Refusing to Politicize the Troops Amid a Market Shock
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Bruno and C.J. discuss whether Bartlet should mention military benefits in his speech, with C.J. firmly stating he won't.
C.J. informs Bartlet about the market downturn due to major firms filing for bankruptcy, and Bartlet reacts with concern.
Bruno tries to persuade Bartlet to campaign on military achievements, but Bartlet firmly refuses, citing legal and ethical reasons.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Calmly urgent—she conveys consequential information without panic, aware of both national and political implications.
C.J. interjects crucial breaking financial information—three firms tied to a fund filing for bankruptcy—delivered succinctly to the President, providing the political context that sharpens staff urgency and frames Bruno's push as ill-timed.
- • Inform the President immediately about disruptive market developments.
- • Ensure the administration can triage political and national implications of the financial hits.
- • Market shocks have immediate political and governance consequences that demand presidential attention.
- • Timely, factual briefings are necessary to prevent missteps by the campaign team.
Representational—no personal emotion shown on-screen, but used to evoke urgency and vulnerability of deployed soldiers.
DRF-1 is invoked by Bartlet as the concrete exemplar of rapid-deployment army units; they function as the ethical touchstone in Bartlet's refusal to politicize the visit rather than as speaking characters.
- • Remain ready and deployable under command orders (contextual, not active in scene).
- • Serve as a moral constraint on civilian political behavior in the president's calculus.
- • Operational readiness imposes moral and legal duties on civilian leadership.
- • Active-duty status changes what is permissible politically at a military facility.
Symbolically present—no direct emotion on-screen, but they represent a silent constituency whose families bear the human cost.
The Navy personnel are referred to by Bartlet to contrast longer overseas deployments with army readiness; their presence underlines the stakes and grounds his legal/moral objection to campaigning on base.
- • Carry out overseas deployments as ordered (contextual).
- • Serve as a visual and rhetorical reminder of military sacrifice and procedure.
- • Deployments carry political neutrality obligations for civilian actors in proximity.
- • Public leadership should not exploit active deployments for political gain.
Righteously indignant with controlled impatience—publicly calm but sharply intolerant of political expediency that endangers servicemembers.
President Bartlet actively shuts down Bruno's attempt to turn military service into campaign fodder, physically stops on the stairs, glares, and delivers a series of legal and moral arguments invoking troop readiness and the concrete logistics of deployment.
- • Prevent the campaign from exploiting active-duty personnel for political advantage.
- • Reorient staff and the speech toward duty and legal/ethical correctness, not a soundbite.
- • It is both illegal and morally wrong to use deployed troops for campaign purposes.
- • The human costs and legal constraints of deployment outweigh short-term political gain.
Initially eager and pragmatic, then sheepish and mildly abashed when rebuked—his humor masks discomfort at being publicly checked.
Bruno advocates using military accomplishments—pay raises, housing, clinics—as campaign messaging, pressing C.J. and the President for a politically efficacious soundbite; when rebuked, he quickly backpedals with a joke and feigned affection.
- • Capitalize on military-themed policy wins to produce a resonant campaign line.
- • Control the messaging around the president's base visit to maximize electoral advantage.
- • Military benefits are politically powerful and should be highlighted.
- • Quick, attention-grabbing soundbites can neutralize unfolding negative news.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The podium is the immediate destination and theatrical focal point for the speech; its presence frames the exchange—Bartlet's admonition occurs as they walk toward the podium, establishing the stakes between performance and duty.
Bartlet cites the deployed troops' C-bag as specific, tangible evidence of active deployment—using the object rhetorically to emphasize that these service members are on mission and not props for campaign messaging.
The M-16 is invoked by Bartlet to make the danger and immediacy of deployment concrete; the rifle shifts the conversation from abstract policy to the reality of armed soldiers and their exposures if politicized.
Bartlet references the C-130 as the platform that moves troops and gear—C-bags and M-16s—wherever he orders, using it to underscore how quickly lives and families are affected by deployment decisions and why political theater is inappropriate.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Naval Warfare Center Crane is the physical and symbolic site of the confrontation between campaign tactics and presidential duty: a military base where legal restrictions and the lived reality of deployed personnel render political theater inappropriate and heighten moral stakes.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
DWA is identified as another entity exposed in the same fund; its involvement enlarges the scale of financial trouble conveyed to the President, increasing the stakes for politically sensitive moments like a base visit.
The U.S. Navy is referenced by Bartlet to contrast deployment duration and contextualize the presence of sailors at the ceremony; the Navy's operational commitments function as part of the President's reason to forbid political exploitation of the base.
Gehrman-Driscoll is the first firm named in C.J.'s market briefing; its filing for bankruptcy acts as the triggering fact that compresses political time and sharpens staff urgency, forcing immediate triage between policy, communication, and optics.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Bartlet's refusal to exploit military achievements for campaign purposes mirrors his later rebuke of Bryce for overstepping his role in environmental policy."
"Bartlet's refusal to exploit military achievements for campaign purposes mirrors his later rebuke of Bryce for overstepping his role in environmental policy."
"Bartlet's refusal to exploit military achievements for campaign purposes mirrors his later rebuke of Bryce for overstepping his role in environmental policy."
Key Dialogue
"BRUNO: He should remind them about the military pay raise."
"C.J.: Gehrman-Driscoll announced before the bell it was filling for bankruptcy; an hour later, Jennings-Pratt and DWA."
"BARTLET: It's against the law to campaign on a military base. BRUNO: Yes, technically. BARTLET: No, legally."