.'s
- • Geopolitical necessities like airbase leases justify arming flawed allies
- • Key staff like C.J. ultimately recognize the 'good guys' in tough calls
Professionally steady with undercurrent of casual levity
Frank delivers precise updates on Hutchison's F-117 additions and full package specs—15 MRAMs, 50 M-1A1s, 10 F-14s, PAC-3s—corrects lease to ten years, agrees to memo, anchoring the deal's logistics amid Bartlet's directive and Toby's queries.
- • Ensure accurate conveyance of arms package escalation
- • Facilitate smooth finalization for airbase lease
- • Escalated hardware secures vital strategic lease
- • Technical details drive executive decisions
perplexed
conducting press briefing, reacting perplexed to lawsuit question, inquiring with Carol and Toby
- • gather information on President's lawsuit
- • propose preemptive response to lawsuit
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
Qumar looms as the ethically fraught recipient of the $1.5B arms bounty—now amplified with F-117s—for Khalifa Airbase's decade-long U.S. lease, its misogynistic regime sparking Bartlet's confessional discomfort and the decision to downplay, underscoring White House compromises.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Bartlet's discomfort with the Qumar arms deal foreshadows CJ's explosive reaction when she learns the details from Toby."
"Bartlet's discomfort with the Qumar arms deal foreshadows CJ's explosive reaction when she learns the details from Toby."
"Bartlet's discomfort with the Qumar arms deal foreshadows CJ's explosive reaction when she learns the details from Toby."
"Sam's revelation about the seatbelt lawsuit leads directly to Bartlet confronting him about discussing it publicly."
Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"BARTLET: I don't know, every time we make one of these deals with a place like Qumar I feel the women around here look at me funny."
"TOBY: I think you're probably wrong about that."
"BARTLET: C.J.'s going to be cool with this, right?"
"TOBY: C.J.'s the one you're worried about?"
"BARTLET: I'm just saying she knows who the good guys are, right?"